Featured:
Allergies
Grilling Guide
eHow Now Blog

Support Groups for Adult Adopted Children

Support Groups for Adult Adopted Children thumbnail
There are an estimated six to 10 million adopted individuals in the United States.

People who have been adopted may experience a range of emotions often experienced by adoptees, including identity issues, low self-esteem, feelings of abandonment and isolation. Adoptees deal with these experiences in different ways, sometimes culminating in a reunion with birth parents. Support groups can often help adoptees in a singular way and may be crucial to the healing process.

  1. Online Organizations

    • The ALMA (Adoptees' Liberty Movement Association) Society supports adoptees' need to reunite with birth parents. The American Adoption Congress is an organization that seeks adoption reform and is comprised of individuals who have been affected by the adoption process. It is seeking new legislation to remove some of the secrecy that surrounds adoptions.

    Online Support Groups

    • Some discussion forums include international adoptees, reunions with birth families and relationships with others. There is an adoptee forum on Adoption.com. Adoption Crossroads is a nonprofit organization with online support for adopted individuals. Adult Adoptees is another online organization offering support, friendship and understanding. There is a Yahoo! support group called Arizona Search and Support for adoptees, adoptive parents and birth families all over the United States.

    Local Support Groups

    • To locate a local support group, contact your state social services office and adoption agency. Contact American Adoption Congress and ALMA to find a local branch of these national organizations. Some in-person support groups include: Coordinators2 in Richmond, Virginia; PACT in Oakland, California; and the Barker Foundation in Maryland.

    Considerations

    • Support groups can help adopted adults come to terms with their adoptions, provide friendship with other adopted people and help with emotional healing. Support groups are made up of other adoptees and possibly other people with opinions and biases based on positive or negative experiences. There may be advice offered within these groups that is questionable, and you should always seek professional counsel before taking legal actions.

Related Searches:

References

Resources

  • Photo Credit people group on meadow image by Pavel Losevsky from Fotolia.com

Comments

You May Also Like

  • Adoption Support Groups

    Support groups are places where people who have experienced common struggles can come together to offer mutual aid. Adopting a child can...

  • Post Adoption Support Groups

    Although adoption is considered a solution to a problem where everyone involved benefits, there's also a sense of loss. Most birth parents...

  • How to Locate People Who Were Adopted

    Locating people who were adopted is no easy task. It takes much thorough research and skill to uncover the necessary documentation. Moreover,...

  • Do it Yourself Adult Adoption

    While adoption usually is considered to be a legal mechanism to add a child to a family, it is also possible to...

  • How to Search for an Adopted Child

    Once you've made the decision to search for an adopted child, knowing where to start can seem overwhelming. An organized approach and...

  • Support Groups for Foster Children

    Foster children are usually the children of families in crisis. They may be orphans, or have survived trauma of some kind. Foster...

  • Adoptee Support Groups

    Adopted children -- and even adults -- go through traumatic periods where they vacillate whether to find their birth parents and wonder...

  • Adoption Support Groups for Adolescents

    A fundamental building block of a human being's identity is understanding who she is and where she comes from. While the emotional...

  • How to Plan Missional Activities For A Youth Group

    First we must understand what a Missional Activity for a youth group is. Missional Activities are any activity done for someone else....

  • Child Death Support Groups

    Child Death Support Groups. The loss of a child is devastating. Nothing you can do will take the pain of the loss...

Related Ads

thumbnail
Featured