Supportive Resources

NAAM Let’s Talk! Daily Challenge

ACI is proud to announce a new online community called Adoption Community Connection! Designed to build a safe space for adoptive families and waiting families to create connections with other families, find and share resources, and most importantly, to know you are not alone. Shared through a Google Drive, members will find various databases they can search through and add to. All members will be vetted by ACI staff to ensure the community remains a safe space for all.

Interested? Please email Molly Berger – mberger@adoptillinois.org or call 773-321-0329 to join.

• Adopting as a Single Parent
• Adoption Options: Where do I Start?
• Adoptive Parents’ Bill of Rights
• Frequently Asked Questions From Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) Prospective Foster and Adoptive Parents
• Military Families Considering Adoption
• Nine Qualities of Successful Foster and Adoptive Parents
• Planning for Adoption: Knowing the Costs and Resources
• Top Ten Tips for Blending Children by Birth and Adoption

• Embracing Open Adoption
• Impact of Adoption on Birth Parents
• Searching for Birth Relatives
• Tips for Maintaining Relationship with Addicted Birth Parents

• 5 Sanity Saving Tips for Kids with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD)
• 5 Surprising Facts You Need to Know about Prenatal Opiate Exposure
• CDC Polysubstance Use During Pregnancy
• Myths of Prenatal Alcohol and Drug Exposure
• 8 Things to Remember about Child Development

• CDC Travelers’ Health
• Annual Reports on Intercountry Adoption (US Department of State)
• International Adoption: Health Guidance and the Immigration Process (CDC)
• Preparing Children for the Adoption of a Sibling: Recommendations for Families Considering Intercountry Adoption

• 5 Tips for Parenting Harder to Parent Kids
• Adoption & Sibling Relationships: What Children Have Taught Me
• Common Sense Internet Rules for Kids (Adopted or Otherwise)
• Dr. Karyn Purvis: 6 Crucial Things Every Adoptive Parent Must Do
• Finding and Working with Adoption-Competent Therapists
• Helping Children Manage Behaviors: Increasing Affect Regulation
• Understanding Lifelong Impact of Adoption
• The Past Is Present: The Impact of Your Childhood Experiences on How You Parent Today
• Playful Parenting Builds Better Brains: 10 Tools for Success
• When Things Aren’t Perfect: Caring for Yourself and Your Children

NOTE: Go by your child’s developmental/emotional age (not chronological)

• Adolescents and Adoption
• Talking to Your Child About Adoption: Recommendations for Parents
• Talking to your Three- to Five-Year-Old About Adoption
• Talking to your Six- to Eight-Year-Old About Adoption
• Talking to Your Nine- to Twelve-Year-Old About Adoption
• 6 Themes for the Adopted Adolescent
• Talking with Children – Basics
• Talking with Children – Difficult
• Talking with Children – Teen Years
• Through the Lens of Adoption: Understanding Child Development & Adoption’s Impact
• Why Foster & Adopted Kids Create Fantasy Families

• Adoption at School
• Ask About Adoption: What Teachers Should Know About Adoption
• Complex Trauma: Facts for Educators
• Helping Classmates Understand Adoption
• Supporting Adopted Children with Special Needs in the School Setting
• Tackling Tricky Assignments
• The ABCs of Back to School with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD)

• Caring for LGBTQ Children and Youth
• Frequently Asked Questions From Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) Prospective Foster and Adoptive Parents
• Supporting Your LGBTQ Youth: A Guide for Foster Parents
• Supporting & Caring for Transgender Children
• Resources for Families of LGBTQ Youth
• LGBTQ Youth: A Guide for Foster Parents, Counselors, and Social Workers
• Legal Resources for LGBTQ+ Families

• 5 Ways to Talk About Racism
• Moving From Racial Awareness to Racial Identity
• Race and Identity in Trans-racial Adoption: Suggestions for Adoptive Parents
• Ten Things Adult Trans-racial Adoptees Want You to Know
• The Personal is Political: Racial Identity and Racial Justice in Trans-racial Adoption
• Trans-racial Adoption: Love Is Just the Beginning

• Helping Adopted Children with Grief and Loss
• Adoptive Parent Post Adoption Depression
• Birth Parents Issues of Grief and Loss
• Seven Core Issues in Adoption and Permanency

• Being matched with a child
• Complex Trauma: Facts for Caregivers
• Creating a Safe Space: Healthy Boundaries for Children Impacted by Sexual Abuse
• Helping Your Child Transition from Foster Care to Adoption
• Long-Term Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect
• Nine Qualities of Successful Foster and Adoptive Parents
• Parenting a Child Who Has Been Sexually Abused: A Guide for Foster and Adoptive Parents
• Parenting Children and Youth Who Have Experienced Abuse or Neglect
• Receiving an adoptive placement
• Social Media: Tips for Foster Parents and Caregivers
• Supporting Maltreated Children: Countering the Effects of Neglect and Abuse
• What is Complex Trauma? A Resource Guide for Youth and Those Who Care About Them

