Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Support with Reconnecting With Bio Families After Foster Care



--> Adoption Network Cleveland recently created “Reconnections Support” to support former foster youth who are trying to reconnect with members of their biological families…  Through one-on-one and peer support, this program focuses on helping young people navigate those relationships, set realistic expectations, and maintain healthy boundaries.

As foster care youth and alumni, this challenge of how to reconnect with biological family members after foster care can be complex for each of us:

- Some of us are contacted by family members who try to take advantage of us financially.

-  Some of us seek out and are finally able to connect with our long-lost sibling - but the process of rebuilding that relationship can take time.

- Some of us reach out to family members and experience rejection.

- Some of us try to talk with parents about previous abuse or neglect, and the parent denies it ever happened.

From the time when I first “aged out” of foster care to my volunteer work ever since, I have both witnessed and experienced these complications. Trying to reconnect is complicated, and I am deeply grateful that Adoption Network Cleveland has created this statewide resource to help.



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