Description
This complimentary course bundle (full discount applied with agency coupon at checkout) is designed for Domestic Adoption clients of New Beginnings. Each course downloads as a 1-Hour Online Audio Course (Certificate of completion will be immediately awarded upon successful completion of each course including passing a 10-question quiz with a grade of 80%.)
Talking with Young Children About Adoption and Birth Parents – Experts all agree that it is important to talk to adopted children about adoption and their birth parents, but that’s easier said and done. In this course, Dr. Jennifer Bliss, PsyD, LCSW, & Director of Adoptions and Foster Care at Vista Del Mar and Family Services in LA, and Chantilly Wijayasinha MSW, MPH, & Adoption Coordinator at Adoptions and Foster Care at Vista Del Mar, discuss how parents should talk to their children about their adoption and when that discussion should begin.
How Children Process Adoption at Different Ages
As children grow and mature, their ability to process and comprehend things also changes. Therefore, parents must continuously change how they discuss adoption with their children. In this course, Ellen Singer, adoption therapist and educator with The Center for Adoption Support & Education, talks about how children process adoption at different stages of development and what parents can do to help.
Developing Attachment in Adoptive Families
Creating healthy attachment within the entire family is a pressing concern for adoptive parents. What are common attachment issues and how can parents solve them? In this course, Deborah Gray, author of two of the seminal books on attachment parenting and bonding in adoption, Nurturing Adoptions: Creating Resilience after Neglect and Trauma and Attaching in Adoption: Practical Tools for Today’s Parents, discusses how to form attachment in adoptive families.
The adoption process is often a long one, and people spend more time talking about getting your child home than what happens immediately afterwards. In this course, Karen Foli, author of The Post-Adoption Blues, talks about the early transition time for child and parent after an adoption, the signs and symptoms of post-adoption depression, who is at risk, and what works to help the parent and family.
Combining Kids by Birth and Adoption
How does it work out when you combine kids by birth and adoption in the same family? Does it matter if you adopt out of birth order? Does it make a difference if the adopted child is a baby, toddler, or over the age of six? In this course, Arleta James, a therapist specializing in adoption and the author of Brothers and Sisters in Adoption; and Judy Stigger, an adoption therapist, Director of Professional Relations for Adoption Learning Partners and an adoptive mom, discuss how to successfully combine children by birth and adoption and how to make the transition as smooth as possible for everyone involved.
Talking about the Difficult Parts of Your Adopted Child’s History
Sometimes our adopted kids come to us from a history in their birth families of drug abuse, rape, incest, abuse, or prison. Should adoptive parents share this information with the adopted child? If so, how? This course features Beth O’Malley, author of many books about preparing lifebooks for adopted and foster children, including Lifebooks: Creating a Treasure for the Adopted Child; and Angela Magnuson, a licensed professional counselor with Bethany Christian Services with specialized adoption training through Rutger’s Certificate Program in Adoption, and seven years experience working with foster, kinship and pre and post adoptive families.
Talking about Hard Issues in Adoption
Adoption always happens in less than ideal circumstances, but some are harder to tell children than others. Should we tell our children about rape, drug abuse, or physical abuse that may be a part of their birth family’s history? How do we explain poverty so extreme that a family is forced to place a child for adoption? How do we handle the possibility of corruption or fraud that happened in their birth country? How should we tell, how much should we tell, and when should we tell? In this course, Marilyn Rich, district supervisor and adoption social worker at Adoptions from the Heart; and Rebecca Hackworth, Director of Social Services Dillon International, discuss how to talk to your child about the hard issues in adoption.
