Post Adoption Resources for Professionals

When, as an adult adoptee, BPAR founder Jennifer Eckert happened to meet with a therapist with specific training in adoption, the opportunity changed her life. As a result, all our clinicians are adoption competent specialists.

At Boston Post Adoption Resources, we embrace the opportunity to share our knowledge with the greater professional community. Our goal is to grow a network that understands how to make a positive difference in the lives of adoptees, foster and adoptive families, and birth parents. Perhaps you're a physician, teacher, or counselor. Or maybe you run a generalized mental health practice or an agency working with teens. Have you met someone in need who has been touched by adoption or foster care? We hope you’ll find answers here in our Professional Resources Center. Some of the tools are curated. Many are BPAR-created!

 

BPAR clinicians conduct professional training to build adoption competency skills and we speak to the community to build an understanding of post adoption challenges and available resources. Here are a few examples.

BPAR Books Available in Print and Ebook

Our Journal for Adult Adoptees:

Voices Unheard:

A Reflective Journal for Adult Adoptees

"This guided journal is long overdue. It offers an adoptee the opportunity to carefully examine their perspectives and feelings about their life and to clarify what is truth."

—Sharon Kaplan Roszia

Voices Unheard A Reflective Journal for Adult Adoptees

For an adoptee, coming out of the fog often follows self-reflection. This 52-week prompted journal from BPAR clinician Lisa Coppola enables adoptees to better understand how their early experiences have consciously or subconsciously affected their instincts, behaviors, and emotions.

More details »

Our Book for Parents/Caregivers:

Adoption Is a Lifelong Journey

"This book is especially helpful because it explains the ways in which a child sees him or herself in the adoptive family and how the parents can validate, acknowledge, and empathize with the child’s experience."

—Nancy Newton Verrier

Adoption Is a Lifelong Journey

Meet Charlie.

He’s the narrator of BPAR's illustrated book, Adoption Is a Lifelong Journey. Charlie’s an adoptee who opens his heart and shares what’s on his mind through various phases as he grows up in his adoptive home.

More details »

BPAR's Free Ebook

Our Free Ebook on Transracial Adoption

Voices In Transracial Adoption:

Insights from Adoptees, Parents & Professionals

In Voices In Transracial Adoption: Insights from Adoptees, Parents, and Professionals, more than twenty-six adoptees or adoptive parents share their experiences with the joys and challenges of transracial adoption. This book for prospective or current adoptive parents integrates those voices with clinical knowledge from the Boston Post Adoption Resources team and secondary resources. It's meant to serve as an introduction for adoptive families with a child whose race or ethnic group differs from the parents'. The concepts of race, racism, racial identity, diversity, equity, and inclusion are incredibly complex and require and deserve a comprehensive process of further education, exploration, and action.

More details>>

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FAQs for Professionals

Does BPAR provide professional consultations?
Yes. BPAR would be glad to provide a professional consultation if you would like a deeper understanding of how to assist someone in need. Don’t hesitate to call or email our office for help.

What does it mean to be “adoption competent?”
Adoption competency means our clinicians have special training to recognize challenges that may have a connection to the adoption experience. Think of us as looking through an adoption lens. Our view allows us to open up a path to healing that is often otherwise overlooked or misunderstood. We have broad experience that includes transracial, international and domestic adoption, foster care, and support for all members of the adoption triad: the adoptee, adoptive or foster parents, and birth parents.

What age does BPAR work with?
We meet with clients from early childhood all the way to elder years. Adoption is a lifelong journey, and challenges can ebb and flow anytime throughout the life span.

How do I know if someone might need BPAR’s specialized help?
BPAR might be a good match if you know someone with an adoption history – an adoptee, adoptive or foster parent, or birth parent – who needs coping skills to deal with signs of:  anger, anxiety, depression, identity, guilt and shame, rejection, grief or loss. They could be dealing with school or job performance difficulties or struggling with relationships or attachment.

What services are offered by BPAR?
BPAR's post adoption services include:

  • individual and family therapy
  • support groups
  • space and support for birth family search and reunions

Does BPAR take insurance?
We accept BlueCross BlueShield, Tufts Health Plan, Optum, and private pay.

What is BPAR’s approach?
We believe in a strengths-based approach to build connections within families or, for individuals, connections to emotions and identity, so all can lead healthy, productive lives. Our sessions might include cognitive behavioral therapy, coaching, expressive arts, or play therapy, as an example, and we continually develop new tools such as blog posts and our book to extend our reach beyond our immediate practice.

We’ve circulated Adoption Is a Lifelong Journey among our list of highly respected adoption and mental health authors, and we are humbled and proud to share their endorsements with you.

Does BPAR provide professional training or speaking services?
Since our inception, we have nurtured our own internship program and maintained close ties with Greater Boston social work graduate programs. Each year we provide peer training in adoption competency, serve on community panels, and speak at important events like National Adoption Day. Please visit our Media Room to sample some of these events. If you have workshop or speaking needs, we would be glad to hear your thoughts.

"We received wonderful feedback about your presentation. Unanimously, everyone raved that it was incredibly informative and presented in a manner they connected with. They very much liked both of you. Several stated that your warmth and passion for working with adoptees and their families (birth and adopted) was very evident and that they would not hesitate to contact BPAR if and when needed." — MARISSA ZWELLING, LICSW & RAQUEL WOODARD, LICSW, ADOPTIVE PARENT & BIRTH PARENT COORDINATORS AT ADOPTION CHOICES

Does BPAR refer people to outside sources?
Yes! Do you provide a service or know of a resource we can share? Please tell us. As part of our nonprofit mission, we try and match anyone in need to the right resources when they reach out to us in our initial consultation. Sometimes our services are the right match, other times we need to look outside.

Adoption-Related Links for Professionals

Lifelong Issues in Adoption, by Deborah N. Silverstein and Sharon Kaplan

Adoption Issues in Health Care Settings, by Deborah H. Siegel, PhD, LICSW, DCSW, ACSW,
Social Work Today, Vol. 16 No. 6 P. 22

Training for Adoption Competency (TAC) Program by C.A.S.E.

Let’s Learn Together by Sheila Lavery of Adoption UK

Gain Insight with these Adoption-Related Podcasts
https://bpar.org/resources/adoption-blogs-podcasts/

Other Useful Resources for Professionals

Youth Mental Health First Aid Course
Visit LEADNow.org or MentalHealthFirstAid.org to find local courses in Massachusetts

Adult Mental Health First Aid Course
Visit MentalHealthFirstAid.org to find local courses in Massachusetts

Visit BPAR's Post Adoption Resources Center to see all the resources we offer.

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