Adoption Foster Care

I stumbled across a blog post from an adoption website a couple of months ago that summed up in a nutshell the type of desperate situations adoptive parents sometimes find themselves in.  This was posted on a public forum--I have removed the poster's name, nonetheless to respect her privacy. "Last year, my husband and I became first time parents to a little girl, age 18 mos, who was referred to us as a happy healthy child from the foster care system. Over the next 6 mos, our lives crumbled as it became clear that our child is severely mentally and emotionally damaged. Some of her labels came to include RAD, PDD, FASD...but what really affected us was the fact that we had dozens of professionals who told us she was too young and too sick to be helped." Wow.  What a heart wrenching post.  It actually got worse--describing a child who violently attacked both people and pets and seemed to feel no emotion at all.  I don't write about this or point it out to scare prospect...

Families experience great joy as they welcome their newly adopted or foster child into their family. When a child comes home, parents might start counseling right away or the need may not arise until a later time, such as adolescence. Finding the right therapist can be a challenging task, especially if a parent is not familiar with the counseling field. This article gives parents direction on choosing the right adoption counselor for their child. There are many factors to consider from insurance and office location, to the therapist's degree and training. Any reputable therapist will be happy to answer questions about themselves and their practice. Some questions to ask the prospective therapist include:     Do you have a Masters degree (or above) in a counseling related field? Counseling related fields include: psychology, social work, psychiatry, and marriage and family therapy.     Do you have a license to practice independently? Each state and degree ha...