Living the Dream: Surviving the Challenges of Adoption
Adoption is never easy. Many potential adoptive parents are stopped in their tracks by the legal, financial, health, and emotional challenges they face along the way. The challenges do not end when all the legal and bureaucratic processes are over, parenting is complicated as well.
As you navigate through the adoption process, you deserve emotional support as well. You will likely feel a variety of feelings from sadness and devastation as you wait and wait and then happiness and perhaps even fear when you finally get to adopt your child. Therapy can help you navigate these challenges and complicated emotions.
Finding the Right People to Help You
The process starts with making several decisions. According to Path 2 Parenthood, “You first need to understand the adoption process from the legal, as well as emotional, standpoint.” There are facts you need to know in order to fine-tune your expectations. There are also questions you want answered, such as: “Who does what? Who will tell you what you can and can’t do? How do you talk to the birth parents? Will you feel the same about a child joining your family through adoption as one born to you?”
Finding the right experts or agency to assist you is critical for most successful adoptions. They can help you get through the initial assessment to become a legal adopter, understand the process, and be better prepared for all the upcoming challenges. Help from the right social worker can be priceless. Adoption can also be very emotional, and a skilled therapist can assist you in sorting out and resolving the emotions that come up during the process.
Getting the Support You Deserve
Adoption is an emotional thing; from the first moment you toy with the idea until you raise the child to become a well-adjusted adult. There are countless choices to be made after you decide you will adopt a child. The process can stir up many feelings, both negative and positive. It is only natural that you feel overwhelmed at times. A supportive circle of family and friends is important, but you may also need the help of an experienced counselor.
Staying focused and emotionally healthy is necessary to succeed in adoption. Investing in a counselor before and after the adoption can help you weather the challenges and enjoy your new life as a parent to a child who needs you. Don’t be hard on yourself. Be patient and work through what comes with an independent therapist contracted with Carolina Counseling Services — Pittsboro, NC. Call CCS now for your first appointment.