From requests for baby pictures to the ubiquitous Family Tree assignment,
adopted children and their families face challenges and embarrassment
in the classroom. FAIR (Families Adopting in Response) offers help
for parents and teachers. Adoption and the Schools: Resources for Parents
and Teachers is a complete guide to understanding the dilemmas faced
by adopted children in the school setting. It offers insights into the
experiences of young people who are faced with assignments, activities
and occasions which make participation difficult or painful simply because
of the way they joined their family. Suggestions for expanding assignments,
including adoption in every day classroom activities, and honoring differences
in children and families are included. From pre-school through high
school, adopted children’s understanding of adoption and the way
it is perceived by teachers and classmates shapes their concept of who
they are in the world.
The book is written to help parents and teachers increase adoption
awareness and sensitivity in the school community. Teachers will be
able to explore both the impact of adoption on the children they teach
and their own influence on the way the adopted child experiences school.
Parents will learn more about the impact of adoption on their children’s
education and how to educate the educators about adoption.
Contributors include experienced parents, professionals, and the students
themselves. Their drawings, poems and stories enliven the material and
remind us that teaching and parenting is, after all, about the children
Recommended for pre-school, elementary and middle school situations.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Section 1
Crib Notes: Adoption 101
• Introduction: (Lansing Wood)
• Lessons for the Heart: Adoption Means… (Nancy Ng)
• A Look at Adoption in the Past (Bernadine Barr, PhD)
• A Look at Adoption Today (Lansing Wood)
• What Adoptive Parents Would Like Educators to Know (Barbara
Rila)
• Birthparent Transformation: Our Public Image and the Image Within (Brenda Romanchik)
• Speaking Positively: Respectful Adoption Language (Pat Johnston)
• Adopt-a Confusion: Using Adoption to Catch Attention, (Pat Johnston)
• A Short List of Adoption Lingo (Lansing Wood)
Section 2
Tot to Teen: Developmental Perspectives
• Introduction: (Lansing Wood)
• Lessons for the Heart: Weave of Wonder (Nancy Ng)
• Understanding Adoption: Preschool Years: Ages 3-5
(Lansing Wood)
• Understanding Adoption: Elementary Years: Ages 6-10 (Lansing
Wood)
• Understanding Adoption: Young Adolescent Years:
Ages 11-15 (Lansing Wood)
• Understanding Adoption: Older Adolescent Years:
Ages 16-22+ (Lansing Wood)
• Good News About Adopted Teenagers and School
(Eugene C Roehlkepartain)
• The Adolescent Storm (Joyce Maguire Pavao)
Section 3
"Can We Talk?" Parent-Teacher Communication
• Introduction: (Lansing Wood)
• Lessons for the Heart: The Weave of Wonder (Nancy Ng)
• The Parent-Teacher Conference (Lansing Wood)
• An Open Letter (Nancy Ng)
• All Families Are Different (no byline)
• Meeting Special Needs With Proactive Communication (Lansing
Wood)
• Openness About Open Adoption: When is Too Much Too Much? (Becky Judd)
Section 4
"I Can't Do It" Problematic Assignments, Activities, and Occasions
• Introduction: "I Can't Do It!" … (Lansing Wood)
• Lessons for the Heart: Yes You Can (Nancy Ng)
• Assigning With Everyone in Mind (Nancy Ng)
• You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby (changed title) (Nancy Ng)
• A Forest of Family Trees (Nancy Ng)
• Family Histories That Fit the Bill (Nancy Ng)
• All About Me (Nancy Ng)
• Confronting Genetics and Sex (Nancy Ng)
• Troublesome Occasions (Nancy Ng)
• I Am Kim, Eun-Jung: How a First Grade Assignment Changed My
Life (Kimberly Ford)
• First Hand Accounts of Coping With Confusion (Lansing Wood)
• Beginnings and Endings: What to Do When Transitions Are Tough (Louise McCarthy)
• Including Adoption in Everyday Teaching Situations (Nancy Ng)
• Adopted Children in the Early Childhood Classroom
(Judith E. Stroud, James C. Stroud, and Lynn M. Staley)
• Honoring Differences: How to Make Sure All Your Students Feel
Included (Margene Chmyz)
Section 5
In the Spotlight: Presentations For Schools and Classrooms
• Introduction: In the Spotlight: … (Lansing Wood)
• Lessons for the Heart: Shining the Light on Adoption
(Nancy
Ng)
• Adoption Goes to School (Nancy Ng)
• How I Explained Adoption to the First Grade (Amy Klatzkin)
• Teaching Teens About Adoption: Middle and High School Adoption
Awareness Presentations (Lansing Wood)
• Cultural Celebrations at School (Nancy Ng)
• National Adoption Awareness Month (Nancy Ng)
• I'm Famous, I'm Adopted (--)
• Adoption in the School Library (Nancy Ng)
• Community Read-In (Nancy Ng)
• Teachers' Staff Development Meeting on Adoption Awareness
(Margene Chmyz)
Section 6
"Is That Your Mom?" Transcultural Considerations
• Introduction: "Is That Your Mom?"… (Lansing
Wood)
• Lessons for the Heart: Family (Nancy Ng)
• Healing Old Wounds (Sydney Duncan)
• Racism (Susan Cunningham)
• Stepping Up to the Plate on Diversity (Lynne White Dixon)
• Multicultural Education (Beth Hall and Gail Steinberg)
• Ten Ways to Help School-Agers Handle Racism
(Beth Hall and Gail Steinberg)
• International Adoption in the Classroom (Susan Cox)
• Of Oreos and Cameos (Sue Badeau)
Section 7
"Help!" Special Educational Challenges
• Introduction: "Help!" Special Educational Challenges
(Lansing Wood)
• Lessons for the Heart (Nancy Ng)
• The Link Between Adoption and Learning Disabilities
(Martha Bordwell, PhD)
• How to Get Special Educational Services (Carol Beaumont)
• Glossary of Special Ed Terms (Carol Beaumont)
• Remembering the Child: What Parents Bring to an IEP Meeting (Lansing Wood)
• What, Me—Turn Down Services? School and the Young child
with Attachment Challenges (Nancy Ng)
• Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen: The Child with Attachment
Disorder in School (Nancy Ng)
• Assessment "Blues" and Adoption (Janina Nadaner)
• Paying Attention to Attention Deficit Disorder (Janina Nadaner)
• Reflections on a Paper Hat (Nancy Ng)
• Thinking Outside the Box for Challenging Children (Louise McCarthy)
• Take Away (Joyce Pavao)
Section 8
Better Late Than Never: The Older Child Enters School
• Informational Intro (Lansing Wood)
• Lessons for the Heart (Nancy Ng)
• Cover Story: Helping Children Explain Their Placement
(Kay Donley Zeigler, MSW)
• Focus on Adoption: The Role of School Personnel in
Supporting Adoptive Families (Maria Piantanida, Ph.D.,
Sherry Anderson, M.S.W., Virginia Giannotta, Ph.D.)
• In the Classroom: Helping Foster or Late-adopted Children to
Succeed (Ann M. Jernberg, PhD)
• Who Are the Families Who Adopt Older Kids?
(Lansing Wood)
• Academics aren't everything (Nancy Ng)
• Homework Hassles (Nancy Ng)
• Learning to Advocate for Older Adopted Children
(Cynthia Peck)
Section 9
Experts Speak: Personal Reflections on Adoption
various poems, stories, drawings, vignettes from adopted kids, adoptive parents, etc.
Section 10
"More Please!" Additional Resources
lists of useful books for parents and teachers, an annotated list of
grade/age-appropriate adoption-related books, national organizations
that may be helpful…
