Adopted persons tend to experience seven core issues related to their adoption. Discussions of adoption over the years have often overlooked the pain and struggles of adoptees, but identifying these core issues and helping children integrate them as they grow validates their experiences, decreasing feelings of being different and isolated.
Helping Your Child with Peer Exclusion
Parents cannot prevent their child from experiencing exclusion or feeling “different” from time to time. You can, however, lessen the negative effects of this common occurrence during the preteen years.
What Will Their Friends Think?
As kids grow up, they look to their friends for acceptance — and desperately want to fit in.
A New ‘Forever’
Adoptive children can feel familial changes, like divorce after adoption, particularly keenly. Use these tips to help kids adapt to new stepparents.
Is Culture Camp for Us?
What will my child learn and talk about at camp? What would our family take away from a week attending together?
“I Just Don’t Fit In”
Tween adoptees may walk away from their cultural heritage, family outings, and even their family as they try to fit in with peers.
Can My Child Handle Sleep Away Camp?
Parents wonder if preteens will experience separation anxiety at sleep away camp. Learn how to tell if yours is ready, and then ease the transition.
When Kids Worry About Being Perfect
We want our children to do well—but we also want them to enjoy being kids. How do we help them strike a balance?
Dealing with Adoptee Fears of Loss
Do adoptees who’ve already experienced the loss of birth parents worry more than other kids about their parents dying?
Minimizing Placement Trauma
Pre-adolescents have special needs in a foster care placement. Our expert provides tips on how to make the transition to an adoptive home a little easier.
Revealing Painful Adoption Details
Children need to know their full stories before the teen years. Why, and how, to explain troubling information.
Developing a Body Image
“I wonder what I’ll look like when I”m grown.”
When Kids Find Mom Embarrassing
No matter what you do, your preteen is mortified by your presence. What’s going on?
A Death in the Family
As children get older, they come to understand that everyone experiences loss.
As Friendships Evolve
Sometimes growing up means letting go of childhood friends.
Peers, Pressure, and Popularity
“Come on, everyone else is doing it.”
The Indulged Child
We want the best for our children — and sometimes that means saying no.
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