News from Serbia: Meeting With the Ministry of Labor, Veterans and Social Affairs, Department of Family Support and Social Protection

News from SERBIA: Yesterday's meeting with the Ministry of Labor, Veterans and Social Affairs, Department of Family Support and Social Protection. Incredibly progressive attitudes towards prevention of abandonment, family preservation, permanency planning and the Triad. This may be one of the few countries that actually supports open adoption and supports mediation when requested. Impressive!!!

Hogwarts Adoption Support Forum and Blog - Very Interesting

Support Forum and Blog. 

What is Hogwarts Adoption?

• A way for parents (especially foster/adoptive) to engage with kids in their care and start conversations about difficult situations
• An opportunity for parents (especially foster/adoptive) to talk with other parents in the same situation, find support, and discover resources
• A safe place – foster/adoptive families will be encouraged; we understand that many families in these situations are being asked to deal with events they are not necessarily equipped to handle

Learn more.

SOAR & Hopscotch Adoptions, Inc -North Carolina Wine Tasting To Support Armenian Orphans

NAMI Piedmont Tri-County Walk for 1 in 4

Source: http://www.razoo.com/story/Ericka-Kauer-Fundraising-For-Nami-Piedmont-Tri-County-Walk-For-1-In-4

Adoptive families really know the value of accessing mental health services and support. Here's a great chance to support that for families in your own community.

Did you know that 1 in 5 children are affected by mental illness in a given year? Your support matters to our family and many, many others!

We knew from almost the very start that our daughter, Ava, was different from other kids. As time went on, her struggles became more pronounced. After years of evaluations, she was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and a mild Intellectual Disability at age 9. Her increasingly isolating behaviors threatened to tear our family apart. We were truly a family in crisis. It was then that we found NAMI. At the NAMI Piedmont Tri-County, Family to Family course, we started to understand the challenges Ava faces every minute of every day. The education we received at NAMI Family to Family and NAMI Basics has been life changing. As a result of attending NAMI support groups, we have learned to become better advocates for Ava in the school setting as well as in the community. The caring and generous nature of the many NAMI Piedmont Tri-County volunteers we have met has provided much needed emotional as well as educational support to us.

Read more.

Making Adjustments at Home

Parents adopting internationally are usually concerned about what will happen after they meet and bring home their new child and what factors can affect this, both negatively and positively. They want to know what they can do to have the most positive adjustment possible, for their child and their family. Questions parents may have before adoptive placement include:

What will affect my child’s --

• Initial reaction to me  
• Behavior while traveling
• Transition to a new home
• Gradual adjustment to a new home and family
• Attachment to me/us as parent(s)
• Long-term adjustments, behavior, and development

How much of the influences for adoption adjustment come from –

• My child’s experiences and age before adoption
• My child’s genetic inheritance, intelligence, and health
• My child’s individual temperament and personality
• My own preparation for international adoption challenges and parenting
• My own personal strengths and limits in coping with parenting and stress
• The support and resources available to me, my child, my family

So much of adoption adjustment for families- both children and parents—is dependent upon the unpredictable interchanges between all of these factors, plus the addition of unexpected issues, both small and large, such as weather and travel problems, political and social changes in the child’s country, lost paperwork, unexpected health issue, and so on. The range of possibilities is vast and mind-boggling. And two or three families going through the same type of experiences may have two or three very different opinions about the adoption process and travel, based on their own experiences and strengths.

There are a number of practical suggestions, however, from adoptive parents and adoption professionals, which can help families, prepare for and cope with many of the expected and unexpected challenges in international adoption as parents head for the “home stretch” with their new child. Most parents and professionals say it is enormously helpful to understand as many of the challenges you may face in international adoption and related strategies for coping with these, as is possible. Their views about international adoption might be summarized as “Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”

Attachment and International Adoption. From Choices and Challenges in International Adoption by Joan McNamara ©2009