Adoption-Competent
Therapy
What is Adoption-Competent Therapy?
Adoption competent therapy is therapy rooted in the understanding of what adoption is, its significance throughout a person’s life, and how it impacts individuals and families.Therapists with this specialized training can provide targeted strategies that address specific adoption-related issues. They also provide a supportive space where clients can find understanding and validation in their unique experiences, including adoption.
Therapists can provide support for all members of the adoption constellation, and offer a family systems approach, addressing family dynamics and challenges. Adoption competent therapy helps mitigate the effects of trauma, improves attachment, and promotes identity development. This therapy helps promote understanding of one’s self, story, and future in a setting where the client doesn’t have to explain to the therapist why adoption is significant.
Unique Challenges Faced by Adoptees
Adoptees face unique challenges including:
- Identity: Struggles with identity formation and understanding personal history.
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Attachment and Trust: Difficulties in forming secure attachments due to early trauma or disrupted caregiving.
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Grief and Loss: Processing feelings of loss related to birth family, culture, or previous homes.
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Ambiguous Loss: Navigating loss related to one’s history, family, and relationships, made more challenging due to unknowns, lack of information, and uncertainties.
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Trauma: Higher prevalence of early trauma and related mental health and psychological impacts.
Key Components of Adoption Competent Therapy
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Specialized Training for Therapists: Importance of therapists receiving training in adoption issues, trauma-informed care, and cultural awareness.
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Focus on Attachment Theory: Emphasizing the development of secure attachments within adoptive families.
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Trauma-Informed Care: Understanding and addressing the impacts of trauma on behavior and emotional regulation.
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Support for Identity Formation: Assisting adoptees in exploring and integrating their identities.
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Family-Centered Approach: Involving adoptive parents and siblings in the therapeutic process.
Outcomes
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Mental and Emotional Well-Being: Reduced symptoms of anxiety, depression, and behavioral issues.
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Stronger Family Bonds: Improved communication and emotional connection within the family unit.
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Resilience and Coping Skills: Enhanced ability to cope with adoption-related challenges and broader life stressors.
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Identity Development: Support for navigating and developing one’s identity, and understanding of one’s adoption story.
Why Adoption Competent Therapy Matters
Adoption competent therapy is a valuable and much-needed resource in support of those impacted by adoption. Adoption competent therapy is essential for addressing the unique and complex needs of adoptees and their families, promoting mental health, and fostering healthy family dynamics. Adoptees, birth parents, adoptive parents, and families can all benefit from meeting with an adoption competent therapist focused on supporting them in navigating adoption-related challenges from an understanding, compassionate and supportive lens.
Current services with an adoption focus that are offered at Alphabet Shuffle, LLC include:
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Individual and family therapy for individuals of all ages who are adopted, as well as their biological and adoptive family members, focused on:
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mental health issues
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grief and loss
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trauma
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identity formation and re-formation
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parenting
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navigating open adoption relationships
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the search and reunion process
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Parent education
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Counseling for biological parents of a child placed for adoption who desire ongoing support
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Mediation between biological and adoptive families after adoption when there are challenges related to openness
Sherry's background includes over 30 years of combined experience working with individuals of all ages who are adopted, as well as their biological and adoptive families. Her clinical experience also extends to foster care, counseling children and adolescents in care along with their foster and biological parents; helping support the reunification of children and their biological family whenever possible through family counseling; and facilitating training and consultation to community organizations.
Over the years, clients have taught us invaluable lessons about the uniqueness of the journey each person walks through adoption and have equipped us with a depth of compassion and respect for everyone involved.
Additionally, Sherry has completed the Training for Adoption Competency (TAC), a post-Master's curriculum developed by the Center for Adoption Support and Education. TAC utilizes a combination of classroom instruction, discussion, and clinical consultation to equip mental health professionals to address the mental health needs and concerns of biological parents, adopted people, adoptive parents, and extended family members with multi-dimensional understanding and skill.
