by GIFT Coach | Oct 8, 2012 | Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Blogs by Gayle Swift, General Discussion, The Adoption Triad
Would you consider it a privilege to have your legs amputated? Would you cherish your bionic replacements without yearning for your original limbs? Would you be glad you’d been chosen for this honor? Absurd, right? No matter how wonderful your robo-legs were, part of...
by GIFT Coach | Sep 11, 2012 | Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Blogs by Gayle Swift, General Discussion, Post Adoption Challenges & Behaviors
What are the Barriers to Sharing Difficult Information? A recent discussion with adoption professionals focused on parents who choose to withhold difficult information from adopted children. A question was posed: Is the motivation to protect the child or for the...
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 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 Gayle Swift | Sep 18, 2011 | Adoptive Parenting Skills/Tool, Blogs by Gayle Swift, Difficult Discussions, Foster Parenting, General Discussion, Strengthening Family Relationships
Weaving family relationships with a child who has experienced trauma requires a well-stocked parenting toolbox. Unlike Dominoes which always fall in predictable directions when nudged, children sometimes respond to a technique and sometimes they do not. A successful...