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ADOPTIVE PARENT PREPARATION PROJECT Phase I: Meeting the Mental Health and Developmental Needs Of Adopted Children Policy & Practice Perspective
Abstract
hanges in the institution of adoption over the past few decades have resulted in many questions about the best way to prepare and support adoptive parents for the task of raising their children. Historically, many parents who adopted children were given little, if any, information about their children's origins or about adoption in general. Yet, without adequate information, the chances for developing appropriate expectations about adoption, or for understanding the best ways of managing the challenges that can be associated with adoptive family life, are lessened. This is especially true for adoptions from the child welfare system and from other countries, where there is significant risk of medical and/or psychological issues. C It is widely accepted among adoption professionals today that parental preparation, education and support is crucial for the stability of an adoption and for the long-term emotional well-being of all family members. Nevertheless, there is a high degree of variability in the types and extent of preparation and education offered by agencies, attorneys, and others who facilitate adoption placements. Some of these organizations and individuals offer extensive services, both during the pre-adoption and post-adoption periods; however, others offer little to adoptive parents in these areas. This paper, which represents the first phase of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute's Adoptive Parent Preparation Project, outlines the basic principles, key issues, methods, and content areas forming best-practice standards regarding the preparation and education of adoptive parents. This phase focuses on preparing adoptive parents to better understand and manage the mental health, developmental, and parenting issues about which all adoptive parents should be educated, as well as those issues more relevant to specific types of adoptions. The information in this paper should be viewed as a roadmap for the development of specific curricula for professionals to use in preparing and educating adoptive parents in a wide range of content areas.
... La posición de cada profesional debe ser clara durante todo el proceso: no está para juzgar, ni criticar, sino que para acompañar, empatizar y mentalizar la experiencia de los(as) postulantes. Crear una relación colaborativa con los(as) postulantes que los haga sentir bienvenidos, valorados, respetados y apoyados, proveerá un ambiente apropiado para la autoexploración, mayor receptividad sobre la información proveída, y ayudará a desarrollar creencias y expectativas realistas sobre la adopción (Brodzinsky, 2008). ...
... Asimismo, la construcción de una alianza de trabajo entre profesionales y postulantes y la alta especialización en el campo de la adopción, conlleva la necesidad de contar con un acompañamiento institucional constante y espacios de formación (Brodzinsky, 2008;León Manso et al., 2010) y supervisión reflexiva de los profesionales que implementen este modelo. Este aspecto se considera fundamental para un escalamiento e implementación nacional rigurosa, efectiva y ética. ...
... U provedenim evaluacijama programa udruga u Hrvatskoj (Barać i Laklija, 2015;Orlić, 2016), naglašena je važnost pripreme i kontinuiranog praćenja polaznika, uz osiguravanje stručne podrške posvojiteljima. Slični podaci dobiveni su u različitim državama u kojima se takve edukacije provode te se ističe kako se korist dobre pripreme za posvojenje manifestira u obliku poboljšanja općenitog znanja o roditeljstvu, smanjenja stresa, razumijevanja specifičnosti posvojiteljskog roditeljstva te povećanja roditeljske kompetentnosti (Farber i sur., 2003;Turner i Sanders, 2006;Brodzinsky, 2008;Selwyn i sur., 2009). ...
... Pripremljenost na posvojenje kroz programe pripreme se u više istraživanja pokazala pozitivno povezanom s karakteristikama samih programa i razvojnim ishodima posvojenog djeteta (Seiwyn, Del Tufo i Frazer, 2009;Brodzinsky, 2008;Brodzinsky, 2010). Budući da su potencijalni posvojitelji kao skupina u poziciji sudjelovati u zakonom obveznim programima pripreme za posvojenje i imaju priliku dodatno se educirati u različitim znanjima o roditeljstvu, prije ostvarenja posvojenja potrebno je evaluirati program koji polaze. ...
