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20

Aug

Eight Attachment Techniques to Use with Your Adopted Child

in Support Services

Your child is home, but you may not feel like an instant family. Nora Sharp of A Family for Every Child discusses forming a bond with your adopted child, providing practical tools and tips that you can use in developing a bond with your child. Many adoptive parents are shocked and a little concerned when ...

29

Jul

Appropriate Discipline is an Opportunity to Encourage

in Support Services

Public shaming or public humiliation is on the forefront these days as a possible use of punishment for children. We have seen this age old use of discipline being implemented on children now in public locales as well as on the internet. As a use of punishment, this is the act of embarrassing the child or ...

18

Jun

Five Reasons to Attend an Adoption Support Group

by Angela Simpson, BSW

in Support Services

The adoption process can be stressful and overwhelming for adoptive parents and it is important for parents to have a good support group. Naturally our support groups tend to be comprised of our close family and friends, but often within that group there may not be many people familiar with adoption. They may not be ...

13

May

Adoptive Children Require Consistent Techniques

by Addison Cooper

in Support Services

Periodically, we use this space to answer client questions that have been submitted to us. Today, Addison Cooper LCSW answers the question, “How long do you try a technique before determining if it’s successful or not?” He writes reviews for adoption-themed movies which can be found here. Have you ever heard that old saying, “The ...

14

Mar

Adoptive Grandparent Shares His Irish Heritage

by Gary Randolph

in Support Services

According to the US Census Bureau, 36.9 million Americans (more than 1 out of every 9) claimed Irish ancestry in the 2009 American Community Survey . But, of course, on St. Patrick’s Day everybody claims to be Irish. For years I have been a lover of all things Irish and Scottish, and have traced much ...

12

Feb

Nurture Group: What is it and How Does it Work?

in Support Services

Are you looking for a new way to bond with your child? A way to help your family to learn to knit together when things aren’t going as well as you had planned? One possibility is to utilize the “Nurture Group” developed for TBRI®. What is a nurture group? It is a way to have ...

28

Jan

IDEAL Response: Correcting Difficult Behaviors the TBRI® Way

by Nicole Skellenger, JD

in Support Services

As Dr. Purvis would say, internationally adopted children come from hard places. These children are not in need of families because of happy circumstance or an ideal upbringing. Even when adopted at a young age, these children have experienced trauma that impacts their development for life. Dr. Purvis categorizes the type of trauma experienced by ...

27

Jan

The Dangers of Taking Your Time with a Home Study

in Support Services

I know what you’re thinking when you read the title of this blog. “Me, taking my time, on what? The adoption process is so long. I feel like I’m the one always waiting on others.” But, there are quite a few of us that still seem to drag our feet when we hear the first ...

22

Jan

Consequences of a Lost Referral

by Nicole Skellenger, JD

in Support Services

A referral or match with a child in international adoption can be lost or withdrawn for a number of reasons. Some reasons for a lost referral could be that a family member decided to parent the child, the child cannot be deemed legally abandoned, or the child is too ill to travel. As families begin ...

21

Jan

Pro-active Parenting

by Angela Simpson, BSW

in Support Services

Parenting is not about being the “perfect parent,” there is no such thing, and it’s not about turning your child into the “perfect child,” because again, there is no such thing. Parenting is about being in a relationship with your child and navigating the world with them. Parenting is providing support and nurture. Parenting is ...

31

Dec

Parenting & Life Value Terms

by MLJ Adoptions

in Support Services

Children are not in need of families through international adoption because of happy circumstances. These children need a family because their biological family was unable or unwilling to do so. Poverty, abuse and neglect are likely to have affected your child’s early development. These children may not have had positive social skills modeled for them ...

17

Dec

TBRI® Training And The Empowered To Connect Conference

in Support Services

As many of you have read, several MLJ staff members attended the TBRI® training in Texas earlier this year. I hope that all MLJ families will benefit from the blogs we have written over what we have learned. For me, TBRI® was more than part of my job, it was personal. I am an adoptive ...

10

Dec

What Is Your Child’s Attachment Style?

by MLJ Adoptions

in Support Services

Attachment is such a big word in adoption. Is your child attached? Does your child have an attachment issue or even an attachment disorder? It seems like such a simple word, but it is really quite complicated. Attachment is the bond that a child has with their parents, or caregivers. Attachment occurs when a child ...

3

Dec

The Power of Choices and How To Share It

by MLJ Adoptions

in Support Services

Sharing power is an essential principle of TBRI® (Purvis, K., Cross, Dr. R., & Hurst, J.R. [2012]. Trust-Based Relational Intervention: TBRI® Connecting Principles [Instructor Workbook]. Fort Worth, TX: TCU Institute of Child Development.). Children feel valued and safe knowing that their needs and wants are heard and taken into consideration. While parents must be “the ...

26

Nov

TBRI® Overview Of Connecting Principles

by MLJ Adoptions

in Support Services

During TBRI® Training, Dr. Karen Purvis discussed five principles of connecting with a child from a hard place. The foundation for building a trusting relationship between a parent and child is through connection. TRBI® Training (Purvis, K.B. & Cross, D.R. (2013, September). TBRI® Professional Training Program presented by the TCU Insitute of Child Development. Training ...

12

Nov

Teaching Self-Regulation

by Angela Simpson, BSW

in Support Services

Some mornings my youngest son goes through two or three pairs of socks before he finds a pair that does not bug him — he may have a couple sensory issues. This used to be more of an issue when he could not communicate his needs appropriately and socks ended up thrown across the room ...

29

Oct

Working Through Transitions

by Angela Simpson, BSW

in Support Services

My son started Kindergarten this year and this was a big transition for our family. To transition to a new schedule we made adjustments over time. We didn’t start the new routine the week school started—that would’ve been chaos. Change takes time. We had to adjust bedtimes, eliminate naps, wake up earlier, and establish a ...

22

Oct

Sensory Processing and the Adopted Child

by Nicole Skellenger, JD

in Support Services

Imagine that you’re about to bite into a big red crunchy apple. You are holding the fruit in your hand and bring it to your mouth. You open your mouth wide and bite down hard, but when you bite down you realize that you were actually taking a bite of a soft warm roll. This ...

8

Oct

TBRI® Empowering Principles

by MLJ Adoptions

in Support Services

I’m sure you’ve seen commercials from the Snickers campaign “you’re not you when you’re hungry.” Now while I don’t promote Snickers, I do believe they are on to something with their advertisement strategy. When you are hungry you are simply not yourself. That also goes for other physiological factors as well such as dehydration, illness ...

18

Sep

The Hidden Costs of Adoption

in Support Services

When families begin researching adoption and comparing costs of one country to another or one adoption agency to another, they often do not think of a cost that is not as obvious to them. Most adoption agencies don’t list it in their fee sheets and mot adoptive parents do not speak of such costs. What ...

22

Jul

Advocacy And Hope For DRC Adoptions

by MLJ Adoptions

in Congo, Support Services

International adoption programs in the Democratic Republic of Congo need advocacy! I have seen it before and I see it now. An international adoption program that the U.S. State Department identifies as a problem and then the country is closed to international adoption. This is not a new phenomenon and history will tell you how ...

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