Overview: Changing Trends in Foster Care and Adoption

This session will provide:

participation, discussion of program outcomes, and assigned coursework necessary for certification.

thorough grounding of participants in the changing trends in foster care and adoption in New York and Nationally.

an overview of the child welfare, mental health, and adoption systems in New York and Nationally.

a full historical grounding of adoption in the U.S.

an overview of strength-based, family centered, culturally competent perspectives for working with those affected by adoption and foster, kin and guardianship.

a discussion of the importance of advocacy in the world of foster care and adoption.

introduction of the concept of the adoption triad and the importance of understanding that adoptive families are extended families.

discussion about the use of the adoption practice log.

Core Clinical Issues in Adoption/Adoption Family Systems

This session will provide:

an introduction to the normative crises in the development of the adoptive family and the child

a discussion of the treatment needs of birth and adoptive families

a review of child and adolescent developmental issues

a discussion of the predictable adjustment stages in adoptive child and family development

a thorough discussion about kinship care issues as they relate to adoption

a discussion about the importance of working with children and youth who are free for adoption, and not yet in permanent homes

a discussion about behavior problems as coping strategies.

a discussion about the detrimental nature of multiple placements and impermanence on a child or youth who has experienced foster care.

a thorough review of family systems theory and dynamics in adoptive families

an opportunity to compare and contrast theories

THIRD SESSION

Pre and Post adoption issues for birthparents and families and for adoptive parents and families (including a discussion of impact of infertility on adoption)

This session will provide:

an introduction to birth family issues at the time of placement or removal and issues that impact and effect the extended birth family

a panel of birth parents, including birth mother and birth fathers will be invited to meet with and present to the class

a review of the issues of grief, loss, depression as a result of placing a child or having child removed- mother/father perspectives

an introduction to an individual or couple and their families' way of dealing with infertility issues

a review of grief, loss, depression as a result of infertility (even though many who adopt from the public system may not have come to adoption because of infertility issues) and how that might impact the issues of parenting a child by adoption

FOURTH AND FIFTH SESSIONS

Assessing, Intervening and Creating a Treatment Plan

This module will introduce diagnosis and assessment as they pertain to addressing issues commonly experienced by adopted children and their families. Our goal in these sessions, are not to pathologize adoption or any member of the adoption triad, but to acknowledge the critical importance of appropriate assessment and interventions which are clinically sound and promote adoption competent practice.

This introduction will refer to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) to provide the theoretical and skill basis for this session. Unique to this module will be an exploration of the underlying trauma experienced by children who have experienced abuse, and/or neglect in addition to the separation from their birth families. Participants also will distinguish between trauma and dissociative disorders-such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder-that may emulate other trauma-related diagnoses. Participants will explore the various interventions mental health professionals can use and strategies to offer to parents in order to assist the child in coping with trauma-related symptoms and behaviors.

Assessment, Diagnosis, and Intervention: Attachment and Bonding

Attachment issues are endemic to children who have experienced abuse, neglect, and separation from primary caregivers. Building on the theories and strategies covered in Session VI, this module will apply diagnostic assessment techniques to identify and address attachment disorders vs. normal issues of trust/mistrust. This module will present attachment-oriented theory, address how to rule out or diagnose reactive attachment disorder (RAD), and how to explore the various interventions mental health professionals can use and offer to parents to facilitate their child's attachment. In addition, we will look at the attachment styles of the adults and how those may enhance or decrease the attachment process of the child.

Assessment, Diagnosis, and Intervention: Mental Health and Neurological Disorders

Professionals and parents must first understand the link between brain development and behavior before they can develop skills to support children who have neurological challenges. Recent research confirms that abuse, neglect and trauma can "rewire" a child's brain. Likewise, fetal alcohol syndrome/effect (FAS/E) and other alcohol, and drug-related neurological disorders can shape a child's behavior and relationships. Similarly, mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) often are linked to differences in brain chemistry. Children with brain injuries often face challenges similar to children with other neurological impairments. This module is a comprehensive look at the current research in the field. It will present specialized parenting skills that professionals can teach families to use with their neurologically impaired child.

