by Sally A | Mar 13, 2013 | Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool
This is GIFT’s second blog post to explore the role of boundaries in family life. In discovering how the world works, we’ve all encountered the proverbial bare-hand-on-hot-stove experience. Pain makes an effective and persuasive learning channel and...
by GIFT Coach | Jun 12, 2012 | Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Blogs by Guests, Difficult Discussions, General Discussion, School & IEP Support
Our guest blogger is Christina White. Christina is a survivor of a traumatic childhood in which she was subjected to persistent and pervasive abuse. She was hidden from her father and he died before she could reconnect with him. Eventually, she was raised by an uncle....
by GIFT Coach | Mar 12, 2012 | Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Blogs by Gayle Swift
I was speaking with an adoptee in his late twenties. He has a healthy relationship with his adoptive parents. Since his eighteenth birthday, he has been cultivating a warm and reassuring relationship with his birth-mother. In his conversations with her, he is able to...
by Gayle Swift | Feb 5, 2012 | Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Blogs by Gayle Swift, General Discussion, Post Adoption Challenges & Behaviors, The Adoption Triad
Recently I shared a conversation with an adult who was adopted as a newborn. She described the soup of emotions that she felt toward her birth-mother. To this day, she maintains a strong current of anger, hurt, frustration, and lack of control. This pain co-exists...
by Sally A | Oct 30, 2011 | Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Blogs by Sally Ankerfelt, Foster Parenting, General Discussion
Here at GIFT Family Services, we speak about creating “intentional” adoptive or foster families. One important aspect of being an intentional family is having a vision with goals and values rather than making things up as we go along. Being intentional...
by susand | Sep 23, 2011 | Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Blogs by Susan David, Foster Parenting, General Discussion, Strengthening Family Relationships
Being a parent is a huge undertaking. Dah! “Tell me something I don’t know!” is perhaps what you are thinking! And, another revelation, sometimes being a teen is a difficult task! I am reminded of a cartoon that I saw recently while flipping through...
