FAMILY & ADOPTION ASSISTANCE

ADOPTION SERVICES The adoption services Bridging the Gap Counseling and Educational Services offers are two-fold.  We are equipped to work with organizations that provide adoption assistance to future or current adoptive parents as well as to individuals preparing for adoption either in the pre-placement or post-placement phase.

Customization is one of our greatest attributes at Bridging the Gap Counseling and Educational Services.  With each organization and individual client we work with, we tailor our services to meet the needs you have.  

Organizations:

At BTG, we offer a variety of resources through two main channels (Staff & Adoptive Families) of impact during both Pre-placement and Post-placement processes.

#1: Equip your staff:

• Update Current Program - We can work with your team to improve upon a current program model that will best benefit both your organization and clients.
• Program Plant - We can develop and implement a new program for your organization.  We would begin this process with a needs assessment, with an inventory of desired outcomes and would then tailor a program to meet your needs all while equipping your current staff members to execute the necessary roles.
• Outsource - We can serve as a resource outside of your organization to provide the needed help.  We provide trainings, seminars, studies to meet any needs your clients have without using your current employee resources.
• Curriculum - We can develop curriculum specific to your organization's needs or we can adapt our Therapeutic Parenting Curriculum to fit your program’s desired outcomes.

#2: Equip adoptive parents:

• Parenting Workshops

                    Introduction to Adoption (Pre Placement)

                    Am I ready to be an Adoptive Parent?

                    More specific Behaviors (Post Placement)

                    What is wrong with the way I Parent?

• Parenting Toolbox - We work directly with your Adoptive Parents using our Therapeutic Parenting Course that provides them with the resources and tools they desire to meet the specific needs of their child(ren). This would be a 10 week/2 hr per week course we could do on site at your location or at another convenient location.

Individuals:

Bridging the Gap Counseling and Educational Services also offers one-on-one investment for potential and current adoptive families.  Services vary based on your current status as an adoptive parent.  We work with both Pre-Placement and Post-Placement Adoptive families to prepare and equip prior to as well as after placements occur.

Pre-Placement Services include:

• Parenting Workbook/Class - Introduction to Adoption
• Are we ready to adopt?    
• Parenting Styles Inventory - philosophies of parents and current parent
• One on one Parenting preparation Sessions
• Parent Toolbox

Post-Placement Services include:

• Parenting Workbook/Class (More specific behaviors)
• Trauma Counseling + Individual & Family Counseling
• Evaluations/Testing - Socially, Emotionally, Intellectually, Morally, Academically, Sexually
• Customized One-on-one Parenting Sessions
• Education Therapy Assistance - BTG has found that there are few children who don’t have educational lags who have been adopted; due to previous trauma or delays based on previous living conditions.

THERAPEUTIC PARENTING In today’s world of cyber bullying, school shootings, trauma in the neighborhoods, teen suicides, and school failure, what is a parent to do? How do they become the parent that can reach children and teens that appear to be “unreachable”? They become therapeutic parents. This type of parenting means they raise their children in a way that creates a safe, healing environment—an environment that sets their children up for many more successes than the failures with which they have become so familiar.

Parents train themselves to look for:

• Signs of wear and tear in their children.

• Pathways that lead their children to success.

• Moments to bond as a family.

• Opportunities to deal with deeper issues beyond the anger, anxiety, and/or depression.

Using the tool of therapeutic parenting, parents learn how to keep calm and look at the trigger for the behavior instead of reacting to the behavior itself. While the parents are working on their parenting skills, they are helping their children to stabilize and heal from the trauma in their lives.