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Photos are from the national adoption recruitment campaign, a partnership of the Children's Bureau, the Ad Council, and AdoptUsKids.

Celebrating National Adoption Month: Resources for Teachers

This section provides information and resources for teachers and other school personnel about adoption, including State and local examples.

Adopted Children in the Early Childhood Classroom
Stroud, Stroud, & Staley (1999)
Provides suggestions for teachers who have children in their classroom who were adopted, and includes information on curriculum planning, adoption awareness, and sensitivity.

Adoption Basics for Educators: How Adoption Impacts Children and How Educators Can Help (PDF - 236 KB)
Iowa Foster and Adoptive Parents Association
Provides educators with basic information about adoption and suggestions on how educators can assist students who are adopted.

Adoption Helper's Teacher's Guide to Adoption
Hilborn (2005)
Provides basic information on adoption for the elementary and secondary school teacher. (Adoption Helper is based in Canada.)

Adoption in the Schools:  Promoting Equality and Fairness for All Children and Their Families (PDF – 157 KB)
Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute & Center for Adoption Support and Education (2006)
Outlines the reasons educators need to learn more about adoption issues and proposes steps that educators can take to make positive changes in the classroom.

Adoption and School
Adoptive Families Magazine
Offers resources for adoption, including downloadable handouts and information for teachers, inspiring ideas for adoption presentations, and more.

Creating a Classroom for Adopted and Non-Adopted Children
Hunt (2006)
Illustrates ways to create a classroom atmosphere of inclusion for adoptive students.

Resources for All
Center for Adoption Support and Education
Offers resources for educators, including the SAFE at School program and others.

School and Adoption: Navigating IEPs, IDEA, and Special Services
North American Council on Adoptable Children (2002)
Helps adoptive parents understand the services schools provide to children with special educational needs.

Survey of Children Adopted From Eastern Europe: The Need for Special School Services
McCarthy (2005)
Explains the need to prepare parents and educators more effectively for their experiences with internationally adopted children.

Teaching for Diversity: The Pre-School Setting
Pact, an Adoption Alliance
Looks at the impact of curriculum planning and issues of diversity in the elementary grades.

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State and local examples

Adoption Awareness in the Schools
Oregon Post Adoption Resource Center (ORPARC)
Provides online resources from ORPARC's Adoption Awareness in the Schools program, which partners teachers and parents in Oregon's schools to provide positive educational experiences for adopted children in the classroom.

Adoption Competent School Assignments (PDF - 52 KB)
Minnesota Adoption Support and Preservation
Provides specific examples of how to remove bias from class assignments and create an inclusive curriculum that includes the experiences of all children.

Educational Resources
Child Welfare Training Institute
Presents information on special education services and community resources available to children in Maine.

Updated on October 5, 2009