Recommended Family Forum: The Impact of Family Expectations, Triggers, and Anxieties

What Families Bring to Adoptions: The Impact of Family Expectations, Triggers, and Anxieties

2 Undeniable Facts About Being Human:

1. Everyone brings something to each relationship they have: past experiences; expectations of others and themselves; ideals, assumptions, principles. And often it’s not until something goes awry that we realize just how much we’ve brought to the table.
2. We’re not always good at knowing what to do next after the “goes awry” part.

We might even add a third to the list: It’s especially hard to know what to do next when the relationship is adoptive parent – (not yet) adopted child, because your experiences and expectations are so vastly different from each other.

Join us for an engaging, real conversation about how to identify what you’re bringing to these relationships as an adoptive parent; how to know what to set aside (and remember where you put it); and how to remaining engaged with and open to the child in your care. Building a relationship with a foster youth is going to have its challenges. But as the adults in the room, we’re expected to help youth understand and process what they bring with them, so we have to understand how our own expectations and concerns are contributing to the challenges. The more insight and awareness we have into our own behaviors, expectations, and yes, even triggers, the more we can help our new family members gain insight and awareness as well.