Helping Adopted Children Cope With Grief and Loss

Adoption involves loss. Resources in this section can help families understand and help their adopted children deal with the loss and grief associated with adoption.

7 Core Issues in Adoption
The Center for Adoption Support and Education
Explains the seven core issues of adoption for birth parents, adopted people, and adoptive parents.

Adaptive Grieving - Natural for Adopted Child
Describes the grieving process that many adopted children go through over time as they develop a deeper understanding of adoption.

Ambiguous Loss Haunts Foster and Adopted Children
Kim
Adoptalk, Winter 2009
Explains the ambiguous loss–grief or distress combined with confusion about the lost person or relationship–felt by parents of adopted children with special needs, birth parents, and foster and adopted children. Strategies for helping children cope with ambiguous loss are provided.

Helping Foster and Adoptive Families Cope With Trauma (PDF - 3,666 KB)
American Academy of Pediatrics (2013)
Presents a guide for pediatricians to help them identify traumatized children, educate families about the manifestation of early childhood trauma, and empower parents.

How Loss of Culture, Ethnicity, Religion and Heritage Can Affect Children in Foster Care
Krebs, Singer, & Marshall (2009)
Describes the significance of the losses of culture, ethnicity, religion, and heritage for children and youth in foster care.

Finding the Missing Pieces: Helping Adopted Children Cope With Grief and Loss
Adoption Learning Partners
Offers an online course to help adoptive families understand the feelings that children have about adoption and how to help them express and deal with those feelings.

Impact of Adoption on Adopted Persons
Series Title Factsheets for Families
Author(s)
Child Welfare Information Gateway
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Ordene (Gratis)
Year Published 2013
Discusses the impact of adoption on adopted persons who have reached adulthood. There are several themes that emerge from personal accounts and data from academic studies about issues that adopted persons may face. This factsheet addresses these themes, which include loss, the development of identity and self-esteem, interest in genetic information, and managing adoption issues.
Selecting and Working With a Therapist Skilled in Adoption
Series Title Factsheets for Families
Author(s)
Child Welfare Information Gateway
Availability View
Download (PDF - 251KB)
Order (Free)
Year Published 2012
Provides members of adoptive families with information on the varieties of therapeutic approaches and professional therapists, recommendations for choosing and working with a therapist, and online resources for postadoption support and national organizations.

Separation and Loss Issues for Foster and Birth Families [DVD]
Fahlberg (2003)
View Abstract
Explores the feelings of loss and separation experienced by children in foster care. The DVD shares the stories of three children who have been through the foster care system, explains the stages of the grief process, and features interviews with foster parents and birth parents discussing their experiences with grief and loss.

A Tool to Help Adopted People Resolve Loss
Eldridge (2007)
Describes an activity, a "grief box," that parents help their children create to release feelings of grief and loss.