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I
work to help people gain an understanding of both
their short-term and their long-term needs - empowering
them and enabling them to make decisions conscious
of the role that adoption will continue to play
throughout their lifes.
Because we still do not understand that adoption
is an ongoing process, we do not adequately educate
the professionals who work with adoption. Adoption
professionals have contact with their clients
before, during and immediately after the placement
process. Their job is to meet their clients' needs
- at the time of placement.
Because
their working relationships end just as the adoption
is beginning, they are not aware of how their
clients' needs will change dramatically over the
years. They do not take these long-term needs
into account as they help their clients proceed
in making adoption plans.
I work in a variety of ways to help parents learn
about themselves and their children. Some families
only need information in order to understand where
they are in their family's development. These
parents often come in every once in awhile for
a consultation. Other parents want more support
and come in for some ongoing work. My goal is
to empower parents and have them feel good about
their family life, it is not to have them become
dependent on therapy.
PreAdopt Program
Is adoption right for you?
A curriculum designed to help both pregnant women/couples
and prospective adoptive parents understand both
the ongoing nature of adoption and how adoption
will affect and inform their lives over the long-run.
How do people make choices now that include the
things that will be important to them in the future.
How do people make decisions about which adoption
is right for them?
Consultations
Not everyone wants or needs
therapy. Sometimes it helps just to have information
about where you are in your development and what
is likely to come up next
Short Term
Crises Management
Sometimes things happen
that throw people
into
disequilibrium. During these times it is helpful
to work with someone who can help
provide
a structure and a “holding environment”
so that they
can
struggle forward in safety. Once they
have
restabilized, they
go back to their
life
enriched rather than depleted by the experience.
Ongoing
Counseling/Therapy
Identifying
areas in your life that
you would like to examine and work on in an ongoing
way
Clinical
Mediation
Mediation is becoming a
common form of dispute resolution. But does it
resolve anything? All too often people are forced
to accept a resolution that is unlivable for either
party. Clinical mediation offers people an opportunity
to get to a beginning place – a place where
their intentions are clear and then later offers
support, education and guidance as the parties
begin to work together to get to a place that
is, if you’ll excuse the expression “win-win”.
LGBT Adoptive Parenting
Having lived, worked, written
and taught about LGBT parented adoption for many
years, I am one of the foremost thinkers in the
field. Too often attention is paid to the sexual
orientation of the parents and not enough attention
is placed upon the need to learn about what it
means to a child to be adopted. Too
often people focus on parents’ rights rather
than on children’s needs. LGBT parents
are particularly suited to understand and mentor
their adopted children. They have experienced
many of the same feelings as their children and
when this is understood LGBT parents have the
potential to become exceptional adoptive parents.
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