Post Adoption Services

Mission Statement

Wide Horizons For Children (WHFC) recognizes that adoption is a lifelong process for all members of the adoption triad — birth families, adoptive families and adopted persons. We acknowledge that this journey is unique for each individual and family. WHFC's Post Adopt Support and Education team assists this journey by providing opportunities for birth family/adoptive family connections, celebrations of birth culture, referral to community resources and consultation on adoption and parenting concerns.

From our recent post adoption survey, we learned that many of you are unfamiliar with Wide Horizons' Post Adoption services.

First, our post adoption services are provided by our Past Adopt Support and Education (PASE) team. To meet our team, visit visit the Post Adoption section of our website. This team, in collaboration with other WHFC staff, provide the following post adoption services:

Beyond The Horizon
WHFC's post adoption newsletter is created and published by our PASE team. It is available to all WHFC applicants and post adopt families who have a current email address on file with us. If you know of a WHFC post adopt family who does not currently, but would like to receive this newsletter, you can do the following:

• Forward the newsletter to them using either the "Forward to a friend" link at the bottom or your email's Forward button
• Refer the family to our enews signup page where they can subscribe to this and other enewsletters of interest
• Request that the family send an email to webmaster@whfc.org with their name and current email address so that we can update our records

The purpose of the newsletter is to provide our families with information and resources to support their parenting through adoption. Each edition aims to raise awareness about post adoption issues, provide useful information and resources. Each newsletter has a theme and the articles and resources are built around that theme. Most editions include articles by professionals, adoptive families and include a review of a book and/or movie relevant to post adoption. The theme of our last edition was "attachment." This edition's theme is "Quirky kids." Previous editions of Beyond The Horizon, can be found on our website. If you have comments on this or past editions, or have suggestions for future editions, please email Pat Hoopes at phoopes@whfc.org.

Consultation
Our PASE staff are available by phone or via email for your post adopt questions and concerns. Many of these contacts come from parents who want advice about their child's adoption questions, behavior or school issues.

The role of the post adoption counselor in receiving your questions, concerns or requests for information is to assist you in defining the problem if there is one, offering simple advice if warranted or suggesting resources for the parents to follow up on .

Domestic and International Search for Information and Connections
We are hearing from increasing numbers of parents and adult adoptees who are interested in obtaining information about birth family or want to discuss the possibility of contact with birth parents. On occasion, we hear from birth parents requesting information or contact as well. Our PASE counselors will understand your request, discuss your readiness, review your file and assist you further when possible. More information on International and Domestic Search services is available in the Post Adoption section of our website.

Workshops for adoptive families
Our PASE counselors along with other WHFC clinical staff speak at workshops and conferences geared toward post adoptive families and adoption professionals. The PASE counselors develop and lead many of the workshops offered at WHFC's annual China and Korean Culture Camps. They also collaborate with local agencies in offering topic driven post adoption speaker series. This coming year, we will be experimenting with post adoption webinars and teleconferencing for post adopt families.

Post Adoption website
Our PASE team collaborates with the agency's Web Project Manager to create and maintain the WHFC Post Adoption website. This website includes information on our post adopt services, articles by families and professionals, recommended reading, as well as links to a wide variety of local and national resources. You can find this site at www.whfc.org/postadopt. In the near future, this site will have a new look... stay tuned!

Going Forward
We are grateful to all the families who took time to respond to our survey and share thoughts and ideas on post adoption services. We are currently in the planning stages for the next fiscal year. As is often the case, it is a challenge to provide the services we want in context of budgetary constraints, but we are working on it!!!