The following resources are here to support adoptive families, prospective adoptive parents, adult adoptees, and the child welfare professionals who work alongside them. Browse by topic to find guides, tip sheets, training materials, and more.
Getting Started with Adoption
Resources for families who are exploring or preparing for adoption.
- What to Consider When Considering Adoption: A starting point for families thinking about adoption, covering key questions and considerations before beginning the adoption process.
- I’m Ready to Adopt! How Do I Choose an Adoption Agency?: Guidance on how to evaluate and select an adoption agency, with questions to ask and factors to weigh.
- Final Preparations: Getting Yourself and Your Child Ready for Adoption Finalization: Advice for parents on preparing emotionally and practically in the lead-up to finalization.
- Fact or Fiction: Common Misconceptions About Adoption: Evidence-based responses to common myths about adoption, helpful for prospective parents and professionals working in outreach.
Parenting and Child Development
Tools for adoptive parents navigating the unique aspects of raising children who have experienced trauma, loss, or significant transitions.
- Through the Lens of Adoption: Understanding Child Development & Adoption’s Impact: A guide for adoptive parents on how adoption shapes a child’s emotional and developmental growth at different stages.
- Supporting Children Who Have Experienced Trauma: Practical strategies for understanding and responding to challenging behaviors rooted in early trauma.
- Recognizing Trauma Triggers: An overview of how trauma triggers work and what caregivers can do to support children why they occur.
- Positive Parenting for Kids from Hard Places: Compassionate, practical parenting strategies for children who have experienced neglect, toxic stress, or trauma.
- Sibling Conflict in Adoptive Families: Strategies for managing and reducing conflict between siblings in adoptive families, where dynamics can be shaped by differing backgrounds and attachment experiences.
Identity, Race, and Culture
Resources for transracial families and caregivers supporting children’s racial and cultural identity.
- Transracial Parenting Series: A free, self-paced learning series of webinars designed to help transracial families understand how race and culture shape a child’s identity and build the skills to support their child with confidence and care.
- Promoting Healthy Cultural Identity for Children of Color Living in Transracial Families: Practical advice for parents raising children of a different racial or cultural background, with a focus on fostering a strong, affirming sense of identity.
- Honoring Your Child’s Racial & Cultural Identity: Guidance on celebrating and preserving a child’s cultural heritage as part of everyday family life.
- Transracial Children’s Books & Resources: A curated list of books and materials to help transracial families introduce diverse stories and perspectives.
- Virtual Resource Kit: Transracial Parenting: A collection of resources to help families navigating transracial adoption celebrate their children’s racial and cultural identity and build a strong, affirming family environment.
- Caring for the Hair of Your African American Child: Practical guidance for caregivers on understanding and meeting the hair care needs of African American children in their home.
Talking About Adoption and Birth Family
Resources to help families navigate honest, age-appropriate conversions about adoption, birth families, and a child’s story.
- Empowering Your Child to Share Their Adoption Story: Support for parents on helping children take ownership of their adoption story and decide when and how to share it with others.
- Missing Pieces: Talking to Your Child About Adoption When Information is Limited: Guidance for adoptive parents navigating conversations about birth family when the information available is incomplete.
- Family Matters: Talking to Children in Care About Their Parents: Advice for foster, adoptive, and kinship caregivers on having compassionate, age-appropriate conversations with children about their birth parents.
Mental Health and Emotional Support
Resources to help adoptive families recognize and respond to mental health challenges.
- Depression in Teens Who Were Adopted: What Families Need to Know: An overview of depression risk factors for adopted teens and guidance for families on recognizing warning signs and seeking support.
- Post-Adoption Depression Syndrome: I Thought I’d Be Happy: An honest look at Post-Adoption Depression Syndrome (PADS) and what families can do when emotions after finalization feel unexpected.
- Making the Most of Therapy for the Child in Your Care: Tips for caregivers on how to support and maximize the benefits of therapy for children healing from trauma.
- The Wider Scope of Therapy: An introduction to different therapeutic approaches available for children, helping caregivers understand their options beyond traditional talk therapy.
Adoption Transitions and Life Stages
Guidance for families navigating key milestones, from finalization through the teenage years.
- Not Too Old for Forever: Adopting an Older Youth: A look at the meaningful possibilities of adopting older youth, along with honest guidance on the unique challenges and milestones involved.
- Why Challenging Behaviors Post-Adoption May Be Signs of Grieving: Helps adoptive parents understand how grief can show up as challenging behavior and how to respond with empathy.
- Education & Adoption: Working with Students and Families: Practical guidance on advocating for adopted children in school settings and helping educators better understand adoption-related needs.
Support for Adoptive Parents
Resources focused on the well-being of adoptive parents themselves.
- The Balance Beam of Life: Caring for Yourself While Caring for Your Kids: Practical self-care strategies for adoptive, foster, and relative caregivers managing the emotional weight of caregiving.
- Away From Home: Caring for Your Child and Yourself During an Out-of-Home Care Placement: Support for caregivers navigating the difficult decision to pursue an out-of-home placement for a child whose needs exceed what can be met at home.
- Partners in Healing: Separating Therapy Myths from Reality: Addresses common fears and misconceptions that may prevent caregivers from seeking therapy, and reframes it as a tool for growth.
Resources for Child Welfare Professionals
Tools and training materials to support professionals working with adoptive and foster families in Wisconsin.
- Building Trust and Felt Safety with Children and Youth: Evidence-based activities and strategies to help adults connect authentically with children and youth healing from trauma, featuring music therapy, creative expression, and relationship-building exercises. (PDF)
- Is Adoption or Guardianship a Better Fit?: A comparison of the key differences between adoption and guardianship to help professionals and families make informed permanency decisions.
- Adoption as an Extended Family Network: A practical guide for families who’ve decided to adopt on navigating conversations with extended friends and family about how to share the news, setting expectations, and building a broader network of support around the child. (PDF)
- Communicating About Kids in Care: Stigmas & Stereotypes: A resource for professionals and advocates on challenging misconceptions and communicating respectfully about children in foster care and adoption.
- You Don’t Have to Foster to Make a Difference: Ways to Support Children in Care: A resource for community members and professionals on meaningful ways to support children in the child welfare system beyond fostering or adopting.
