Healthcare Training Institute - Quality Education since 1979
Psychologist, Social Worker, Counselor, & MFT!!

Section 1
Track #1 - Introduction

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Answer Booklet | Table of Contents
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Welcome to the Home Study Course sponsored by the Healthcare Training Institute, homestudycredit.com.  This course deals with adoption.

Our primary intent for this home study course is to provide quality education to foster your professional growth.  The Institute has provided quality education since 1979. We appreciate that you have chosen us as a vehicle for you to earn your Continuing Education Credit.

The purpose of the course is to assist you in increasing your knowledge regarding how to treat patients, clients, etc. dealing with adoption.  As each case study is given, if the concepts seem to be applicable to your situation, I encourage you to turn your CD player off and make a few notes regarding the application of the principle to your setting.  However, these notes are for your purposes only and are not to be sent to the Institute.  Also each track is very content dense.  So feel free to replay the track to review the content either for your own purposes, or if you feel appropriate play the track in an individual or group session for client education.  Also permission is granted to reproduce this CD.  We encourage you to duplicate and give copies of this CD to colleagues, clients, etc. as you deem appropriate. We feel the information on our CD's is valuable.  Thus, we have an interest in distributing CD's in as many ways as possible, to benefit the greatest number of people, who have a need and are receptive to this practical information.

The questions in your Answer Booklet are sequential and deal with the section of content that preceded it.  For this reason, to facilitate the answering of each question, you might read the question from the Answer Booklet prior to listening to that CD track.  By knowing what the question is ahead of time, you will then know the content to listen for that contains the answer.  So just a hint, after you write down the answer to a question in your Answer Booklet, read on to the next question in order to give you a “heads up” to listen for the content that contains the answer to the next question.

Merely write the correct letter on the corresponding blank line in your answer booklet. Each answer is only used once. Keep in mind there is nothing tricky or hard about these questions.  They are merely intended to verify the playing of this CD.

For the purpose of brevity, most generally, I will use the term “therapists” or “mental health professional.”  However, don’t let these terms deter you from applying the concepts to your situations.  When you hear the word “therapists,” if your job title is social worker, psychologist, marriage and family therapist, mental health counselor, professional counselor, resident director, program assistant, etc. merely substitute the appropriate term that is the most meaningful to you. In short, don’t let my use of the term “therapists” cognitively set you off track from hearing the content because your job title is school counselor, for example.  I will also use the term “client” for the purposes of brevity.  However, if you deal with patients, residents, students, consumers, etc., transpose “client” for the term that is the most meaningful to you in your work setting. 

On this CD set we will discuss such topics as:  motives for adoption; four factors of parenting; age, race and disabilities in adoption; surviving the wait; techniques for breaking the news; preparing siblings; preparing the new child; trans-religious adoption; sleep adjustments; eating difficulties; toileting problems and three common behaviors and possible solutions.

So let’s get started.

Do you have a client considering adoption?  What are his or her motives for adopting? On this track, we will discuss Motives for Adoption.  These will include Love and a Good Home Alone, the “Savior Complex,” and the “Feelings About Adoption” Technique.  As you listen, consider your client’s motives.  How do you respond?

Have you found, as I have, that some clients pursue adopting older children purely as a way to help a needy or hurt child?  In my experience, adoption professionals tend to warn against choosing a child solely because that child is needy or hurt.  The fantasy of a rescued waif will soon become the reality of a flesh-and-blood child complete with personality, having behavioral habits, and emotional issues.

Brett and Nancy were looking into adopting their first child.  Brett stated, “We became interested in adopting after reading an article in the paper about how many children worldwide are removed from their parents for reasons of abuse and neglect.  That isn’t even to mention the poverty in which many of these children live!”  Nancy stated, “We have been looking into adopting Tara, a 5-year-old girl from El Salvador, who was abused.  Tara will be so happy to be rescued from that terrible life in poverty and abuse!  All she needs is love and a good home!”

#1 Love and a Good Home Alone
First, I explained to Brett and Nancy that Tara might have adoption issues that love and a good home alone could not fix.  I stated, “Regardless of how wonderful Tara’s new home will be, Tara will probably have to work through fears and anger related to abandonment and rejection from her birth parents.  Tara’s fears and anger will probably surface during the teen years as Tara struggles to form an identity and decide which qualities of both families to retain.”

#2 The “Savior Complex”
Second, I felt that Brett and Nancy had a “savior complex.”  Nancy’s expectation of Tara being eternally grateful to she and Brett for rescuing her was probably unrealistic.  It seemed unlikely that any child would be perfect enough all the time to fill the stereotyped picture of the grateful orphan.

I stated, “It can be hard to believe that children who have endured abuse, famine, abandonment or institutionalization will ever be ungrateful.  However, for Tara, these conditions are probably familiar.  Even children who live in abusive or neglectful homes consider them home, and few would ever choose to leave.  To Tara, adoption might look more like change than rescue, and change can be scary.”

I explained to Brett and Nancy that many children who live in orphanages come to view those orphanages as home too.  Tara will not be grateful all the time simply because Brett and Nancy had met some of her needs.  I gave Brett and Nancy an example.  I stated, “Let’s say you became ill and your neighbor took care of you and brought you food.  Would you be willing to graciously turn your lives over to that neighbor’s control, simply out of gratitude?”  I explained that altruism by itself might not be a good reason to adopt.

Instead, I felt Brett and Nancy might strive for a balance in their parenting.  I explained, “Balance can help you meet your personal goals, help Tara, and at the same time allow Tara to express her feelings and independence in an accepting and realistic environment.”  I explained that balance could help Brett and Nancy to impart their values and ideas to Tara and watch her achieve her full potential, whatever that potential might be.

Technique: Feelings About Adoption
I suggested that Brett and Nancy try the “Feelings About Adoption” Technique to help them identify some of their reasons for wanting to adopt.  I stated, “First, over the next two weeks, take an index card with you every day.  Note any feelings about adoption that come up during your day.  Note the time and circumstances under which these feelings occur.

Second, each of you can keep a journal and refer to these cards during your journal writing.  Are there any patterns?  Are there moments of fear, doubt, joy, excitement, or sadness?  What triggers these emotions?  Spend fifteen minutes or more writing about this exercise in your journal.  As you catalog these feelings, note any patterns that emerge.  Does having contact with particular people or being in certain situations trigger fears about adoption?  Why?  Are there other people or situations that make you feel confident about adopting?”

Do you have a Brett or a Nancy who may be adopting out of idealism?  Might he or she benefit from hearing this track?  On this track, we have discussed Motives for Adoption.  These have included Love and a Good Home Alone, the “Savior Complex,” and the “Feelings About Adoption” Technique.

QUESTION 1
Why might some adopted children be reluctant to leave abusive homes? To select and enter your answer go to Answer Booklet.