Perspectives on Challenged Family Building

Ronnie arrived for therapy in a good mood. The family had just been to see the Karate Kid at the movie theater. He was eager to talk about how much fun he had in watching the “bullies” in the movie being “overcome.” This offered the ideal opening to talk to Ronnie about the fact that [...]

Welcome to Part Two of our post about helping healthy kids stay healthy. As we learned in Part One, brothers and sisters can become overwhelmed—just like parents—after an adoptee with complex trauma joins the family. The sibling they expected may not be the sibling that arrived. Disillusioned and let down by the new child who [...]

Post-adoption, each member of the newly formed adoptive family will begin to adjust and cope with the changes in the family. Frequently, in families that include a child with a history of trauma, the trauma renders coping skills ineffective—there is a depletion of coping skills. Subsequently, parents arrive in therapy stating, “Nothing works!” “We’ve tried [...]