Adoption Issues

Personal and professional experience with adoptees, biological parents, adoptive parents, foster families, temporary placements, and extended family members, and in many aspects from pre-adoption to unification.

I help treat adult adoptees who struggle with the unique feelings surrounding being adopted. I also help adoptees who have reunified with their biological families.

I have worked with multiple clients that have adoption stories. I also am adopted so working with this population is very close to home. I work with adoptees on re-discovering their identities and healing from their trauma.

I have special interest in working with children who are adopted and struggle with attachment. I also have special interest in helping the parents of adopted children who are navigating the complex behavioral and emotional concerns with their children.

Navigating the world of adoption is a learning experience. Whether through private domestic/international adoption, through the US foster care system, or assuming responsibility for family or friends, there are often times ongoing struggles after the adoption is finalized. As an adoptive parent, I understand your unique experiences firsthand.

As adoptees, we know better than anyone that the impact of adoption lasts a lifetime. As an adoption competent therapist, and transracial adoptee myself, I know having better understanding the separation and loss caused by ambiguous losses of adoption, developmental trauma, and confusion about identity. Adoptees hear messages like, "you should be grateful" instead of holding space for the loss which can lead to anger, hopelessness, guilt, and isolation.

I have worked with not only adoptees, but birth parents, adoptive parents and related family members who have been impacted by adoption. It is important to know and understand the complexities of adoption, including separation, loss, grief, trauma and related issues. I work with adults and teens in all aspects of adoption, pre and post adoption and search and reunion. I focus on the 7 core struggles in adoption (loss/abandonment, rejection, grief, guilt/shame, identity, intimacy and control)

As adoptees, we know better than anyone that adoption is not a singular event that begins and ends when a child is placed. The reality is: the thread lines of adoption stay with us forever, so what do we do with this knowledge? Often times, better understanding the separation and loss caused by adoption can give us clues into healing our core wounds and the things that perplex us most about why we do the things we do, and how to shift those things if we so desire.

I have completed the Center for Adoption Support and Education's accredited training in Adoption Competency program (TAC) and have supported adoptees of all ages and their families working on identity, grief and loss, and life transitions. In my work, I often support adoptees and their families going through the search and reunion process, processing trauma, and understanding neurodivergence.

Fostered and adopted children can bring the greatest joy to our lives. Unfortunately, they may have had difficult experiences before coming into our care, including in utero or neo natal trauma, that can show up later as disruptive behaviors. The good news is that young brains impacted by trauma can heal. Through Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), I can teach you how to get your child's behaviors under control in a way that is nurturing, healing to their nervous systems, & effective.

I have worked with not only adoptees, but birth parents, adoptive parents and related family members who have been impacted by adoption. It is important to know and understand the complexities of adoption, including separation, loss, grief, trauma and related issues. I work with adults and teens in all aspects of adoption, pre and post adoption and search and reunion. I focus on the 7 core struggles in adoption (loss/abandonment, rejection, grief, guilt/shame, identity, intimacy and control)

I have lived-experience with adoption and birth parent and adoptive parent support.

As an adoptive parent and counselor I understand the challenges faced in blending a family through adoption. I can work with you and your children on issues of grief and loss, identity formation, and attachment in blending your family.

If you are adopted, it is likely the experience of being adopted is one of the most significant influences in your life. Many adults who were adopted as infants or young children, and were loved, accepted and valued by their adoptive families, still struggle with feelings of melancholy, grief and fear of loss, or are anxious about their capacity to belong, despite the experience of having loving adoptive parents and families. It seems that even with a wholesome family experience, the primal separation and loss that is a part of every adoption experience can fuel many anxieties in adoptees, especially fears of loss and abandonment and confusion about identity. Being adopted can influence a person throughout their lives. It is common for these influences to appear – or reappear. If you are seeking support to explore and process the impact of adoption in your life, having a therapist who understands both personally and professionally can be especially helpful. I'd like to help.

I’m an advocate for adoptees and families impacted by adoption. I have an extensive background with foster care and adoption and have worked with all sides of the triad, including adoptees, birth parents, foster and adoptive parents. I understand how difficult and complex these issues can be and the significant impact on families.

I work with adopted and foster children, teens, and adults. I am an adoptee myself and have specialized training to serve this community from my participation in Portland State University's Foster and Adoption Therapy Certificate Program.

Children who are adopted out of traumatic situations often have behavioral issues arising from the past trauma. PCIT was researched and developed out of UC Davis Children's Hospital with a focus on children who have trauma, foster care, and adoption histories. Hope is available. With PCIT, together we can work to transform your child's behaviors and bring peace and warmth back to your family interactions again!

As an adoptive parent and member of an extended birth family in reunion, I bring my own experiences and sensitivity to the task of providing adoptees, adoptive parents, and birth family members the support they need to tackle the complex issues inherent in adoption. I provide support groups, individual consultations on adoption-related issues, parenting coaching, and ongoing psychotherapy. I work primarily with teens and adults, both adoptees, first family and those parenting adopted children.

The impact of adoption comes up a different times throughout the lifetime - starting school, graduation, moving away, getting married, starting a family. As an adoption competent therapist, and transracial adoptee myself, I know having better understanding the separation and loss caused by ambiguous losses of adoption can be so painful. Adoptees hear messages like, "you should be grateful" instead of holding space for the loss which can lead to anger, hopelessness, guilt, and isolation.