Open adoption and openness in adoption do not “solve” all the challenges of being adopted. They present different opportunities and challenges for the adoptee, requiring both sets of parents to develop specific attitudes and skills to best support them as they navigate information about and relationships with first/birth families, while being strongly rooted in their adoptive/foster family. How can first/birth and adoptive/foster families grow with the needs of their child? What does it look like to keep the adoptee at the center, supporting them in deciding who their people are, what kind of closeness or distance they want, and how to communicate their needs?
Target audience: Adoptive parents and first/birth parents.
Lead Speaker: Susan Dusza Guerra Leksander
2023