Adoptive families also need support. Parenting a child who has experienced trauma can stretch emotional, relational, and financial capacity. National surveys show adoptive parents, both adoptive mothers and fathers, experience elevated stress and declines in relationship satisfaction. Beyond their immediate families, adoptive parents often find that their natural support systems—extended family, friends, and peers—cannot relate to their experiences, leaving them feeling misunderstood, judged, and socially isolated. Families consistently identify the need for adoption-competent counseling, parenting education, peer support, respite, and sustained financial assistance to sustain them along their adoption journey.

 

Access to these supports is limited. In a survey of 485 adoptive families, only 25% reported that their mental health professional was adoption competent, often seeing up to ten therapists before finding one. Clinical training programs offer minimal coursework on adoption, and most therapists enter the workforce unprepared to address grief, identity, attachment, and trauma. Financial and systemic barriers further restrict access, with many families paying out-of-pocket for mental health care, which remains expensive and difficult to obtain. Adoption assistance and post-permanency supports are essential for sustaining stability.

 

Evidence has repeatedly shown that caregivers are central to trauma recovery. When caregivers are nurturing and engaged, children’s symptoms decrease, attachment security strengthens, and emotional regulation improves. Healing occurs through relationships grounded in safety, warmth, and consistency, supported by adoption-competent, trauma-informed therapy.

 

Children adopted from foster care come from profoundly challenging backgrounds, and post-adoptive parents face a significant hill toward their child’s healing. Waves of Healing meets families with a commitment to relational healing and community support, removing financial barriers to care and envisioning caregiver-centered education and support groups and an expanded adoption-competent workforce. These efforts ensure families have the relational, clinical, and community resources needed for children to recover from adversity, maintain stability, and experience the full promise of healing, safety, connection, and hope.