Adoption Counseling

IAC Center offers counseling for people considering adoption and all adoption triad members which includes: Pre-Adoptive and Adoptive parents; Birth parents; Children, Teens and Adults who were adopted.

Working with all adoption triad members helps IAC Center Counselors to understand the multiple perspectives and life cycle themes in adoption. Our goals are to:

• Provide assistance with the psychosocial tasks that are specific to adoption

• Promote growth and development in individuals and in families

• To help with communication and the complexities of relationships in open adoptions

For Pre-Adoptive Parents

IAC Center is unique in that we provide adoption counseling but do not place children for adoption and are not affiliated with any agency or attorney.  Therefore we are able to offer pre-adoptive parents unbiased guidance, education, counseling and when necessary advocacy as they make life lasting decisions during all phases of the adoption process.  

If you are undecided about adoption, family building options counseling may be the best place to start. But if you have decided to adopt, the Pre-Adoption Consultation is the first step toward developing an Adoption Plan that takes into account both your short and long term goals.   

Pre-Adoptive parents find Counseling helps you to:

• Decide whether adoption is right for you

• Come to decisions with your partner  

• Learn about communication with birth parents

• Create an adoption profile

• Learn how to define the parameters of adoption situations you would be comfortable accepting. 

• Decide about a particular adoption situation

• Deal with an adoption fall-through

• Make adoption decisions under pressure, you can contact IAC Center for Emergency Telephone Counseling.   

Pre-adoptive parents also enjoy our pre-adoption support groups and popular psycho-educational workshops which help you to constructively manage the wait, prepare for parenting and enjoy the company of people who share your experiences .

For Adoptive Families

Adoptive parents participate in individual, couples or family counseling, as well as our Adoptive Parent support groups and popular psycho-educational workshops.

Our IAC Center Counselors are sensitive to life cycle themes in adoption and can help you to differentiate whether issues are primarily related to adoption, child developmental, personality style or some combination of these reasons.  

Adoptive Parents will find counseling helps you to:

• Transition your child home from an orphanage or foster care  

• Build attachments  

• Understand and plan strategies for difficult behaviors or emotions

• Deal with sibling issues

• Learn how to talk to your child about adoption

• Plan how you will share difficult information

• Process Open Adoption issues

• Support identity in your Transracial Adoptive Family

Children, Teens and Adults who were adopted find counseling offers opportunities to:

• Discuss feelings and thoughts in a safe, neutral setting

• Explore issues related to adoption, race or identity

• Prepare for Search and Meeting or Reunion

• Meet with peers in Children’s and Teen groups

• Participate in group learning experiences in psycho- educational workshops such as WISE Up, Life Books or our Teen Workshop.

Birth Parent Counseling

Our perspective on birth parents is shaped by clinical work done before, during and after the placement.  Since the Center does not do adoptions, these clients are comforted by the neutral setting.   We also offer referrals to birth parent mentors or support groups as well as speaking opportunities which many birth parents find to have a positive impact on growth and healing.