Impact of Abuse and Neglect on Child Development

The experience of children adopted through the child welfare system shapes their development-from infancy through adulthood. This module compares normal childhood development and its tasks with developmental interruptions and transformations resulting from childhood abuse, neglect, and trauma. It will reference recent brain research to explore the impact of these traumas on the child's psychological and physiological development. The module also will study the impact of abuse, neglect and trauma on the parent's as well as the child's attachment style and process and the behaviors that can result, and in will teach interventions that mental health professionals and parents can use to facilitate positive developmental progress. Medical issues specific to maltreated children will also be address in this session.

Promoting Positive Sexual Development after Abuse and Neglect

The majority of children in foster care and those who are adopted have been sexually abused. Due to this extremely high rate, this module will explore the impact of sexual abuse on children throughout their development. Participants will explore the various interventions mental health professionals can use and offer to parents to facilitate their child's positive sexual development. We will also look at the impact of past abuses to the parent and how to address the adult's needs so as not to trigger reactions in the child.

SEVENTH SESSION

Child Centered and Sensitive Treatment in Adoption

Family centered, child focused practice is the norm in today's therapeutic work with children, youth, and families. This session-- using film, role plays, and discussion-- will focus on promoting and assisting therapists in developing adoption sensitive and competent treatment for members of the adoption triad and others connected to that family who may seek their assistance.

EIGHTH SESSION

Clinical Practice with Diverse Children, Youth and Families

Issues of difference, identity, and belonging affect adopted children, birth parents and adoptive parents alike. Birth parents have been parents to a child, at least during gestation, but are no longer the parent of that child after adoption. Adoptive parents may feel they are different from biological parents because they did not give birth to this child. Children feel different because of their histories and connections to two families and the feelings of loss and lost information that is a part of their story. These differences may be compounded by additional issues of diversity brought on by transracial or transcultural adoptions, adoption by gay or lesbian couples, and/or adoption by a child's relatives. This module will explore the therapeutic implications for working with diverse families and will briefly address the issues around inter-country adoption.

NINTH SESSION

Search and Reunion Issues for Adoption Triad Members

Search and reunion-- two very separate issues-- need to be viewed on a continuum. The continuum of closed adoption, open adoption, internal search, external search, minor search, adult searches, and a plethora of reunion options.

Although the search process can begin at any point in one's life, and is really an ongoing internal process for everyone (adopted or not), school age children begin to understand the implications that are inherent in not living with one's birth family. Many children start to feel a sense of loss for not being with their birth parents. Certainly this is true for children who are adopted as school-age children or older; but even if a child is adopted or fostered as an infant, he or she will experience a sense of loss for their birth family and will grieve in their own unique way for this loss.

Often, as Brodzinsky and colleagues (1992, p. 71) note, “the adopted person doesn't even know why he feels so sad or so angry; the possibility that his feelings are related to grief is too abstract for him to grasp, and he suffers his emotions without being able to put a name on them." Almost all adopted persons search for their birth families.

Why did I get adopted? What is my birth family really like? I wonder if they ever think about me? - These are all questions that children and youth who are separated from their families ask out loud, or in the quiet privacy of self reflection. This search usually begins during the early school years and intellectual development progresses as the child grows. Some children delay this search until young adulthood, adulthood, and others, may never engage in a formal search, although a litany of changed, jobs, marriages etc. can be an outward manifestation of an inward search.

Although not all adopted persons will have a reunion with their birth families, all will search in some ways for them. Whether the search is a private one, not discussed with other family members, done on-line or by a visit to vital statistics, or one which is facilitated with assistance from a professional adoption search expert, all members of the adoption triad may need support and assistance in this process. This session, will address these critical issues form the perspectives of all members of the adoption triad: adopted person, adopted parent, and birth parent. We will also look at the bias and judgment that a professional can bring to session and how important it is to reflect on self as we work with these complex families.

TENTH SESSION

Clinical Practice/Therapeutic Strategies with Adoptive Triad Members

Participants will integrate the concepts and skills they have learned throughout the course through participation in interactive case studies of adoptive families. This module will feature a live therapy session between a nationally-known adoptive family therapy expert and an adoptive family. This final module will also provide an opportunity for students to consider various theoretical approaches and how they address issues specific to children with histories of abuse, neglect and trauma, as well as to the families who raise them.