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Contact
To make a referral or schedule a training, contact Jana Leonard at jleonard@spence-chapin.org
or 212-360-0267. Us  Although adoption is a positive and necessary step for many foster children, it can also create ambivalent feelings for the child. Some of the most common emotions that may surface are feelings of grief, loss, abandonment and anger.  There are nearly 115,000 children in foster care in the United States who cannot return to their biological family and are waiting for a permanent home with a loving family. (From the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.)
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FACES: Foster-Adoption Counseling, Education and SupportFamilies who adopt through foster care have a unique opportunity to bring positive change to a child's life by providing a safe, loving, and permanent family. Spence-Chapin believes that support from the community strengthens a family's ability to bring about such positive change. The FACES program at Spence-Chapin's Adoption Resource Center provides free services to families and professionals including:Counseling and Consultation"My child was placed in my home as an infant. Now she is 6 and I haven't told her yet that she was adopted. Do I need to wait until she is older? Will she understand now?""My 13-year-old is angry, skipping school, and staying out late. I'm not sure I can tolerate this any more. What can I do?" "I am adopting my foster child, but she still misses her birth mom and cries for her every night. How do I help my child cope?" Families who are at any stage in the process of adopting from foster care are invited to explore their individual concerns or questions with one of our social workers. These services are available in both English and Spanish. For more information, or to make a referral, contact Jana Leonard at jleonard@spence-chapin.org or 212-360-0267. To speak with someone in Spanish, contact Hilda Gieco at hgieco@spence-chapin.org or 212-360-0257. Pre-Adoptive Kids' GroupsThese multi-session groups provide kids with an opportunity to meet other children their age who are also being adopted from foster care. Within the safe environment of the group, kids can share their thoughts and feelings about living in foster care and being adopted. Parents meet separately at the same time to discuss how to best help their family manage the transition from foster care to adoption.Adoption Trainings for Foster ParentsThese trainings will educate foster parents about the unique issues of adoption, such as how adoption differs from foster care and how adoption will directly impact their family life. Trainings are generally two-hours in length, and can be given on-site at your foster care agency, or at Spence-Chapin's Manhattan office. The trainings can be offered as part of a series or individually. Contact Jana Leonard at jleonard@spence-chapin.org or 212-360-0267 to schedule a training.Foster Care Adoption 101: How Adoption Differs from Foster CareThis training will introduce parents to the unique aspects of adoption that differ from foster care, and how this will impact their family. It will provide an introduction to some basic concepts about adoption such as permanency and claiming, losses associated with adoption, and strengthening attachments within the adoptive family. Moving from Foster Care to AdoptionThis training serves as a follow-up to Foster Care Adoption 101. It will help foster parents think about how the adoption finalization will impact their family and how they can continue to meet their child's needs once this happens. It will provide concrete information about what kinds of resources are available and where to find them, as well as address the changing dynamics brought about by adoption within a family. Grief and Loss and AdoptionWhile adoption brings much joy and fulfillment into a family, it also brings its own losses into a child's life. Children being adopted from foster care have experienced a significant loss in being separated from their birth family. This training helps parents learn about the losses experienced by their children and how to help their children work through their grief. Defining Boundaries With Birth FamiliesChildren adopted from foster care have a wide range of experiences with their birth families. Some have no memory of them, while others have years worth of memories and experiences that they bring with them to their new family. Regardless of their experience, the birth family will exist at some point in a child's fantasy or memory when they are establishing their own identity. This training teaches parents how to help children incorporate their thoughts, memories and experiences about their birth family into their identity in a healthy way. It also helps parents address more concrete issues such as how much contact to have with birth family members following the adoption, or what to consider when making post-adoption contact agreements. Finding the Right Words: Talking With Children About AdoptionIt is not always easy to know what to say and when to say it, especially when facing difficult questions about a child's adoption. This workshop provides strategies and guidelines for talking with children about their adoption and birth history at different ages and stages. The workshop also helps parents learn how to share sensitive information for the first time. Effective Discipline for Foster and Adoptive ChildrenSometimes the difficult life experiences of a child can lead to challenging behaviors. This training teaches foster parents how adoption and a child's pre-adoptive experiences influence their behavior and provides effective strategies for managing this behavior. Adoption Trainings for ProfessionalsThese trainings for child welfare professionals address issues specifically related to adoption. The trainings help professionals prepare the families they work with for adoption and strengthen their efforts to provide safe, loving, permanent families for children in foster care. Trainings can be provided on-site at your agency and can be tailored to meet the specific needs of your staff. To schedule a training contact Jana Leonard at jleonard@spence-chapin.org or 212-360-0267.Clinical Issues in AdoptionThis training, most appropriate for therapists and clinical staff, addresses the clinical aspects of the lifelong impact of adoption. It focus on the core issues of adoption such as: grief and loss, attachment and bonding, identity, control, and divided loyalties. The training emphasizes taking a systemic approach in working with adoptive families and individuals and provides examples of appropriate therapeutic goals for adoptive families. The specific needs of children adopted at an older age will also be highlighted. Helping Parents Change from Foster to Adoptive ParentingThis training teaches case workers how to help families prepare for the transition from foster care to adoption. It will emphasize the differences between adoption and foster care and focuses on how adoption will impact not only the life of the foster child, but the entire family system. Case workers will learn how to help foster parents manage these changing family dynamics, and consider how their parental role will shift with the permanency of adoption. Finding the Right Words: How to Talk With Children About AdoptionIt is not always easy to know what to say and when to say it, especially when facing difficult questions about a child's adoption. This workshop provides strategies and guidelines for talking with children about their adoption and birth history at different ages and stages. It also helps child welfare professionals learn how to coach parents in sharing sensitive information for the first time. Grief and Loss in Adoption and Foster CareWhile adoption brings much joy and fulfillment into a family, it also brings its own losses into a child's life. Children being adopted from foster care have experienced a significant loss in being separated from their birth family. This training teaches professionals how to help children going through the adoption process work through their grief. It also provides strategies for how to educate adoptive parents' about their child's grief and how to involve parents in helping children heal from loss. The Birth Family Role in AdoptionThis training emphasizes the importance of helping children maintain their connection with their birth family, whether through on-going visits, or simply by recognizing inherited traits and traditions. Also addressed will be issues such as: how to determine when it is healthy for a child to have contact with the birth family, and what to consider when making post-adoption contact agreements. Creating a LifebookA Lifebook is far more than just a scrapbook of photos. It is an account of a child's life, allowing the child to create one cohesive story from birth to present, and to integrate both their family of origin and their adoptive "forever family" into their identity. This workshop teaches professionals how to help children create a Lifebook and how to use it as a powerful healing tool.
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