Moving from being a child in foster care to an adoptive member of the family is a transition that extends well past when the formal process is completed. It is a gradual process for all members of the family and requires careful consideration and planning to ensure that children and youth can smoothly adapt to their new permanency. Caseworkers and family members should work together to develop a plan to help the child or youth through the transition process.
Child Welfare Information Gateway provides an important resource to help families navigate through this transition. Click the link below to read the foster care to adoption reference sheet.
Helping Your Child Transition from Foster Care to Adoption
There are many ways adoptive parents can help their newly adopted child adjust. Some examples include creating "life books," that feature important memories and people from a child's past, enlisting the support of significant attachment figures in the child's past to help ease the transition, or planning how you will acknowledge all the questions a child or youth may have about the process, their history, and what it means to their identity.
It can be challenging to navigate the process as children's reactions vary. Many children and youth wrestle with grief and loss and may need a helping hand to resolve these feelings and form new or strengthen existing attachments. There are many postadoption services and support networks that parents can utilize to give them the tools they need to support their children and themselves throughout the process.
3 Resources on Easing a Child/Youth's Transition to Adoption
Please read all three of the resources below to receive credit for this training.
Transitioning Your Child from Foster Care to Adoption by by Creating a Family
Foster Care to Adoption - Preparing Youths and Families for the Transition by Deborah H. Siegel, Social Work Today
Staying Connected: How Foster Parents Can Help Smooth Adoption Transitions by North America Council on Adoptable Children
For more information on attachment-focused parenting visit www.childwelfare.gov.
Remember to complete your continuing education credit report for each training you complete. This will help to ensure that you are receiving credit for any training hours completed and that those hours are applied to your required 12 hours per year of in-service training.