Pound Pup Legacy

Selecting and Working With an Adoption Therapist

Factsheet for Families

Author(s):  Child Welfare Information Gateway
Year Published:  2005 

Introduction

Adoption has a lifelong impact on those it touches, and members of adoptive families may want professional help as concerns arise. Timely intervention by a professional skilled in adoption issues often can prevent concerns from becoming more serious problems.

Professionals with adoption knowledge and experience are best suited to help families identify connections between problems and adoption and to plan effective treatment strategies. Sometimes a difficulty that a child is experiencing can be directly linked to adoption, but sometimes the connection is not readily apparent. In other situations, issues that seem on the surface to be related to adoption turn out not to be at all. It is important that the therapist understand that although the adoptive family is often not the source of the child's problems, it will be within the context of the new family relationships that the child will begin to heal.

This factsheet offers information on the different types of therapy and providers available to help adoptive families, and it gives some suggestions on how to find an appropriate therapist. Specifically, this factsheet covers:

• Professionals who provide mental health services
• Approaches to therapy (including attachment therapy)
• Treatment settings
• Finding the right therapist
• Working with a therapist
• Resources