Should your family socialize with other adoptive families? What benefits are there to socializing with other adoptive families? Does your area have organized events specifically for adoptive families? If not, have you thought about organizing a support group or an event? Maybe you have never considered any of these questions. Because our adoption journey began through providing foster care to area children, attending social events for adoptive families seemed very natural. In the process of becoming licensed foster parents we were required to attend many hours of training and then to maintain training hours each year. We enjoyed attending these trainings and getting to know other foster and adoptive families. We are very fortunate because our city has a foster adoptive family resource center that organizes events several times a year. These events are open to any foster, adoptive, or kinship care family free of charge. We have an annual picnic with food, games, and prizes for the children, an annual movie night during Christmas break that includes snacks, and an annual bowling and pizza event over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Children sometimes feel isolated. They may think they are the only adopted person in their school or the only kid with special needs. Every child attending these social events is either adopted, in foster care, or living with a non-parent relative. Every child can find someone with a similar history, problems, or adoptive family with whom he or she can relate. It really helps them to fit in and feel normal.

Adoptive parents enjoy attending these events for similar reasons. We have unique problems and issues that families with just birth children cannot relate. Our children deal with unique issues that we sometimes need advice to handle. Who better to seek advice from then another adoptive parent? If you have adopted older children then only another adoptive parent of older children can completely relate to what you may be going through at the time. Sometimes our families are ostracized from groups because we make people feel uncomfortable or because our children have special needs. At these events, we are able to find similar families with whom we can create lasting friendships for ourselves as well as our children.

If your area doesn’t have a resource center try planning something small. Put an ad in your local paper a week or two in advance and ask the local radio station to announce it. If you have a pizza parlor with video games that might be a good meeting place. You could pick a date, time, and announce that your new support group will be meeting there with children for fun, support, and games. It might grow and you and your children might make new friends with whom you have a lot in common.

Photo Credit Julia Fuller 2007