Adopting a child allows families in Texas the opportunity to grow their family and simultaneously provide a supportive and stable home for a child in need. Parents that understand the responsibility of facilitating a child’s foster-to-adoption experience may more successfully help their new family member to feel welcomed and wanted.
Because the adoption experience is so different depending on a child’s circumstances and background, parents would benefit from committing adequate time to understanding their child’s needs.
Encouraging the child’s involvement
Children are much smarter than many people realize and capable of making important decisions when they have support. According to creatingafamily.org, parents should allow their child to express his or her opinion and participate in making crucial decisions. Some of the choices they may request help in making include their child’s desire to maintain a relationship with his or her foster family, his or her interest in communicating with birth relatives and his or her necessity for ongoing therapy or support for emotional trauma.
Acting as an ally
Parents who work alongside their newly adopted child may send the message that they are fully committed to providing love and reassurance. Childwelfare.gov suggests that parents establish exciting new traditions and celebrations while honoring personal aspects of their child’s life including his or her heritage and culture. Parents can also promote attachment by setting goals together as a family and identifying their new child’s ambitions and desires for the future.
Parents should always speak respectfully about their child’s adoption story and work together with their child to find comfortable and respectful ways to address difficult questions that others may ask.
