but wanna help me out a bit?
I'm working on my presentation about support groups tonight and thought maybe I'd get a story or two to back me up. SO if you have time, desire or energy and would like to be quoted (or referred to anonymously) how about a comment that answers one of the following questions:
1) Why should adoptive parents participate in Support Groups? (if you think they should).
2) WHat has been the best support you have received as an adoptive parent and why?
3) What are the characteristics of a good support group member?
4) What are the keys to longevity of support groups?
5) What else do you think I should say in regards to starting and maintaining support groups?
2 comments:
It is important for adoptive parents of special needs kids to have support from others who understand the damage that has been caused to the kids by the lack of attachment or substances or any other reasons for brain damage because no one really understands what the parents are going through until it's been lived. There are many other adults of "normal" kids who think they know better than the adoptive parents how to parent kids. It's very therapeutic just to be able to tell our stories without judgment.
1) Support groups have helped us a LOT. We joined an adoptive support group for people that adopted or were adopting older children before we got our first kid. It was the best thing we could have done. We learned more than we ever could from any class and we could talk to people that were walking in our shoes. It made us feel less alone in the process.
2) The best support we received as a parent was the connections made with other parents. We had an extremely difficult time with our daughter the first year and most people didn't know how to help us...but our support group did. They had lived our battles and could relate.
3)The characteristics of a good support group member is to be supportive, nonjudgemental, contribute, not dominate everything, yet constructive.
4) A good leader that can guide the conversation and set regular dates to meet.
5) If you set a theme to guide conversation each week, it helps.
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