Adoption Counselors

In past years, the importance of pre- and post-adoption counseling for both placing and adopting parents was overlooked, often leaving all parties to an adoption with unresolved emotional issues. Additionally, it was often assumed that children adopted as infants would have no need for counseling for adoption-related issues. We've certainly come a long way since then. Counseling has become an integral part of the services offered by good, ethical agencies, and more and more private adoption professionals are also providing counseling or including counseling referrals for both placing and adopting parents.

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For placing parents, addressing issues of grief and loss are critical, as well as issues of inadequacy, guilt, and anger over circumstances that lead them to adoption. For adopting parents, if infertility has played a part in their decision to adopt, there are issues of grief and loss as well. Post-adoption counseling addresses all these issues and more as families learn to adjust to new circumstances and challenges. Counseling is not only for addressing issues connected with the placement/adoption, but also as an educational tool in maintaining strong family connections.