Healing For Adults Who Grew Up In Adoption Or Foster Care

Positive and practical, this guide is designed to offer a route to recovery from grief and loss after adoption or long-term foster care. Children growing up in adoptive families or foster care often have complicated feelings about the loss of their birth parents - feelings which become all the more complex as they gain independence and become young adults, and which can endure throughout their lives. Common life events such as entering new relationships, building a family or losing a loved one can give rise to difficult questions about their own childhood and identity. In this book, Renée Wolfs provides an accessible explanation of the feelings of loss and grief commonly experienced by adults who grew up in adoptive families or foster care, and how debilitating they can be. She provides grounded advice and strategies to aid recovery and provides the reader with a useful tool: The Circle of Connecting. The Circle provides strategies for healing from loss, spanning all seven elements of your life: your body, mind, heart, environment, past, present and future. This book is essential reading for older teens and adults who need help in addressing feelings of grief and loss, as well as those who support them including adoptive and foster parents, social workers, counsellors and therapists.

Originally published in 1993, this classic piece of literature on adoption has revolutionised the way people think about adopted children. Nancy Verrier examines the life-long consequences of the 'primal wound' - the wound that is caused when a child is separated from its mother - for adopted people. Her argument is supported by thorough research in pre- and perinatal psychology, attachment, bonding and the effects of loss.

In the bestselling tradition of The Five People You Meet in Heaven and Humans of New York comes a collection of authentic, emotional, and inspiring stories about life’s most important moments, as curated by the editors at Love What Matters. “90% of the reads bring me to tears. I just can't believe the love this world truly has when all we see is hate. This is so uplifting.” —Shelsea Where do you go when you want to feel inspired? When you want to forget about the divisiveness and the anger? For over five million people, that place is Love What Matters, a digital platform dedicated to finding and sharing the daily moments of kindness, compassion, and love that so often go overlooked. This curated collection of powerful stories features first person accounts and photographs that perfectly capture each moment: A husband learning he’s about to be a dad. A new mom embracing her body. A cashier inadvertently teaching a young girl a lesson about patience. A bagel from a stranger that saved a homeless man’s life. From long overdue adoptions to military heroes returning home; from a fireman’s touching 9/11 tribute to what an old dinner plate found at a bake sale can teach us all about life—these are the moments that matter. They are genuine. Authentic. Raw. And they are perfect in their imperfection—just like all of us. You will no doubt experience goosebumps and tears, but this mosaic of life’s moments will leave you with something even more profound: a reminder that, in the end, love always wins. “This really is the best page on Facebook. It renews your love of humanity. There are still good people. We need more reports of acts of kindness.” —Johnny

The world is full of hurt children, and bringing one into your home can quickly derail the easy family life you once knew. Get effective suggestions, wisdom, and advice to parent the hurt child in your life. The best hope for tragedy prevention is knowledge! Updated and revised.

Carol Lucas is proud to present this unique book to people with very unique issues – former foster children. It is her desire that hope for them will be found in the pages of this book. FACT (Fostered Adult Children Together) is a support group for former foster children. It is based on Ten Stepping Stones and the Bridge to Healing. Will we ever get over it? That question is what this book is all about. The stories that the author and other former foster children shared in this book should help answer that question, for themselves and other former, current, and future fostering children. Although there are only sixty-one stories in this book, there could be millions. Those stories as a voice to the unheard millions. The purpose of the foster care system is to provide a safe haven for children without one, helping them to cross the bridge from foster care to aging out, but sadly the bridge leads to nowhere. Many former foster children end up homeless, dumpster diving for food, on drugs, incarcerated, at worst in body bags, at best, living on the fringes of life.

Why doesn’t our child return our love? What are we failing to understand? What are we failing to do? These questions can fill the minds of adoptive parents caring for wounded, traumatized children. Families often enter into this experience with high expectations for their child and for themselves but are broadsided by shattered assumptions. This book addresses the reality of those unmet expectations and offers validation and solutions for the challenges of parenting deeply traumatized and emotionally disturbed children.

The essential guide to parenting adopted and foster kids--learn to create felt safety, heal attachment trauma, and navigate challenging behaviors and triggers Children who have been adopted and/or shuttled through the foster-care system experience trauma at a much higher rate than other kids, which can make it difficult for them to trust, relax, regulate their emotions, and connect with their new families. As a parent, learning how to heal attachment trauma, attune to your child's needs, identify triggers, and create felt safety is essential to providing the loving, supportive, and stable home they need to thrive. Written for parents of adopted and foster kids of all ages, this book offers resources for handling common concerns like sleep issues, food sensitivities, anger, fear, and reactivity. It also provides guidance on navigating transracial adoptions, working through parents' own hang-ups, and recognizing signs of developmental and psychological conditions. The book highlights practical strategies and provides real-life examples to address questions like: How do I help my adopted child adjust? Is this kind of behavior "normal"? How do I help my child live, heal, and thrive with PTSD?

A comprehensive overview for professionals working with traumatized children, which outlines the theory and practice of life story therapy, a method which helps children and cares to question and resolve issues and events within a child's life.