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Do you want to help your adopted or foster child work through the big issues they may face in life? Join our discussion of the seven core issues with Allison Davis Maxon, a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She is the co-author of Seven Core Issues in Adoption and Permanency, The Seven Core Issues Workbook for Parents of Traumatized Children and Teens, and The Seven Core Issues in Adoption and Permanency Workbook for Children and Teens.

In this episode, we cover:

• The 7 core issues in adoption and foster care: Loss, Rejection, Guilt/Shame, Grief, Identity, Intimacy, Mastery/Control
• These 7 core issues impact all adoptees and foster kids to some degree and are crucial for adoptive and foster parents to understand.
• They also impact all members of the adoption or foster care triad: adoptee or foster child or adult, birth parent, and adoptive/foster parent. Today, we will focus primarily on how these 7 core issues impact adoptees and those who spent time in foster care and what role parents can play in helping their children process these issues.
• These core issues can manifest themself differently in children at different ages and stages.
• Parents can provide guidance and support, allowing the child to feel every emotion deeply. They can also use education, understanding, awareness, and acceptance tools to encourage the child to move forward.
• Loss.
  • What have adopted and foster kids lost?
  • What can parents do to help? 
• Rejection.
  • How have adopted and foster kids been rejected?
  • What can parents do to help? 
• Guilt/Shame.
  • What causes adopted and foster children or adults to feel guilt or shame?
  • What can parents do to help? 
• Grief.
  • What can adopted and foster children or adults grieve?
  • What can parents do to help?
• Identity.
  • What are the universal identity issues faced by adopted and foster children or adults?
  • Additional issues for transracial adoptees.
  • Having the label “foster” to your identity is shaming.
  • Does openness in adoption “cure” this issue?
  • What can parents do to help? 
• Intimacy.
  • What issues with intimacy are common with adopted and foster children or adults?
  • What can parents do to help?
• Mastery and Control.
  • What mastery and control issues are common with adopted and foster children or adults?
  • What can parents do to help?

Our children can heal!

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