Posvojenje je poseban oblik obiteljsko-pravnog zbrinjavanja i zaštite djece bez odgovarajuće roditeljske skrbi koji posvojiteljima omogućuje roditeljstvo i stjecanje prava na roditeljsku skrb. Prije nego što postanu roditelji, osobe koje se odluče na takav oblik stvaranja i proširenja obitelji, uz prethodnu procjenu prolaze i zakonom obvezan proces pripreme za roditeljstvo. Odredba o obaveznoj pripremi u fokus stavlja edukaciju s namjerom da kroz pripremu posvojitelji postignu realističnija očekivanja u vezi s posvojenjem, unaprijede roditeljske vještine te razumiju specifičnosti posvojiteljskog roditeljstva uz povećanje roditeljske kompetentnosti. U ovom istraživanju ispitano je zadovoljstvo korisnika određenim značajkama Programa pripreme potencijalnih posvojitelja 4P. Analizirani su odgovori 63 polaznica i polaznika. Rezultati istraživanja pokazali su kako polaznici programa 4P smatraju sadržaje i teme obrađene u radionicama iznimno korisnima i praktično primjenjivima te su zadovoljni programom u cjelini. Dodatno je ispitana povezanost programa pripreme potencijalnih posvojitelja s doživljajem roditeljskih kompetencija kod potencijalnih posvojitelja. Provedena je usporedba rezultata Skale procjene roditeljske kompetentnosti na početku i po završetku pohađanja programa 4P po podljestvicama efikasnosti i zadovoljstva. Analiziranjem pitanja na podljestvici efikasnosti uočavaju se značajne razlike na ciljanim pitanjima između procjena prije i poslije pohađanja programa 4P, dok na podljestvici zadovoljstva nije bilo značajnih razlika u samoprocjeni roditeljskih kompetencija. Ključne riječi: posvojenje, edukacija, pripreme, roditeljstvo, roditeljska kompetentnost
... La posición de cada profesional debe ser clara durante todo el proceso: no está para juzgar, ni criticar, sino que para acompañar, empatizar y mentalizar la experiencia de los(as) postulantes. Crear una relación colaborativa con los(as) postulantes que los haga sentir bienvenidos, valorados, respetados y apoyados, proveerá un ambiente apropiado para la autoexploración, mayor receptividad sobre la información proveída, y ayudará a desarrollar creencias y expectativas realistas sobre la adopción (Brodzinsky, 2008). ...
... Asimismo, la construcción de una alianza de trabajo entre profesionales y postulantes y la alta especialización en el campo de la adopción, conlleva la necesidad de contar con un acompañamiento institucional constante y espacios de formación (Brodzinsky, 2008;León Manso et al., 2010) y supervisión reflexiva de los profesionales que implementen este modelo. Este aspecto se considera fundamental para un escalamiento e implementación nacional rigurosa, efectiva y ética. ...
La importancia del cuidado y bienestar de los niños, niñas y adolescentes, y especialmente aquellos que viven en situación de vulnerabilidad, han adquirido en los últimos años una dimensión de especial de parte de una amplia diversidad de profesionales, investigadores e incluso en cuanto a su consideración en políticas publicas. En esa dirección, este libro colectivo, que congrega el trabajo de investigadores y profesionales tiene por propósito aportar innovaciones metodológicas, reportes de investigaciones y discusiones teóricas para el mejoramiento de las practicas de intervención desarrolladas en el marco de las políticas publicas de infancia en Chile.
... n adoptive family is a unique and special type of family. Adoption could provide stability, durability, and mental and physical health for children who cannot live with their biological parents (Brodzinsky, 2008;Palacios et al., 2019;Waid & Alewine, 2018). Although many adoptive parents are satisfied with their choice and do not report a particular problem, some complex challenges and issues may affect their parenting (León et al., 2018;Selwyn et al., 2014). ...
... Yet, to our knowledge, specific ways to address these sociocultural concerns when implementing specific treatment modalities have yet to be provided. In fact, over the past two decades, research has shown that a large majority of therapists do not take adoption related issues into account when formulating treatment recommendations for families (Brodzinsky, 2008;McDaniel & Jennings, 1997). Although manualized treatments such as PCIT provide specific guidelines on how treatment should be implemented, it is important that mental health providers keep both the presenting concerns and family context in mind and tailor the protocol to meet individual family needs (Eyberg, 2005). ...
Mental health service providers (e.g., social workers, psychologists) working with children in the child welfare system are uniquely poised to evaluate and tailor treatments for maximum effectiveness for these populations. Interventions that focus on improving the parent-child relationship and decreasing behavior problems, such as Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), are important in assisting adoptive foster families as they transition to new family additions. However, sociocultural considerations in the administration of PCIT with adoptive foster families have not been well explored. The current study uses a clinical case design to illustrate the successful implementation and tailoring of PCIT with a multi-racial family who adopted a 4-year old boy with behavior problems. PCIT contributed to a clinically significant decrease in parent-reported behavior problems and an increase in parental use of effective behavior management strategies. Three considerations common among adoptive foster families (family adjustment, unequal parent attachment, and trauma-related background) contributed to the need for socio-culturally oriented treatment tailoring. Parental engagement was maintained throughout treatment. Our findings highlight the importance of culturally responsible treatment delivery. Future recommendations for mental health providers working with adoptive foster children and families are discussed.
