Parent Support Clubs
Receive support and encouragement from adoption professionals and fellow adoptive families!
Join one of our support groups for adoptive parents!
Parent support clubs are five week virtual parenting groups led by Holt’s Post Adoption Coaching & Education (PACE) program! Sessions are hosted in the fall, winter and spring with special interest groups in the summer. We offer groups for parents of preschoolers, school-age children, teens and young adults.
Each one-hour session is facilitated by two of Holt’s PACE social workers. Each discussion will be focused on a topic pertaining to your child’s developmental stage, viewed through an adoption lens. In your group, you will have the opportunity to explore what your child needs during this stage of life and also share parenting insights you may have gleaned through your lived experience as an adoptive parent.
All registrations for our upcoming spring 2024 groups are free, and can be found below!
Note: Sessions may be postponed if fewer than five families sign up. Our team will email a Zoom link to all participants before the first session.
Preschool Group
(5 weeks)
Join us every Tuesday at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) starting April 9th!
School-Age Group
(5 weeks)
Join us every Wednesday at 4 p.m. PT (7 p.m. ET) starting April 10th!
Teen Group
(5 weeks)
Join us every Monday at 4 p.m. PT (7 p.m. ET) starting April 8th!
Family Testimonial About Parent Support Clubs
One Minnesota family chose to participate in two sessions of Holt’s parent support club for teens. Even though they have been adoptive parents for 18 years, the parent support club was the first time they took advantage of Holt’s many post-adoption services for adoptive families.
The first thing we said to each other after the first session was, ‘Why did we wait so long?‘
Gary Sampson and Sunday Silver led both our 5-6 week sessions with tremendous compassion, transparency and thoughtfulness. Not only did we find ourselves drawn into the stories of each family, but we found such incredible similarities between the experiences of all the kids. It may sound strange, but after almost 18 years, it was such a tremendous feeling of relief to know that our lived experiences as parents of adoptees was typical. When you are in those moments of questioning, it is easy to feel like you are alone in your experience and that no one could relate to what you and your family are going through. The parent support club provided a safe and accepting space to be open and honest about the challenges, worries, frustrations and joys that make up being a parent of an adoptee.”
Holt adoptive family, Minnesota
Other Post Adoption Resources for Parents
TBRI: Trust-Based Relational Intervention
TBRI® is an attachment-based parenting approach designed to meet the complex needs of children who have experienced early childhood trauma. Holt offers ongoing in-person TBRI workshops in our Illinois office. For more information about our workshops, please contact Pam Shepard at [email protected].
PACE: Post-Adoption Coaching & Education
Sometimes, parenting issues may arise that leave you uncertain as to how best to respond — but not every issue requires ongoing therapy or counseling. Through Holt’s PACE program, your family will work one on one with a trauma-informed, adoption-competent Holt professional over three sessions to identify strategies, tools and resources to address the issue(s) you and your child are struggling with.
Exploring Adoptee Identity
This excerpt from Holt’s parent training aims to help adoptive parents gain a deeper understanding of the unique challenges and considerations that adoptees and adoptive families face, such as racism, privilege and the role of birth parents. This resource also provides information to help your child develop a positive adoptee identity.
Adoptive Parent Resource Center
We believe that knowledge empowers families and communities to support healthy child development. Designed for families parenting adopted children of all ages and abilities, Holt’s adoptive parent resource center provides evidence-based information produced by our global team of nutrition, health, parenting and adoption experts.
Circle Back – Adoptee Mentoring
Designed for adoptees, by adoptees, Holt’s Circle Back program strives to help youth adoptees build a positive identity. Help your child connect with an older adoptee through a Circle Back mentorship. Sign your child up today!
Stories for Adoptive Parents
Adoption
