Talking about Adoption Part II

This course is designed for adoptive parents who already have children in placement (from 3 months after they have welcomed their child). It is an opportunity to think about how to talk to children about birth family, how to address difficult historical information and how to keep this dialogue alive.

We are aware that communication openness is a highly significant factor in positive mental health outcomes for young people, and that a high proportion of adoptees still say that they didn’t feel they had enough information about their birth family growing up. We also know that in the general busy-ness of everyday life this is something that can be low on the priority list for new families.

The Talking About Adoption Part II course is an opportunity to bring case-specific questions and think about scripts and communication tools that may be helpful to the attendee’s children, specifically in understanding their story, as well as some general discussion of why openness is so important and exploration of what the barriers to this might be.

Please note that Talking about Adoption Part I is mandatory in the assessment process and Part II is for once a child is in their placement.