Perspectives on Challenged Family Building

Typical children are often the least involved throughout the adoption process. Few agencies provide them information about the brother or sister to come, or the changes the family may experience when adopting a child with mental health diagnoses (i.e., PTSD, Bi-Polar Disorder, AD/HD, RAD, etc.) Parents tend to focus on issues such as sharing a [...]

In our previous blog, This is Not the Brother or Sister I Expected, we pointed out that how professionals and parents handle the dissemination of information—to their typical sons and daughters— about a sibling’s special needs will greatly influence the adjustment of the children already in the family (Meyer & Vadasy, 1994). This, in turn, [...]

It is always great to get positive news! For adoptive families, it can be a ray of sunshine amidst a sometimes dark and dreary situation. It is especially nice for parents to know that, “yes”, your sons and daughters, developing “normally”, can and do come out of a difficult family situation with some great qualities!

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