Adoption and foster care stories are usually full of redemptive beauty and healing grace, but they are also begun in heartache and trauma. Every member of the adoption triad experiences different cycles of these starkly contrasting, yet somehow coexisting, emotions.
Foster and adoption therapy can help everyone—adoptees, birth families, adoptive families, and foster families—deal with trauma, communicate needs, understand each other, and find the healing needed to build a bright future.
Lauren Jones, MA-LPC
Lauren is an adoptive mom with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s in Biblical Counseling. She specializes in helping foster and adoptive families and children navigate the challenges of their unique situations.
Learn more about Lauren.
Adoption and Foster Care Challenges
Adoption and foster care families often deal with unique challenges, including:
Trauma or PTSD
Depression
Attachment and trust issues
Grief and loss
Identity formation questions
Many of these challenges are not unique to adoption, but can be easily compounded in an adoption or foster care setting.
Additional complexities may arise regarding connecting with a birth family, unexpected family dynamics, and interpersonal behavioral challenges. Every situation is different, and every individual reacts to these challenges in a unique way.
If adoption or foster care is part of your family’s story, first know that it is normal to experience these challenges related to your adoption or foster care situation. Then, take heart that adoption therapy can restore the hope you may have been losing.
Adoptee Counseling
Adoptees are almost twice as likely as the general population to suffer from anxiety or depression or to be diagnosed with ADHD or ODD. Regardless of the age at adoption, or whether an adoption was domestic or international, adoptees of any age have a heavier mental burden than their peers.
Child-centered play therapy can help young adoptees express and process complex emotions through play, in an accepting and understanding environment.
Trauma-informed cognitive behavioral therapy and other talk therapy can help adolescent and adult adoptees process grief and loss, deal with lingering trauma, and find the grace and strength to write their own futures.
Counseling for Foster Children and Former Foster Youth
Foster children and former foster youth carry the additional weight of transient homes and belonging. It’s no wonder that about half of children in the foster care system have been diagnosed with, “clinically significant mental health issues.”
Counseling helps. The sooner foster children can learn to communicate their needs and understand their trauma, the stronger they will become. And former foster youth, similar to adult adoptees, can find grace for healing with a trauma-informed adoption therapist.
Counseling for Birth Families
Birth families, or first families, are too often overlooked in adoption settings, but not at Neema. You made a brave, selfless decision to place a child for adoption, but we understand that the story doesn’t end there for you. Grief, loss, depression, anxiety, and anger are all very normal experiences post-placement, and Neema’s counselors are honored to join the journey of birth mothers and families as they navigate those difficult situations.
Counseling for Adoptive and Foster Families
Pre-adoption or post-adoption, many adoptive families find themselves in a sea of unexpected emotions and complexities. Sometimes a placement falls through, an adoption fails, advocacy gets complex, attachment disorders arise, sibling rivalries get complicated—the list of challenges is endless.
Whether you’re preparing for an adoption, navigating the foster care system, or just want to do the absolute best for your family post-adoption, Neema’s experienced counselors can work with individuals, couples, or families to create and maintain the connections you need.
Adoption and Foster Care Therapy in Texas: In Austin, houston, or Online
No matter where you are in your adoption or foster care journey, the adoption counselors at Neema can help you and your family find healing and hope. For play therapy with children, our offices are in Austin and Houston. For individual or couple’s therapy—for adolescent and adult adoptees, current and former foster youth, birth parents, foster parents, or adoptive parents—our counselors are also available online across Texas.
If there are specific adoption or foster-related challenges that need to be addressed, don’t wait. If you think you, or your family, are doing okay, but could be stronger, start building that foundation today. Call Neema at 512.669.5701 or schedule a free consultation.