Adoption

What is adoption counseling?

 Adoption counseling provides the support, information, guidance, and mental health therapy families and their adopted child need before, during, and long after the adoption is finalized. 

Pre-adoption counseling

You may need guidance as you deliberate about whether you’re ready to adopt. Or you may want help preparing your family to welcome a new member. The Hopeful Minds Counseling Services therapists offer individualized care for these and any other adoption issues you may face. 

Post-adoption counseling

Adoption counseling supports you through many potential emotional and behavioral challenges after your adopted child joins the family, whether they began in your child’s life before the adoption or occurred as a result of the adoption experience. 

Depending on your needs, mental health care after the adoption (and for as long as needed) may include therapy for the entire family, parents, and/or child.

How does adoption counseling support interracial adoptions?

Interracial adoptions (also called transracial adoptions) pose different challenges for the adopted child and their new family.

Children and teens can feel disconnected and lost when their racial identity differs from their adoptive family and the surrounding community. Unfortunately, they may also face a higher level of discrimination and prejudice.

Your Hopeful Minds Counseling Services therapist has special expertise in counseling people of color, including adopted children trying to find their way within their new community while being true to themselves and maintaining their cultural identity. 

Adoptive children and their families can depend on getting the information, skills, guidance, and perspective they need to thrive in life at Hopeful Minds Counseling Services.

What mental health concerns are identified during adoption counseling? 

Whether you went through a private adoption agency or adopted through the foster care system, your child may have early life experiences like neglect, physical and/or emotional abuse, and the turmoil of being shuttled between foster families. 

During adoption counseling, the team can identify many issues that need ongoing therapy, such as:

• Trauma
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Conduct disorder
• Adoption trauma
• Reactive attachment disorder (RAD)
• Disinhibited social engagement disorder (DSED)
• Oppositional-defiant disorder (ODD)
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Developmental disabilities like autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Your Hopeful Minds Counseling Services provider offers exceptional therapy for your child, together with support and suggestions for parents managing the challenges at home.

Call Hopeful Minds Counseling Services or connect online today to request an appointment and learn how adoption counseling can improve your life.