Resources
Parenting When It’s Hard to Like Your Child — Understanding Blocked Care in Adoptive Families
“Why is my child withdrawing? And why am I tempted to give up and disengage?” This blog explains self-protective instincts for both adopted children (blocked trust) and parents (blocked care), how a child’s response may be rooted in early trauma, and strategies for parenting with empathy.
Read MoreLack of Control and Feeling Stuck
We feel despair and hopelessness when we lose control of our lives, and this often leads to “feeling stuck.” Here’s how we can feel more confident and less stuck.
Read MoreAdoption-Competent Therapy — What It Is, Why It Matters, and How to Find It
Adoption-competent therapists have a trauma lens and understand that our body has memory through our senses even before we had verbal language.
Read MoreFilm Review: Reckoning with the Primal Wound
Reckoning with the Primal Wound, a documentary, asks us to understand relinquishment trauma. The child and birth mother’s separation is a profound loss that needs to be acknowledged, seen, supported, and cared for.
Read MoreShame and Adoption — A Guide to Parenting with Empathy
Shame is the feeling that we are inherently unlovable, unworthy, and undeserving of connection — and it’s a central theme in adoption. How do we parent without shaming our child? How do we teach values? Here are some empathy-based strategies and phrases to help children make positive choices.
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