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Since everyone is probably well entrenched in the back to school routine, I thought this would be a good time to revisit the topic of adoption and school issues. Or would that be, adoption issues and school?
I have written about this topic before from the limited perspective of how my two daughters handle the telling of their adoption story in the school setting. For those of you who have not read about it before, suffice it to say that they handle it very differently. One takes the “let it all hang out woo-hoo I’m adopted” approach. The other is strictly “don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t pursue.” I don’t know if one approach is any better than the other. I assume they each have their own value for each of my girls and that they reflect their different temperaments and basic approaches to the world.
Besides the adopted child’s, there are other perspectives to be considered regarding adoption issues and school. For example, what is the teacher’s perspective? What about the other individual students in the class? What are their thoughts about adoption? What have they heard? What have they learned from home or in the community? And of course, there is the question of how adoption issues are managed for the class as a whole particularly in the case of classroom assignments. The annual Family Tree assignment in the lower grade levels quickly comes to mind. More sophisticated assignments involving family lineage and geneology appear for older children.
Here is an article that I have linked to before at www.adoption.com. It is one of my favorites because it takes a developmental approach to the topic of addressing adoption issues in the school by examining them from varying ages and stages.
Another article at this link provides advice on how to support your child’s teacher and help expand his or her awareness about adoption issues and school. There is also a very helpful Q&A offered in the article that addresses some specific issues.
Finally, if you are interested in providing your child’s teacher with specific resources that can help them incorporate learning about adoption into their classroom, or just add to their own personal knowledge base then check out this link.
Our children spend an awful lot of their time in school. Let’s do all that we can to make it a positive experience for them and all those they come in contact with.
Oh and by the way. Here are two links that specifically tackle the family tree assignment. This one offers suggestions for younger children and for older children. This one delves a little more deeply into how the assignment impacts children and their families and how it can be better managed.
