What is the third leading cause of death for teenagers and young adults those from 15 to 24 years old? If you said suicide then you are correct. What causes teenagers or young adults with an unlimited future ahead of them to choose suicide over life? The number one cause of suicide in the United States is depression. If you suspect your child is suffering from depression, don’t wait. Seek medical help and therapy right away. A federal government survey released on May 13, says that over two million teenagers... more

Chapter one covers an adoptee’s fantasies and curiosity about their birth family. Throughout the book, Danea reinforces the normalcy of a teenager’s feelings, emotions, and curiosity. She makes it very plain that everyone experiences these feelings, fantasies, and emotions at some time in their lives. She validates a teenager’s rights to feelings, whatever those feelings might be, and rights to information. She encourages journaling to help teenagers work through their feelings and track their progress.

Danea states in the book that it is natural for... more

I was reading this article about why toddlers reject their parents and I thought it brought up some really excellent points. Rejection is one of those things that no prospective adoptive parent wants to think about but its something you need to prepare yourself for .The one point that I liked about this article is that often the more you work on attachment the more your child may begin to reject you. It’s almost as if once the superficial... more

Rejection: You can read about it and try to prepare yourself for it but nothing really prepares you for the feelings you have when your child rejects you. I totally expected our daughter to be shy & withdrawn on our orphanage visits and for the first few months. I expected to be rejected on some level; after all I was a complete stranger.

I can remember my first meeting with my daughter like it was yesterday. This 14 month old child was placed in my arms… she was scared stiff. She rocked herself, was guarded and stoic. I remember... more

Although I always try to emphasize the positive adoption experience, I am well aware that a significant number of adoptions are fraught with complications. Often, one of the complications that I read and hear about is the overt rejection of one or both of the adoptive parents by the adopted child. There are anecdotal accounts that when this phenomenon occurs, the mother is more often rejected than the father. While many people may believe this would only be a problem with older adopted children, it is something that can and does happen with children who are as young as preschool... more