As an adoptive parent and therapist,
I am aware of the joys as well as
challenges of adoptive parenting.
I can help you to clarify your needs
and goals during the pre-adoption
process and to deal with post-
adoption parenting issues.
Common pre-adoptive issues that prospective adoptive parents explore are:
- Moving from infertility to adoption.
- Am I ready to parent?
- My spouse is ready to adopt, but I am not.
- Domestic vs. international adoption.
- Adopting infants and toddlers vs. older children.
- Family history and parenting styles.
- Needs of adoptive children.
- What kind of special needs would I feel comfortable dealing with?
- Adjustments upon arriving home.
- Explaining adoption to young children.
- Birth family discussions.
- Birth family contact considerations.
- Attachment issues.
- Post-instituionalized behavior.
- Learning issues.
I am a Certified Beyond Consequences Institute (BCI) instructor.
The BCI model is a love-based approach to handling children with severe
behaviors. It was developed to deal with attachment and other adjustment
issues that adopted, foster and other children face. It is based on the
premise that traditional behavioral modification methods often don't work
with children with severe behaviors. The BCI model can also be effective
in parenting children who fall into the "normal" range of behavior.