Okay you have been through the journey of waiting, heartbreak, social worker visits, home studies, unending patience, disappointment, paperwork, court dates, possibly international travel, cultural and language barriers and health issues.  Now your child is in your home and life gets real. You start to carry shame because it has been harder to attach to and parent your child than you expected.  You feel isolated and misunderstood.  You are worn out as a parent and feel like you don’t have the energy to connect to your spouse, biological children, or friends. You look around one day and wonder if your life is forever changed. You feel like you would give everything to protect and heal your child but you worry you have lost yourself or your marriage in the process.

Parenting children through adoption can be very challenging.  Especially if your child comes from a background of international adoption or foster care and even harder if your child was not an infant when you joined your lives together.

Many adoptive and foster parents have conflicted feelings about the ways their lives have changed since deciding to embark on the journey of adoptive parenthood. 

Many people in your family and social circle don’t understand, nor do they want to talk about these challenges. Some have expectations that adoption should all be happiness and joy and redemption.  It is hard to explain about the sleepless nights, stress, conflict, disruptive behaviors and grief that can settle into a family after your child joins your family. These unfortunate realities may leave you feeling alone and possibly hopeless, anxious or depressed.  

In addition to being a trained mental health counselor, I am also an adoptive mom and I understand the journey, because I have also experienced it.  I adopted a two year old girl from Ethiopia in 2011.  She is now a teenager and we have been on a long journey of attachment as well as navigating school related, behavioral and social challenges – both within our family and with peers and classmates.  We have also been on a journey to build connections with some of her biological family members and her birth culture.  None of this has been easy, and we haven’t done it perfectly.  But the key has been to receive support when it is needed and continuing to choose love and empathy along the way.

These challenges which I have faced as an adoptive mom have given me a great passion for working with other adoptive parents.  I have led a support group for foster families as well as international adoption families.  I have walked beside other adoptive families as a supportive, understanding and nonjudgemental presence in their lives and I would love to also be that person in your life.  I provide a safe space to both process your feelings and encourage you on your parenting journey with your child.

I offer in-person counseling sessions at my Louisville, Colorado office or telehealth sessions if that is more convenient for you.

It is never too late to reach out for support, to receive the healing you also need, so that you can provide a healing family environment for your child as well.  

• Attachment with your child
• Understanding childhood trauma and attachment styles
• Marriage/relationship challenges in adoptive families
• Grieving the family you thought you had and accepting the family you do have
• Finding your own space for self care and self development as a woman
• Understanding teen attachment patterns and identity formation
• Difficulty navigating sibling relationships in adoption
• Navigating school related issues like 504 plans and IEPs
• Societal expectations and interracial families.
• Birth family visits