ADOPTION CARE

I have been working with adoptive families since 2007, and I am convinced more with every passing year of the tremendous work that goes on in such homes. Interwoven into the adoption tapestry are feelings and ideas that seem to contradict each other.

Perhaps the National Council for Adoption says it best:

“Loss is inherent in adoption, but it is not the whole of adoption. Feelings of loss or sadness will ebb and flow for all those whose lives are touched by adoption, interspersed with feelings of great joy and celebration.”

Those ebbs and flows can be difficult to navigate, and they don't have to be faced alone. Beyond my relationships with many adoptive families, I had the privilege to complete the pilot training program of the National Adoption Competency Mental Health Training Initiative for mental health professionals in 2018 which helped me learn how to effectively support children, youth, and their foster, adoptive, and guardianship families.

The training provided by the Center for Adoption Support and Education provided me the skills, strategies, and tools to:

• Support children to heal from trauma and loss.

• Provide parents with skills to parent more effectively.

• Collaborate effectively with child welfare and mental health professionals.

• Improve outcomes for permanency, child well-being, and family well-being and stability.