Sometimes, a teen’s behavior calls for outside help. What to watch for and how to find the right adoption therapist.
Helping Your Teen Survive Cliques
Sometimes teens feel left out of the in crowd. Here’s how to help.
Answering Tough Questions
As your teen’s thinking becomes more sophisticated, she’ll want to know more about her adoption.
Adoption Support Groups for Teens
An adoption support group can provide a safe and comfortable venue for your teen to explore adoption and his larger identity in a new, more complex way.
What’s Happening to My Body?
How can you help your child deal with the physical and emotional changes that puberty brings?
Standing Up to Bullies
How can you respond to bullying or protect your teen from becoming a target?
For Adoptive Parents: Helping Adopted Teenagers Stand on Their Own
In the middle-school years, parents must step back and help their child learn to stand up for herself, in school and in the larger world.
Relating to Relatives
There’s much parents can do to help their teens feel they belong within the larger family network.
Myths About Teens
In a quandary over what’s normal — and what’s not — about your teen? Here’s what you should know.
If Your Teen Is Gay
Bruce had been a cheerful, outgoing child who had many friends. But when he turned 15, his parents noticed a change in him. He seemed more withdrawn and less gregarious. One day, when Bruce and his mother, Karen, were driving home from school, he seemed particularly down. When Karen asked him what was wrong, he said, “I’m not who you think I am.”
Birth Parents on Their Minds
Your teen probably spends a lot of time thinking (or fantasizing) about her birth mother. Here’s how to get some of those thoughts out in the open.
“I Just Don’t Fit In”
Tween adoptees may walk away from their cultural heritage, family outings, and even their family as they try to fit in with peers.
“Who am I?” The Complex Quest of Adolescent Adoptees
Every teen is involved in the complicated process of forming an identity. For adoptees, the process has a few extra layers.
When Teens Explore Religion as Part of Their Identity
Teens have a lot of questions — including some about family religion.
Revealing Painful Adoption Details
Children need to know their full stories before the teen years. Why, and how, to explain troubling information.
Talking with Teens About Sex and Dating
Having “the talk” with your teen is necessary — and it can turn into an emotional conversation about birth parents.
Teens in Blended Families
When their family also includes biological children, adoptees can have complex feelings about siblings and their own sense of belonging.
All Grown Up
A parent’s role changes when a teen leaves the nest. Here’s how to start relating to your child as a young adult, and reinforce your bond.
[Book Review] Beneath the Mask: Understanding Adopted Teens
Originally conceived and written as a guide for therapists working with adopted adolescents, Beneath the Mask is a valuable resource for parents.
Six Themes for the Adopted Adolescent
Excerpt from Beneath the Mask: Understanding Adopted Teens, by Debbie Riley.