Adoptive parents are being required to take courses to prepare them for the adoption experience

Some Good Reasons to take Adoption Education Classes.

Now that the U.S. is implementing the Hague Treaty on International Adoptions, adoptive parents are being required to take courses to prepare them for the adoption experience. For many, this seems like one more burden added to an arduous adoption process. Having been through the experience of international adoption myself, I understand why people may be feeling negative and resistant about having to take the courses. However, having been involved in conducting adoption home studies since 1974, I see how taking the courses may help potential adoptive parents better understand the issues they may encounter when their newly adopted child joins the family.

Competent social workers have always included the discussion of adoption issues in the home study process, even before such discussion was first required by our Immigration Service back in 1994. We’ve always talked about medical issues, emotional and adjustment issues, and trans-cultural and trans-racial issues. But these discussions haven’t always had the kind of impact for which we’ve hoped. This is probably partly because families are feeling so anxious during the home study process. When people are worried about gathering all the necessary documents for their home studies and their dossiers, and feeling threatened by the evaluative nature of the home study, it’s hard to concentrate and its educational content. So the fact that the educational courses help people focus on issues important in international adoption, in a process that feels more neutral and is separated from direct interaction with the social worker conducting the home study, helps people begin to absorb important information.

Most people adopting internationally, are adopting children who have been living in orphanages. The courses help families understand the impact of institutionalization on children. What does it mean, for example, to live in an institution in which individual attention barely exists, nutrition is limited, stimulation may be non existent, and independence and curiosity are discouraged? How is a child’s ability to make healthy and enduring connections to other people affected by a changing array of care givers? What is the impact on intellectual development of the absence of toys and a minimum of verbal communication? How can one differentiate between behavior caused by neurological damage and that caused by lack of stimulation? What are the affects on family relationships and interaction of the introduction of a new child to the family? How does age impact on the newly adopted child’s behavior, personality, and adjustment? What kinds of help will be needed as the adopted child enters the school system?

All of the questions noted above are concerns for new adoptive parents, and the many courses available to them, help with answers and provide techniques for handling problems. There are a variety of on-line courses as well as those provided by agencies and organizations to help you deal with the complexities of international adoption. So embrace the numerous opportunities for learning that will help you with the wonderful new challenges that await you.

Miriam Vieni, L.C.S.W.
www.nyhomestudy.com
www.nyhomestudy.com/miriam-vieni.htm
www.nyhomestudy.net
miriamvieni@optonline.net
(516) 333-4999
Fax (516) 876-8246

Article Source: http://www.adoptiondoctors.com/articles

Miriam Vieni, L.C.S.W. www.nyhomestudy.com www.nyhomestudy.com/miriam-vieni.htm www.nyhomestudy.net miriamvieni@optonline.net (516) 333-4999 Fax (516) 876-8246

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