Couples and families choose adoption to grow their family for various reasons. Many families are unsure of how to handle common issues that come up in an adoptive family. Adoption counseling helps a couple or family prepare for their new child and adjust during developmental stages. Children may express fear of abandonment or separation anxiety, have control issues or manipulative behavior.
Common adoption counseling needs
Making the decision to adopt
Adoption preparation
Anxieties and concerns, dealing with the wait
Transition and family adjustment
Attachment
Behavioral issues
Post-adoption blues
Dealing with behavior, school performance or social issues
Teenage identity issues
Child anxiety or depression
How to talk to your child about adoption
Teenagers Dealing with Adoption
The teenage years can be a difficult time of identity formation and social growth. Adopted teenagers have a more complicated task of identity development and may need counseling to work through the complexities. Is your teenager angry, depressed or withdrawn? Does he have exaggerated feelings of not fitting in? If so, an adoption counselor can help your teenager work through the grief that confusion he is feeling.
Get counseling for adoption issues.
Jana Rupnow, MA, LPC-I has years of experience working with adoptive families, both internationally and domestically. She traveled to Africa and China to visit several orphanages, getting a first-hand view of the early experience
