World Wide Wednesday – June 4, 2014

It’s World Wide Wednesday! Here’s what’s happening the world of foster care and adoption around the web:

• Birth Parent Issues of Grief and Loss: One of the paradoxes of adoption is that, for all its potential benefits, it is nonetheless born of loss – including the losses that relinquishment represents for birthparents and birth families. For counselors working with expectant parents considering adoption and birthparents who have made an adoption decision, it is essential to understand grief and loss, what it looks like, and what can help. (Continue reading.)
• Selecting and Working with a Therapist Skilled in Adoption: Adoption has a lifelong impact on those it touches, and members of adoptive families may want professional help when concerns arise. Timely intervention by a professional skilled in adoption, attachment, and trauma issues often can prevent concerns from becoming more serious problems. This factsheet offers information on the different types of therapy and providers available to help, and it offers suggestions on how to find an appropriate therapist. Foster parents also may find definitions and descriptions in this factsheet useful.
• Adoption in Disney Movies: Adoption themes (especially step-parent adoption themes) show up pretty frequently in Disney movies. Separated from their parents – or in conflict with their parents – children and teens have to grow up and face the world alone – maybe with the help of a romantic interest or a few friends. Sometimes, Disney stories are pretty problematic from an adoption perspective; other times, there’s a lot of good to celebrate.

  While this list is far from comprehensive, here are some Disney films with adoption themes. I’ve gone ahead and linked the titles of the films to the respective Adoption Movie Guide.

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