Parents of adopted kiddos...

[Green_Tea]

I know that we have several parents on the board who grew their families in different ways (international or domestic adoption, foster care, adoption of a niece or nephew, adoption of older kids vs. babies...). I am working on a presentation for one of my grad classes about teaching and working with adopted children, and the unique challenges they might (or might not!) face in school. I was wondering if there are any online resources, articles, etc. that you find very helpful or enlightening. I am working on the research part of the presentation now, and while there are lots of academic pieces about teaching adopted kids, I am also interested in reading about it from a parent's perspective.

Any links or leads you could provide would be most appreciated!

[crl]

Check out Adoptive Families magazine's website.

Catherine

[Green_Tea]

Check out Adoptive Families magazine's website.



Thanks, Catherine! Will do!

[JustMe]

Had to think about this for a minute because I couldn't come up with anything at first. As an adoptive parent, I get so much info from so many different places but its hard to place specifically individual sites, articles, etc that have been most helpful. Here is one great website

http://www.a4everfamily.org/index.php

One of the biggest kind of hot button topics is that some will say that certain issues are common to all adoptees (abandonment, identity issues, etc), while others will say this is a generalization and not all adoptees feel any one thing.

[JustMe]

Yay, finally found one of the articles I wanted to post. There are other useful ones on this site as well.

http://www.baas.org/news_special.php

[Green_Tea]

Had to think about this for a minute because I couldn't come up with anything at first. As an adoptive parent, I get so much info from so many different places but its hard to place specifically individual sites, articles, etc that have been most helpful. Here is one great website

http://www.a4everfamily.org/index.php

One of the biggest kind of hot button topics is that some will say that certain issues are common to all adoptees (abandonment, identity issues, etc), while others will say this is a generalization and not all adoptees feel any one thing.


Yay, finally found one of the articles I wanted to post. There are other useful ones on this site as well.

http://www.baas.org/news_special.php


Thank you, JustMe! I was hoping you'd respond!

[JustMe]

Thank you, JustMe! I was hoping you'd respond!


Aaww, thanks. This made my night :).

I would be interested in knowing the main take away points you learn for your presentation or anything you learn that surprised you, etc. Not sure its possible to do that in a way that doesn't cost you lots of time.

Now that I'm on a roll, I'll post another link. Its an article by Dr Bruce Perry (who I am a major fan of) of the Child Trauma Academy. It is not specifically related to adoption, but talks about the impact on trauma, attachment disruptions, etc, on very young children. I'm sure you can see the possible connections.

http://www.childtrauma.org/images/stories/Articles/attcar4_03_v2_r.pdf

[Green_Tea]

Aaww, thanks. This made my night :).

I would be interested in knowing the main take away points you learn for your presentation or anything you learn that surprised you, etc. Not sure its possible to do that in a way that doesn't cost you lots of time.

I will definitely let you know! It's a group project (groan) but one of the other students in my group was adopted when she was in elementary school and should make for an interesting partner who I think will bring depth to the project. We don't present for a while (early April, I think?) but I will absolutely let you know what I learned and what surprises me!

[Green_Tea]

http://www.childtrauma.org/images/stories/Articles/attcar4_03_v2_r.pdf


Awesome - thanks! I had already come across some other Bruce Perry articles, but not this one!

[icunurse]

Late to the game, but I agree with checking out Adoptive Families website. They have a lot of info about school projects and such that many adopted children might have some issues with (family trees, bringing in a baby picture, family picture not looking the same, etc). I like the book "Raising Adopted Children", too. It's an easy read, but it gives you some insight into more of the psycho-social aspects of adoption, the emotions that go into it.

I think that it is important to keep in mind that just because a child was adopted (especially those at birth or very soon after) doesn't mean that they are "textbook cases". I see a lot of articles that so easily point to abandonment issues, inability to bond, and other things for every.little.thing in a kids life. But adopted children are just like bio kids - sometimes they are cranky or sensitive or just not cuddly and it is just their personality, not a failure of some sort or a result of adoption. (Not saying those issues don't exist, but I have seen just too much emphasis placed on adoption vs childs personality or parenting skills).

[JustMe]

Pmed you some more articles.