Adoption Education for Educators
Building sensitivity in the classroom As the number of adopted children in classrooms continues to rise each year, early childhood programs must begin to educate teachers about adoption issues. Adoption awareness will help teachers support young children who are trying to understand, and adjust to, their adoptive status. Whether parents
tell teachers about their child's adoptive status or not, young adoptees know they were adopted and may respond to lesson plans, projects, and language based on their own experience and level of understanding.
Educators can become familiar with changing adoption practices, respectful language, and add flexibility to assignments, like the
Family Tree Project, if information is made available to them. And as teacher awareness and sensitivity increases, this will extend to the classroom and other students as well.
There is a growing wealth of resources for educators which can be obtained by schools, parents, and individual teachers. Here are some of the best - in our communities, on the Web, and in books and tapes.
In Your Community Contact
local agencies and providers of adoption education and services. Many adoption agencies, like
Spence-Chapin and centers like the
Center for Family Connections, offer awareness programs for educators. Presentations include information for teachers about adoption, suggest ways for assignments to be inclusive, and more.
On the Web A Teacher's Guide to Adoption is an excellent resource, presented in seven modules. The Guide covers everything from pre-school / elementary school class projects and guidelines for levels of understanding at various ages, to a crash-course in the types of adoption and information about teen pregnancy options.
Adopted Children in the Early Childhood Classroom is a discussion for teachers on inclusiveness and diversity, with excellent references for further reading.
Adoption and School Issues is a discussion of how school may impact adopted children, from preschool through high school, and possible issues that may arise, from the National Adoption Information Clearinghouse.
Resource Guide for Educators, from the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, is an excellent listing of articles, teaching centers, and publications.
Books & Tapes to Order "Adoption and the Schools: Resources for Parents and Teachers", available from Families Adopting in Response (FAIR). Cost: $25.00 plus shipping and handling.
"An Educator's Guide to Adoption", available from the Institute for Adoption Information. Cost: $7.75 (quantity discounts available).
© Nancy S Ashe
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