Personal Essay: Being A Step Parent

Adoption is technically defined as “a two-step judicial process in conformance to state statutory provisions in which the legal obligations and rights of a child toward the biological parents are terminated and new rights and obligations are created in the acquired parents” (“Adoption” 1). However, the definition of adoption extends further than the cold and unfeeling dictionary definition. Adoption is love and joy and contentment and wholeness and laughter and tears and growth and work and a new start. My oldest brother was adopted, in addition to eight of my cousins, and I am so thankful that each one of them had the opportunity to be placed in my family. They are my family and the joy I see in the younger kids’ faces at being a

Stepchildren tend to have a harder time accepting the stepparent than the stepparent accepting the stepchild. They are not clean slates, they might have memories of their biological parent or other parent figures. This leaves the children in a state where they compare their real parent to their stepparent, and it is likely that they might end up not liking them. For instance, it can be something as elementary as the child’s real dad loving football and hating soccer. If the child 's new parent hates football and loves soccer, the kid may see that as a threat to his real dads character. If he indulges in the sport of soccer with his stepparent, there can be a sense of betrayal on his mind. This doesn’t, however, mean that stepchildren don’t have good relationships with a stepparent. Many times when a stepparent makes an effort to bond, the child reciprocates those actions and can spark the start of the relationship (Ganong, Coleman & Jamison, 2011). On the other hand some stepchildren recognize the efforts but reject them. A third outcome can be the complete distance of the child from the stepparent, they refuse to acknowledge them. It is still not clearly identified why different children respond the way they do towards their stepparents efforts, but there are

CG 4.1 How do you ensure that families are kept aware of what 's happening in their child 's daily/weekly life in your program?

Research involving divorce and child custody disputes shows that it has numerous effects on the child’s development and adjustment. For example, children who are in a good relationship with their parents while still remaining in contact with them prior to the separation or divorce, transition better into adulthood . Children who tend to be avoidant Children who rely on avoidance or suppression of emotions tend to display less satisfactory adjustment (Greenberg, page 8). Due to these issues involving child custody, there are services available to assist families and to help reduce the amount of conflict.

Both fathers have made mistakes, but are now trying to get to know their own children.

As a foster parent, you help with family reunification through the following actions: role model appropriate parenting skills to the birth parents at visits, at teacher meetings, and doctor appointments, help the child manage behaviors through positive discipline, help the child process grief and loss, work with the child to meet educational and developmental milestones, give feedback to the social workers, transport the child to all doctor appointments, visits, and therapies, be actively supportive of the reunification process. As a foster parent, you help with family reunification. Step 5, Easing back into family reunification through visitation. The increase in visits leads into a natural transition of the child returning back home. This process may take several

In expositions, writers usually tend to focus on certain techniques to not only enhance their writing, but also make their audience believe in whatever they are writing. These age old techniques have been used for so long for one common goal, to create clear messages from their writing that the audience are able to connect with. When their is a feeling of understanding of what the writer is attempting to portray, it makes it far easier to obtain a deeper knowledge. In Hope Edelman’s essay, The Myth of Co-Parenting: How it Was Supposed to Be. How it was, she doesn’t fall short on exemplifying these certain techniques through the act of making her audience feel sympathetic. In her piece, she utilizes emotion and first hand experiences to make the audience identify with the situation, enabling them to make comparisons between Edelman’s marriage and their own.

Growing up in foster care can be challenging, then transitioning out of foster care into the real world can be extremely difficult without the acquired skills and the support of family. It may seem as though there are too many odds and statics stacked up against you, waiting for you to fail. My injustice project helps to address these issues through mentoring and building relationships letting them now that they are important and can do anything they set their mind to accomplish. The concepts of social stratification, status, privilege and oppression relate to the topic of transitioning foster children by informing previous understandings and societal views.

Why would a single man or women give up on their freedom and decide to raise a child? Cherishing and sharing life as a family, is a worldwide need that any individual at a certain age would like to accomplish. However, in our today world people and specially adults are getting more independent and not

Divorce on children is absolutely dreadful. It affects their moods, personality and has potential to be a detriment to their lives especially when growing up. In the earlier years of a child’s upbringing, it is imperative to have both of your parents to be together and with the family. This because children not knowing any better need both figures present and would feel so lost in certain aspects if mom or dad were absent.

323,123,019 and growing is the United States census for this year of 2016 (U.S. and World Population Clock). 415,129 is the amount of children living in the United States who are currently in foster care waiting to be adopted (The AFCARS Report). These numbers are staggering and highlight a huge problem in America caused by adoption regulations, same sex debates, and cost; the effects are rising foster care numbers, declining adoption rates, higher abortion rates, and physical and psychological harms to children.

Benchmark offer classes on Tuesday and Thursday for potential foster parents. In order to be a foster parent the adult must be at least 25 years old, with a steady income, a good criminal background, good physical examination, and has to complete 20 hour of our IMPACT class. IMPACT is a class that everyone must attend which teaches the adult how to be great parents, how to deal with situations that they might have with their foster child, and CPR training. The process usually takes one month to complete. While the potential foster parents was in the IMPACT class as an intern my job was to call the potential foster parent references to see if they was good candidates and to conduct a home visit with the foster parent to see if their home was

Gonzalez defines a blended family as “a family in which a new spousal relationship is formed (either as a result of a divorce or death of one parent), resulting in the joining of either one or both parents’ child or children” (148). This article discusses the topic based on the most common type of blended family, which is a remarried family. Approximately 50% of all Americans have some kind of step-relationship. Being a part of a blended family has become more common as well as the significant issues related to family adjustment and maintenance of them. In the majority of instances, blended families start with little awareness of what to expect.

One huge issue in the state of Georgia is adoption and foster care. Children are adopted and put into foster care because either their parents could not take care of them or because they became an orphan. The biggest issue is the children are being treated unfairly in their new home.

I feel that this class has changed my whole perception of what family work is, the importance of not getting caught up in the content and focussing on the process of identifying strengths that the family has which can be used to perpetuate ongoing homeostasis. This course also highlighted for me how much more I still need to learn about supporting the family system. I have been working with families for about 10 years, mostly with supporting positive parenting and also with families who have children and youth experiencing mental health concerns. I feel that my process orientated interactions have been effective for my gathering of information but not necessarily helpful for the long-term healthy coping of the family. By watching you, listening to your teachings and participating and observing role plays I feel that these experiences have led to not only practical knowledge but a new perspective of the importance of stepping back and trying to walk in the client’s shoes.