Community Connection

American Adoptions: “Your Adoption Relationships”

This source is a starting point for adoptees who want to understand their relationships. Some of these guides are about friends, reunion, attachment theory, and more. This source can apply to and most benefit adoptees seeking guidance in understanding and approaching relationships.

Community Connection

Adoption.com: “Confessions of an Adoptee’s Dating Life”

This article gives an adoptee’s perspective on how they might view dating, goes through attachment styles, and explains their feelings. This source can apply to and most benefit other adoptees who want to know more about how their identity could affect their dating life.

Community Connection

Adopt a Love Story: “10 Needs Adoptees Want You to Know About”

This article explains ten common needs adoptees want others to know about, like that adoption is a lifelong journey, they need to claim their identity, and more. This source can apply to and most benefit spouses of adoptees who want to understand more about an adoptee’s identity.

Community Connection

Considering Adoption: “Adopted Adults and Relationships – How Are They Affected?”

This article explains how people’s relationships migh be affected if they’re adopted. It gives details on how some adoptee’s emotional difficulties can affect or not affect a relationship and encourages adoptees to seek out therapy if needed. This source may apply to and most benefit adoptees who want to understand where some of their troubled feelings regarding relationships stem from.

Community Connection

Psychology Today: “Adult Adoptees in Relationships: Eleven Red Flags to Avoid Future Abandonment”

This article is about red flags adoptees should avoid when searching for a relationship. The 11 red flags are explained in a sort of biased, protective stance and it is important to recognize the nuances in every relationship. This source may apply to and most benefit adoptees who are seeking a relationship, but would like some guidance to protect themselves.

Community Connection

GLADNEY Center for Adoption: “What Do Adoptees Wish People Knew about Them?”

This article explains a few things that adoptees would like others to know about them. It describes how adoptees are similar to everyone else, how they are different, and encourages people to not assume things about adoption. This source can apply to and most benefit those who don’t know much about adoption but would like to learn further about it.

Birth Family Search

NPR: “I Found My Birth Mother. It Didn’t Rock My Life — And That’s OK”

This is a short narrative story about an adoptee’s experience of meeting her birth mother and her feelings about it. This story can apply to and most benefit adoptees who are wondering about an experience like this. It is important to remember that this short story is not meant to be discouraging but comes from a rather realistic point of view.

LGBTQ+

APA PsycNet: “Basic premises, guiding principles and competent practices for a positive youth development approach to working with gay, lesbian, and bisexual youths in out-of-home care”

This article explores a youth development perspective for working with LGBTQ youths in out-of-home care. The article discusses 5 core premises defining the practices to promote youth development. A model is also offered for creating an environment where LGBTQ individuals can meet their personal and social needs and develop competencies.

LGBTQ+

National Library of Medicine: “Achieving permanency for LGBTQ youth”

This is an article that talks about achieving permanence for youth in out-of-home care and meeting the needs of LGBTQ youth. It offers models of permanence and practices to facilitate permanence with LGBTQ youth and their families. It also provides resources for those who cannot return home as well as cultural issues that affect permanency. This is a great article for those raising LGBTQ youth.

LGBTQ+

Movement Advancement Project (MAP): “Child Welfare Nondiscrimination Laws”

This is a map of child welfare nondiscrimination laws in the United States. You can click on it by state and it will provide quick facts as well as laws and policies. These policies concern foster care, adoption, second and stepparents, and LGBTQ youth in child welfare. This can be used for anyone in the United States who are looking to foster or adopt and is curious to know about the laws of certain states.

Resources