Adopting a child is an incredibly rewarding experience. You’ll be brightening the life of both yourself and the child you bring into your life. The process of adoption can be confusing, and the rules can be alienating. Adopting a child from another state makes the process even more complicated. But don’t worry, it’s still very doable!
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Often, crime-and-punishment style discipline focuses only on the bad behavior, not on the underlying cause. It is important to focus not on what your child did, but on why they did it. Children who have experienced trauma often have a hard time stating their needs or trusting that their needs will be met.
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When you finally sign the last of the papers, you might be hoping for the feeling of happily ever after. While your adoption story should always be a tale of joy and love, there will always be some complicated feelings, too.
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The challenges inside the family unit are massive. As a foster parent or adoptive parent, the unique challenges of your life may seem to take over your time. You must maintain relationships outside your family.
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At first glance, play may seem inconsequential. Of course it’s fun — that’s the entire point of it, right? It’s a way for children to entertain themselves and pass the time. However, there’s a lot more to play than first meets the eye. It’s far more than just a bit of fun; it is in fact essential for your child’s growth and development. In this article we’ll take a closer look at the benefits of play and why it is important to your child.
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Adoption conversations with children can be difficult, and perhaps never more so when there are multiple children involved. If your adopted child has a birth sibling being parented by one or both birth parents, it may be tempting to hide that information from them. You may feel as though you are shielding them from heartache, but as with all adoption conversations, the most important rule is that honesty is always the best policy.
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There are many parts of the adoption process that adoptive parents dread — the home study is often cited as the scariest part, while others hate all of the initial paperwork. However, the one part that is pretty universally dreaded is the waiting period.
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Many families who have adopted a child have the privilege to be in an open adoption with a lot of ongoing communication. This provides so many benefits to both the parents and the child. However, no matter how close of a bond birth parents and adoptive parents may have, some things may be left unsaid.
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When a child is placed for adoption, it is inevitable that they will have questions you simply cannot answer. Your child will want some kind of understanding about why their birth parents chose not to keep them. Hearing the story from their birth parents will be heard differently than the same story heard over and over from you and agency counselors.
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Transracial adoption is becoming more common. While adopting a child from a different racial background from yours comes with several challenges, there are also many amazing benefits. Below, we’ll talk about five of those benefits, both for the child and the adoptive parents.