... This model predicts that parents who have expectations reflecting the range of possible postadoption lived experience across the transition to parenthood will be more likely to seek out services if they are needed; these are the parents who had mes at the ready for their Is to draw on. Research indicates a variety of pre-and postadoption service utilization (Brodzinsky, 2008;Lee, Kobulsky, Brodzinsky, & Barth, 2018) and further indicates that such support is both desired and helpful (Barth, 2002;Hartinger-Saunders, Trouteaud, & Matos Johnson, 2015). Parents who have expectations reflecting uniformly positive postadoption lived experiences across the transition to parenthood will likely be less equipped to identify and seek supports; these are the parents who did not have preexisting mes to inform their postadoption parenting behaviors. ...
This article focuses on symbolic interactionism and its utility when applied to adoptive families. We argue that Mead's (1934, 1956) theoretical concepts of self, generalized other, and shared meaning are underutilized tools for exploring prospective parents' decision of whether to adopt, the transition to adoptive parenthood, and subsequent family adjustment over time. We also advocate for the extension of salience to generalized other, in order to better understand and reflect prospective parents' perspectives of and experiences with adoption. We chose symbolic interactionism as a single theoretical framework to unify the extant adoption literature; in doing so, a conceptual model was developed to better illustrate the theoretical principles as they inform decision making and action taking across the transition to adoptive family life. The model posits six specific propositions that warrant further empirical exploration to test and refine its predictive utility.
... Also, preparation needs to extend beyond placement to provide pertinent education as parents' and children's needs emerge over time, and they are more receptive to applying the training. We need to improve adoptive parent preparation not only in face-to-face encounters but also through the use of online educational classes, assigned readings, group seminars on adoptive parenting, and contact with experienced adoptive parents (Brodzinsky, 2008). In addition to general information about adoptive parenting, a complete history of the child's background needs to be provided, interpreted, and discussed with parents. ...
Our commentary highlights the authors’ conceptual and empirical contributions for understanding the incidence and dynamics of varying types of adoption breakdowns and their impact on adopted youth and their families. Important distinctions are made between legal, residential, and psychological/relational permanence for children. To date, most research has focused on factors supporting or undermining legal and residential permanence but has largely ignored children’s sense of psychological or relational permanence. Recommendations for future research and implications of findings for policy and practice are discussed.
This Element overviews recent research on children's adjustment to adoption and its relevance for key questions addressed in developmental science. First, a historical perspective on trends in adoption practice and adoptive family life is offered. Second, research on children's adjustment to adoption is reviewed, including the impact of early adversity on their development, as well as biological and social factors related to their recovery from adversity. Third, factors impacting adoptive identity development are examined, followed by research on open adoption and adoption by sexual minority adults. Fourth, different types of postadoption support and services that facilitate family stability and children's emotional well-being are analyzed. Finally, conclusions are drawn, and recommendations for future research and practice are offered.
Guided by the lens of psychodynamic theory, Ford (2015) investigated the challenges faced by adoptive families of traumatized children. Fifteen families were randomly selected to participate in this study from a group of 30 parents who adopted traumatized children in Arizona. Thematic categories were drawn and summarized. Textual descriptions evolved from the thematic groups acknowledging their experiences and how these lived experiences guided their decision to adopt a traumatized child. Verification techniques, data mining, journaling, clustering, brainstorming, and peer reviews were used to ensure the quality of data. Emergent themes emphasized the need for adoption-focused training specific to traumatized children. Ford's (2015) study revealed that these adoptive families desired to be equipped with specialized therapeutic training before and after their adoptions.
Although most mental health and behavioral health professionals have encountered adoption triad members-birth parents, adoptive parents, and adopted persons-in their clinical practice, the vast majority have had no formal or informal training on adoption issues. The Handbook of Adoption is the first text designed for mental health practitioners to specifically address the many dimensions of adoption-related issues which can and do affect adoption triad members, specifically in the United States.