The New York Times blog interviewed some lawyers and social workers about how to prevent adoption problems.
I particularly agreed with what Howard University law professor Cynthia Mabry said about the benefits of providing post-adoption support:
Counseling Services. Counseling will help the parent to identify ways of addressing the challenges that the child presents and to deal with the parent’s frustrations and feelings as she endeavors to help her child. Counseling for the child will help him to overcome the horrific atrocities (like abuse or neglect at the orphanage and his birth mother’s abandonment) that he has experienced in his short life and to deal with his feelings in more appropriate ways.
Parenting Classes. These classes will help parents to provide support for children who come with various challenges and teach them how to help a child deal with the painful past experiences. Parents also need respite care, especially when dealing with a difficult child.
Post-adoption Reports. An evaluator should visit the home and file a report about the child’s adjustment. Because in-depth probing is often resisted by parents, procedures may need to be reviewed and modified to protect all members of the agency-parent-child triad.
Support Networks. Parents who have adopted children from the same country, especially parents who have had similar experiences, should be made available to provide ideas for problem solving as well as comfort for the parent and interaction with children of a shared nationality. When a child’s challenges cannot be addressed in an out-patient manner, he may be a candidate for inpatient treatment.
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