• Children's Grief Education Association

• Children and Grief: What They Know, How They Feel, How to Help

• Trauma's Impact on Learning and Behavior

Yinghua Academy

• Session One -  June 18th to July 13th  (No class on July 4th, 5th, or 6th)

• Session Two - July 16th to August 3rd

Camp will begin at 8:00am and end at noon. After-care will be available at a separate cost.

The core of the program is science based, but it will also incorporate other life skills and academic disciplines as well.

 CHSFS Post-Adoption services is considering starting a support group for families in open adoption experiences in the West Metro area.  Email Alene Roeglin for more information.

In our pre-adoption counseling workshop (PAC) each month, prospective parents gather to share their stories about their own journey toward adoption. Quite often, this path has been marked by personal loss.  While some individuals come through our doors motivated by a lifelong interest in adoption, others may carry their experiences of infertility with them. We encourage our families to be clear about their commitment to this new way of building a family.  However, many times the impact of infertility on an individual or couple can trigger grief reactions for many years.

During PAC, families quickly learn that although it is a joyous event, adoption is full of loss for all members of the adoption triad. For them to become parents, someone else had to make a tremendous sacrifice. For some of our clients PAC is the first time they fully recognize the impact of this choice. We challenge them: find the joy of adoption while mindfully honoring the loss that a birthparent has most likely experienced.

As our children grow and begin to ask questions, we realize the impact of loss on their lives.  The paradox now has an even more sensitive nature, our gain as parents has also meant that our children have lost, a culture, a language, a connection to birth relatives. Support and education around these experiences will help everyone move through these emotions, but no amount of love or support can alleviate the pain that adopted children may feel when they fully comprehend the fact that their birthparent was unable to parent them.

It is important to let children feel the wide range of emotion that may surface as they grow and look closer at their adoption. We encourage you to provide opportunities for your children to share and talk about their adoption story.  Feeling sad that their birthparent could not be a parent to them is okay.  Sharing your own experiences can be helpful: "I know that this makes you sad sometimes.  I get sad too sometimes. . ." When we validate children's feelings we are also giving them the building blocks that they will need to face other challenges in life with confidence.

For tips on how to talk about the "tough stuff" in adoption or to discuss a referral to a mental health professional.  Please call PAS intake at (651) 255-2437 or email us.

Does your pre-teen or teen really connect with animals? Check out these summer groups in the west-metro area. 

 

MN LINC, Inc.  Minnesota Linking Individual, Nature & Critters, Minnetrista, MN 55364 

• Building confidence
• Teamwork
• Leadership
• Self-control
• Building Relationships
• Having Fun

When:  Tuesdays 10-12:30 (ages 12-15), 2-4:30 (ages 16-19) beginning June 19, 2007                      

Cost: $360.00 for 6 weeks, space limited

For more information and registration contact Seth Tupper at (952) 472-2422 or stupp01@yahoo.com

• Ambiguous Loss - Pauline Boss
• Post-Adoption Blues - Karen J. Foli
• Adoption Parenting- Jean MacLeod
• The Primal Wound: Understanding the Adopted Child - Nancy Verrier
• A Child's Journey Through Placement - Vera Fahlberg
• Beneath the Mask - Debbie Riley

Books for Children

• Aarvy Aardvark Finds Hope - Donna R. O'Toole
• Don't Despair on Thursday - Adolph Moser
• Sad Isn't Bad - Michaelene Mundy
• Panda Bear's Journey - Rio Alden
• Sweet Memories - Elaine Stillwell