This story of a teen adopted from Latin America tackles questions of identity, race, birth culture, and more.
Ask AF: Just Found Out That My Child Is Friends with His Birth Mother on Facebook
“I recently found out that my teen is friends with his birth mother on Facebook. I feel badly that I found this out by ‘snooping,’ but I am also shocked and upset that she didn’t try to contact us or the adoption agency first. What should we do?”
Helping Teens with Transitions
Avoid sit down lectures and look for teachable moments to get your teen to open up.
When Teens Want to Search for Birth Parents
Part of how teens form identity is by finding ways they are alike and different from their family. They may want to search for their genetic relatives to figuring out who they are and how to emotionally put pieces in place.
Navigating the Teen Years, Part 2: Maintaining Your Emotional Connection
Teens don’t tend to talk with their friends about their feelings about being adopted, being teased, or other tough topics. But if you have a healthy, trusting relationship, they’ll open up to you. An adoption therapist advises on maintaining an empathic connection with your teen.
When Parents Divorce
The breakup of a family can be especially hard for adopted teens. Here’s why.
Letting Teens Take the Reins
As teen’s desire more control over their lives, they want to be the decision-makers in determining contact with birth family.
Connect with Your Teen at Family Movie Night
Can’t get your teen to talk? Rent a movie.
Does Your Teen Fear Going to College?
Help your teen adoptee overcome fear of leaving home with this advice.
“What Do I Tell My Teen About His Birth Father?”
Your teen will want to know more about his birth father—and his birth parents’ relationship.
[Book Review] My Alternate Life
Trinity B. Jones is a foster kid who’s “been to enough adoption picnics to know that adoptive parents want a cute little baby to hold, not a 15-year-old with brown skin, a 34-C, and a nose ring.”
Talking to Teens Who Don’t Want to Talk to You
It’s important to look for those natural, easy times when personal, tender issues can be touched upon.
Strengthening Your Family Around the Dinner Table
Want to strengthen your teen’s sense of belonging? Make family meals mandatory.
Defusing Your Teen’s Explosive Moods
It can be easier for adopted teens to express anger than the emotions that are often behind it: vulnerability, weakness, or uncertainty. Help your adolescent deal with these complex feelings in more effective ways.
Searching for Answers…with Google?
The Internet requires a cautious approach when teens are looking for answers about adoption.
“How Do I Fit Into My Family?”
As your teen heads toward adulthood, she’ll strive to discover who she is.
When Boys are Bullies and Girls Are Mean
If your child is the giver or receiver of unkind behavior, read on.
Adoption Through a Child’s Eyes
By tuning in to what children understand about adoption at different ages, our talks become richer, more intimate, and ultimately more effective.
How Preteens Can Answer Prying Questions at School
How to help your middle schooler cope with curious peers.
“Letting the 13-Year-Old Drive”
How do you empower a child entering his teen years in a state of defeat, powerlessness, and utter self-disregard? You give him a key and tell him to take off!