Tuesday, July 08, 2008
It's Been A While Since I've Reminded People about This
If you are a large family, and trying to get matched, or a social worker wanting something to tell your supervisor or the judge about why you selected a large family, you might want to check out this article that I wrote several years ago that has circulated around the internet.
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2 comments:
That was timely! Thanks Claudia - a friend and I are heading off to an adoption/foster conference tomorrow, which starts off with a matching event. I feel I've just been banging my head against the wall lately about convincing local workers that a large family is a GREAT resource for adoption. There is a mindset (at least locally, perhaps not statewide) that you can never have more than 6 children in your home. I'll be taking this with me tomorrow, to leave along with our profile with the workers and our agency rep. Hopefully this can help clear up some of these misconceptions. I especially agree with the point in item #3. Our two children for whom we recently finalized adoption, were originally profiled to be "only children" (a sibling group, brother and sister) in a home due to their issues. They came to us on respite a few times and when a permanent resource was needed, their foster family highly recommended us due to their positive assimilation and growth after being in our already large bio family. I shudder when I think that they could have missed out on the love and companionship of our family. It was a push just to get them placed, as they put us over the 6 children limit. Their attachment to their siblings (and to my husband and I) I believe is purely because we are a large family, and they were able to "blend in" and advance at their own pace, and they were never allowed to become the "center of the universe". They are doing fabulously, and we are seeking to continue to "enlarge our borders". It is a uphill battle, though, with the bias against large families which we have found so prevalent. Anyway, thanks again!
Claudia,
I have shared that article with several large families - who now have children doing well in their home because of it!
It also was shared with the disrupting mother of 3 sibling girls to help her understand benefits of a large family. And so *I* thank you for that spurring her to send my Caroline, Kate and Libby - they are my world! And you are largely to thank!
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