Parenting Your Adopted Teenager

Parenting a teenager takes finesse and patience under the smoothest of situations but add the various issues of loss and identity that adoption can bring and you have an situation that most parents cannot handle. To help, the child welfare association has put together a handy 6 part fact book with parenting tips and tools:

clipped from www.childwelfare.gov

During the teenage years, youth form an identity that is separate from their parents. They also learn and practice adult life skills. Adoption adds complexity to the normal developmental tasks of teenagers, even for those who were adopted as newborns. Adopted teens have varying degrees of knowledge about and contact with birth family members. These factors, as well as their perception and understanding of their adoptive history, influence their development and experiences. Adoptive parents can best help their teens by understanding these issues and being aware of how adoption and related experiences might affect their youth.

Table of Contents

1 – Understanding teenage development and the impact of adoption

2 – Communicating with your teenager about adoption

3 – Helping your teenager communicate with others about adoption

4 – Disciplining effectively

5 – Preparing your teenager for adulthood

6 – Seeking help for mental health concerns