For every family, adoption is an adjustment. Some children have an easier time than others adjusting to new homes and new family members. This can vary depending on so many factors including the amount of trauma your child experienced, your child’s previous care and home situation, amount of support the adoptive family has, and the amount of secure attachment created with previous caregivers.
Each child has a unique story and each child is at a different step in understanding/ processing his or her story. At MCFT, we work with parents to help create understanding and acceptance of how their story united with their new family and help empower parents to answer questions associated with this in developmentally appropriate ways.
How do you treat adoption/ attachment difficulties?
We work with entire family to create positive connections and build the foundational elements of healthy relationships through parent-child interaction therapy. We will identify the adoptive child’s needs, parents’/ family’s needs and unhealthy interaction patterns currently taking place. Depending on the case, we might do more behavioral therapy for the child or more parenting sessions to help empower parents to meet the child’s needs at home.
For some children, there have been traumatic events that have brought them into their adoption story or that have happened since they entered the foster care system. These traumatic events can inhibit a child’s ability to attach or connect with their adoptive family. As a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, I work with parents and children to re-establish safety, help create a safe place for children to remember and mourn through their traumatic experience and then work with the family through the process of connecting with family members.
At MCFT, we also help parents to work through structuring the home environment to create a safe place for their children to process their emotions in connection with their parents.
We will connect you with other parents and resources to gain support needed for continued connection with your child as they go through different developmental stages.
For more adoption resources, check out the resouces at Empowered to Connect .
Understand more about your child with the answers to 10 Questions Adoptive Parents Ask.
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Memorial Child and Family Therapy 