It’s that time of year when we all make New Year’s resolutions. I am as guilty as anyone of starting out with good intentions: “I will lose weight”. “I will concentrate on good health”. “I shall spend more time with friends and family”. My success from year to year varied.
So this year, I shall make a resolution I know I can keep: To be the best I can be and to help pre and post adoptive families understand adoption.
My resolution includes continuing to share my experience as an adoptive mom and an adoption professional. I will provide guidance and counseling on the adoption process as well as living as an adoptive family. I will help triad members understand that adoption is a family affair and that while you may not be living together, that there is an emotional presence. I will assist children and families as they explore and integrate the influence of nature and nurture, and help them develop self-confidence as individuals and as a family.
I will help them to understand:
That any holiday or life event may cause you to think about your child’s history or how nature is influencing the nurture you are providing.
That children may think about their birth parents….that they may imagine or wonder how life would have been different if they had remained with birth parents or were adopted by another family.
That each family experiences adoption differently and that there is always more to learn.
I believe the New Year will take me in many directions and the best I can do is to follow that road.
I shall hope for the best the future has to offer for myself and others.
I shall learn from any mistakes I may make.
I shall look for the good in people and situations.
I shall seize personal and professional opportunities.
I shall continue to share my knowledge and experiences with others.
Wishing you and all you know a healthy, happy and hopeful new year.
Kathy Ann Brodsky, LCSW is a New York and New Jersey licensed social worker, adoptive mom and advocate for ethical adoption practice. She has prepared thousands of adoption homestudies, counseled adoptive parents and parents-to-be, and has trained professionals to work with adoptive families. She was Director of the Ametz Adoption Program of JCCA (March 1992 to March 2015), Head Writer for Adoption.net and a member of the Advisory Board for POV’s Adoption Series. She is currently a member of the Adoption Advisory Board of Path2Parenthood and active in the Adoptive Parents Committee in New York (including being the 2016 Conference Keynote). She lives in New York City where she has a private practice specializing in adoption and adoptive parenting. She was named an “Angel in Adoption” by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption in 2001. Follow or reach her at ADOPTION MAVEN BLOG or EMAIL.
