How Do Teachers Understand Adoption (and What Can Parents Do About It?)

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What do teachers understand about adoption? What are the misperceptions? We talk with two researchers on this topic: Dr. Hal Grotevant, the Rudd Family Foundation Chair in Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Dr. Abbie Goldberg, a Professor of Psychology and current Director of Women’s & Gender Studies at Clark University.

In this episode, we cover:

• How knowledgeable were teachers in understanding the impact of trauma?
• How knowledgeable were teachers in understanding the impact of attachment?
• How knowledgeable were teachers in understanding the impact of adoption?
• How knowledgeable were teachers in understanding the impact of prenatal exposure?
• Was there a perception that adopted kids were “troubled”?
• What did they know about open adoption?
• How accepting were teachers to the idea of modifying assignments to reflect diverse families, including those formed by adoption?
• Do teachers know whether kids are adopted? Do they need to know? Do they feel comfortable asking for this information?
• Did teachers present lessons that included the diversity that adoption represents?
• Does teacher training, either formal or in-service, often include information on adoption?
• What can parents do to help their child’s teacher be more adoption-aware or adoption-sensitive?
• Where can listeners get more information on your research?
  • The “Teachers and Adopted Children” Survey and the Factsheet for Teacher can be found here.

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