Parents Connect: Making the Magic Last

New to parenthood? If you answered “yes” or nodded in agreement then you should consider attending Parents Connect, one of the recent additions to MLJ Adoption Inc.’s broad educational offerings.

Welcoming a child into your family through adoption is an opportunity for a new beginning; new relationships, expectations (even though we emphasize, in adoption preparation education, that you should keep your expectations low) and dreams are created. This is an exciting time. However, research shows that the challenges of becoming new parents often include emotional changes, and these can extend beyond the parents’ relationship, leading to compromised parenting and a decreased quality in parent-child interaction. Approximately 67% of couples report a significant drop in relationship satisfaction in the first year of becoming parents or expanding their family.

The greatest gift you can give your child is a healthy, strong relationship between you and your partner. We will examine the skills that the other 33% of couples, who report stable or increasing satisfaction with their partner, utilize on a daily basis. In Parents Connect we will focus on transitioning to parenthood, the process of “becoming,” of moving from “me” to “we,” and maintaining the level of satisfaction in your relationship, all within the framework of adoption. This course addresses sensitive and responsive parenting to help promote healthier emotional, social, cognitive, and physical development for children. In Parents Connect we will cover the following:

Learn the skills necessary to focus on your relationship, to create and maintain the strong foundation you and your child needs. Parents will be given exercises to practice during this workshop, with the idea that these skills must be carried forward in time and practiced at home. In fact, the motto of the workshop is “Small Things Often,” as all of the skills are doable, but they must be practiced frequently for a couples’ friendship, intimacy and problem-solving to thrive.

Parents Connect is recommended for parents adopting from Bulgaria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Samoa, and Ukraine, as well as our special needs program. Sign up via your Client Care page or here, if you are not an MLJ Adoptions client.