If you have landed here, you likely hold one of the above-mentioned identities and have an adoptee/fosteree in your life who is having interpersonal or self-identity issues that you do not fully understand in the context of their adoptee/fosteree identity; or you are a prospective adoptive/foster parent who wants to understand what the realities of adoption/foster care might be for you.

 

Given that society paints adoption with inherent positivity and foster care as a means to do good with income benefits for added motivation, it is no surprise that non-adoptee/fosteree-competent professionals, adoptive, and foster parents struggle to understand or blindly miss the queues that contribute to the struggles their adoptees/fosterees experience – adoptees/fosterees present at higher rates for mental health needs and both populations are 4x more likely to attempt suicide (Keyes et al., 2013) (Youth.gov, 2022).  

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Your efforts to begin to understand the adoptee/fosteree in your life through the lens of an adoptee/fosteree-competent therapist is a positive and supportive action that will benefit all involved. I am here to center and give voice to the adoptee/fosteree who may not feel able to speak up for themselves; in the end, it will always be their voice that is the most important to hear when they feel you are safe and trustworthy enough to let you hear it – important to know and accept that this may never happen.