Responsibilities of adoptive parents

David Brodzinsky, PhD Psychologist & Author, shares advice for adoptive parents on a number of the most important challenges and responsibilities they face as adoptive parents
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Responsibilities of adoptive parents

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There are a number of key responsibilities that adoptive parents face. Perhaps the first and most important one, is facilitating a strong and secure attachment with your child. If the child is a baby, that usually goes pretty quickly. If the child is older and has gone through a lot of experiences in their life, it will go slower; but with help and support from adoptive professionals and other parents, it usually work their way through that. Probably the next important task is sharing information with their child about the fact that they are adopted and about their history. As the child begins to understand about adoption more deeply, and begins to experience some of the loss that is associated with that adoption; helping that child to cope with it. To manage it is an important task that will continue for many years. As the child moves towards adolescent and is looking for more information -- and may even be searching for their birth mother -- that's an important task. Finally, one of the tasks that they have is supporting a positive adoptive identity. In transracial adoptions, supporting appropriate racial and cultural identities.

David Brodzinsky, PhD Psychologist & Author, shares advice for adoptive parents on a number of the most important challenges and responsibilities they face as adoptive parents

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David Brodzinsky, PhD

Psychologist & Author

David Brodzinsky is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and Director of the Foster Care Counseling Project at Rutgers University. He also maintains an active private practice serving the clinical needs of children and families, including individuals who are part of the adoption triad. Brodzinsky has written and lectured extensively in the fields of developmental and clinical psychology and is an internationally known expert in the field of adoption. He is co-author of such well-known books as, The Psychology of Adoption, Being Adopted: The Lifelong Search for Self, and Children's Adjustment to Adoption: Developmental and Clinical Issues.

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