Love Is Not Enough: A Systems Approach to Foster and Adoptive Parenting

Foster and adoptive parents often are unprepared for the enormous demands that can accompany kids who've experienced multiple layers of trauma, loss, and family disruption. This workshop will present a fresh look at the intricacies of foster and adoptive family systems. You'll learn specific strategies for addressing issues of attachment disruption, divided family loyalties, diversity, and hidden trauma wounds. You'll be given techniques to help "stitch" together biological and foster/adoptive parents when conflicts arise, replacing mutual resentments with new perspectives that emphasize the strengths that each set of parents can bring to the child. You'll explore ways to help kids acknowledge their losses and cope with their personal trauma history, and come away with a deeper understanding of the complex dynamics involved in foster/adoptive families and of the best ways of working with them.