Adoption in Clinical Psychology: A Review of the Absence, Ramifications, and Recommendations for Change

Breaking the Seal: Taking Adoption Issues to the Academicand Professional Communities

“…Given the longevity of adoption throughout history, including North American history, and the prevalence of adoption in the United States and other parts of the world, how are we to understand that adoption issues still remain largely unaddressed and off the radar in terms of interest to the professional and academic disciplines? How is it possible that training programs that prepare professionals for human services do not systematically include discussions on adoption issues, as suggested by Post (2000) and Henderson (2000)? It is, indeed, truly perplexing that even after so many generations of families have been directly or indirectly involved with and affected by the adoption experience, our understanding remains so rudimentary.…”

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“…Stručnjaci koji rade s djecom trebali bi prije svega biti svjesni da je većina posvojene djece dobro prilagođena i u interakciju s njima kretati s tom pretpostavkom. Također, važno je da budu informirani o temi posvojenja i educirani o specifičnostima posvojiteljskih obitelji jer nedostatak znanja o posvojenju kod stručnjaka može dovesti do neadekvatnog postupanja s članovima posvojiteljskih obitelji (Post, 2000). O tome svjedoče negativna iskustva članova posvojiteljskih obitelji sa stručnjacima iz područja obrazovanja (Donalds, 2012) i mentalnog zdravlja (Brodzinsky, 2013), a sličan trend opaža se i u Hrvatskoj, gdje su posvojitelji nezadovoljni razinom educiranosti stručnjaka u centrima za socijalnu skrb i odgojno-obrazovnim ustanovama o temi posvojenja i njihovom (ne)osviještenosti o ključnim temama vezanim uz posvojenje (Kralj, Modić Stanke i Topčić-Rosenberg, 2014).…”

“…S obzirom na to da percepcija stručnjaka kao nedovoljno educiranih kod posvojitelja može stvoriti otpor u traženju stručne podrške i pomoći (Miall, 1987), trebalo bi u sklopu sustava visokog obrazovanja omogućiti (dodatnu) edukaciju na temu posvojenja budućim stručnjacima kako bi se osigurala njihova kompetentnost u radu s posvojiteljskim obiteljima. Važnost učenja takvog sadržaja prepoznaju i sami stručnjaci koji samostalno iskazuju potrebu za više edukacije u tom području (Post, 2000).…”

Counseling Adopted Persons in Adulthood

“…To date, there have been no studies of empirically supported treatment for adopted adults. Wiley and Baden (2005) introduced adoption-sensitive counseling suggestions that built on recommendations in the literature (e.g., Grotevant, 2003;Janus, 1997;Lee, 2003;Post, 2000) and the authors' own set of best clinical practices developed from work with members of the adoption kinship network. The authors suggested that adoption-sensitive psychologists are aware of (a) their own attitudes and biases about adopted persons (e.g., relinquishment, openness in adoption, search, and reunion), being vigilant about professional and adoption-related ethics in their practice; (b) the social and cultural factors affecting adoption-triad members (e.g., race, culture, family dynamics, socioeconomic status) using the APA Multicultural Guidelines (http://www.apa.org) in their practice; (c) the political (e.g., adoption reform) and economic aspects (e.g., commercialization) and media portrayals of adoption and the effects on adopted persons throughout their life spans; (d) resources for adopted persons including community support groups, organizations, online resources, reading material, search assistance, and groups that will advocate for adopted persons (Grotevant, 2003); and (e) the seven core issues of adoption-loss, rejection, guilt and shame, grief, identity, intimacy, and mastery or control (Silverstein & Kaplan, 1988).…”