Help, I Don't Think I Can Continue With This Adoption!

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Are you really struggling with your adoption and feeling you've made a huge mistake? Listen to this interview with Lindsay Lanham, MSW. She works at Holt International and is the author of the online article “Predictors of Adoption Disruption and Dissolution: A Literature Review.”

In this episode, we cover:

• Difference between an adoption disruption and adoption dissolution. 
• What causes an adoption to fail? What causes parents to say: “Help, I don’t think I can continue this adoption?”
• Child-related factors:
  • Child’s age
  • Child’s behavior 
    • Aggression or children who sexually act out
  • Are sibling placements more stable?
• Adoptive parent-related factors:
  • Demographic characteristics? (age, marital status, parenting experience, income, race)
  • Parental expectations
  • Parenting style
  • Relationship prior to the adoptive placement
  • Characteristics of parents in successful adoptions
• Adoption professional-related factors:
  • Identify problems quickly and provide support
  • How to address children who have experienced sexual abuse. “It is recommended that social workers universally prepare families for behaviors associated with sexual abuse trauma and the possible impact of sexual abuse. Adoptive families should have the language necessary to speak about child sexual abuse and know how to access supportive resources in their community, such as child advocacy centers, prior to placement.”
• What should parents do when they realize that the adoption isn’t going as they had hoped/planned?
  • Identify the problem quickly and get support.
  • Reset expectations
  • Self-care
  • Get help
• What should parents do if they are reaching the point where they want to dissolve an adoption?

Resource: Predictors of Adoption Disruption and Dissolution: A Literature Review 

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