Teens frequently wonder about their adoption story, and may have few details, or difficult circumstances around their birth. All of these teens may deal with feelings of rejection and vulnerability. Seeing their struggling teens can be hard for any parent, but therapy is available for your teen and the entire family. Transferable attachment between animals and humans in adopted children has been proven to have remarkable benefits and achievements in reversing a troubled teen’s negative self-talk and feelings. If you find yourself wondering, “How can I help my adopted child?” read on to understand the hurdles for adopted adolescents, and how to help your child overcome them.
Adopted adolescents need help understanding the information about their birth parents. Sometimes, a parent may have had a mental illness, or was incarcerated, rather than voluntarily choose to give up their child. In fact, recent studies have concluded that the majority (84%) of incarcerated parents – within state prisons - reported to the Bureau of Justice Statistics that at least one of their children was in the care of the other parent. Furthermore, 15% identified the grandparents as caregivers, 6% listed other relatives, and 3% had at least one child in a foster home, agency, or institution. This can be increasingly difficult for a child or adolescent to understand. It is critical that adoptive parents share information about the birth parents with their adopted teens or else they risk having the teen find out anyway.
Many adopted teens struggle with feelings of being different and alienation. If there is any critical time for feeling like you fit in, the adolescent years are that time. Being adopted creates many feelings of being different, especially if they are of different race or culture. The feelings that arise from this dichotomy need to be addressed immediately, or they can adversely affect a child’s sense of self-worth and self-identity. Not addressing these issues have proven to result in alarmingly high numbers of adopted teens being sent to correction schools and/or being locked out of their adoptive homes. Furthermore, adoptees are far more likely to have difficulties with drugs and alcohol, eating disorders, attention defecits, infertility, suicide, and untimely pregnancies.
Places like Three Points Center have been designed to help with this. They strive to provide unparalleled support for the entire family, rather than just your teen. They firmly believe that the issue lies not with the adopted adolescent, but with the family system.
Three Points Center will show you that, when help is sought, the overall adjustment of adopted teens and adopted children is actually quite good. One of the best ways is by transferable attachment between animals and adopted children. Since Three Points Center is so focused and dedicated to the goal of helping adopted children to heal from a troubled identity, they have a treatment plan that combines clinical psychology with nurturing activities, such as outdoor therapy, animal care, fitness, and equine therapy.
Three Points Center is a unique program that serves only adopted children and their families. We specialize in the many different aspects of emotional unrest that adopted children have been known to face, and the therapy and treatment needed to overcome those issues. Call us today at (435) 635-0636.