• 8 Things to Remember about Child Development
• Adverse Childhood Experiences: Understanding ACEs
• Helping to Heal Invisible Hurts: The Impact of In-utero Stress & Trauma
• Practical Guide to Parenting a Child Exposed to Trauma
• PACEs Science 101
• The Past Is Present: The Impact of Your Childhood Experiences on How You Parent Today
• The Teen Years: Brain Development and Trauma Recovery
• How Caregiver’s Trauma Can Impact Child Development

National Resources

• Advocates for Youth
• Gender Expansive Youth Network (Facebook)
• Gender Spectrum
• Human Rights Campaign
• Lambda Legal: Resources for LGBTQ Youth
• PFLAG: Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays

Illinois Resources

• Broadway Youth Center through Howard Brown Health Center
• Center on Halstead
• Gender and Sex Development Program and Lurie Children’s Hospital
• Howard Brown Health Center
• PFLAG Chapters in Illinois  
• Response for Teens- Support Groups (LGBTQ+ Young Teen Group; Queer Teens Connect: LGBTQ+ Teen Support Group)
• The UP Center of Champaign County
• TransLife Care Program at Chicago House
• Youth Outlook
• Youth Services of Glenview/Northbrook: Pride Youth Program

• Adoption Medicine Clinic University of Minnesota
• Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
• Center for Adoption Medicine University of Washington
• Find a Pediatrician or Pediatric Specialist
• Looking for a Medical Review Provider?
• University of Chicago Medicine Adoption Center at Comer Children’s Hospital

• Children’s Research Triangle
• Erickson Institute (children ages 3-8)
• Jewish Child & Family Services

• Accessing Adoption Support and Preservation Services
• Finding and Working with Adoption-Competent Therapists

National:

• Early Intervention (children 0 -3)
• U.S. Department of Education

Illinois:

• Equip for Equality (Illinois)
• Illinois Early Intervention (children 0 -3)
• Illinois State Board of Education

Illinois Support Groups

• Catholic Charities

Catholic Charities wants to introduce your family to our NEW monthly adoption support groups. Each month will be a scheduled topic either at our South Side office or in the community for field trip learning. Permission slips/Advanced RSVPs will be required. These groups are FREE to our all adoptive families in Cook County! While some of the groups are held at a church, this is not a religious-based group and a diverse group of families attend. Call Zaya Gillogly at 773-372-8109 for a schedule!

• Just Like Me: Connecting Multiracial Families
• TraumaTribe (at Individual & Family Connection)

Online or National Support Groups

• Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption and Infertility
• Resolve: The National Infertility Association
• Trans-racial Adoption Perspectives

The mission of the Trans-racial Adoption Perspectives (“TAP”) group is to support all those involved in trans-racial adoption, through the facilitation of group discussions. Members include adult trans-racial adoptees, first/birth parents, trans-racially adoptive parents, all members of families connected to trans-racial adoption, and allies of all races, and adoption professionals.

National:

• Adoption Parenting Pathways
• Theraplay Practitioners
• Trust-Based Relationship Intervention^® (TBRI^®) Practitioner List

Illinois:

DCFS Adoption Preservation Services (FREE!) -Supportive resources for ALL Illinois families who have an adopted child who is under the age of 18.

DCFS Cook County Regions

1. Catholic Charities (Chicago, Cook) 312-655-8357
2. Metropolitan Family Services (Chicago, Cook) 773-884-2211
3. Jewish Children and Family Services (Some of Cook, Will* & Kankakee) 312-673-2711
4. Healthy Families (Chicago) 773-257-0111

**Families in Cook County can contact either agency for service

DCFS Northern Region

1. Children’s Home & Aid Society-Rockford 815-720-2111: Serves Boone, Carroll, DeKalb, Jo Daviess, Lee, Ogle, Stephenson, Winnebago & Whiteside counties
2. Metropolitan Family Services-Wheaton 630-784-4800: Serves DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry & Will* counties

DCFS Central Region

1. Cornerstone-Quincy 217-222-8254: Serves Adams, Brown, Cass, Northern Calhoun*, Greene, Hancock, Morgan, Pike, Schuyler and Scott counties
2. Lutheran Social Services-Peoria, Galesburg, Rock Island 309-671-0300: Serves Bureau, Fulton, Henderson, Henry, Knox, LaSalle, Marshall, Mason, McDonough, Mercer, Peoria, Putnam, Rock Island, Stark, Tazewell, Warren and Woodford counties
3. The Baby Fold-Bloomington, Champaign, Springfield 309-557-1066: Serves Champaign, Christian, Clark, Coles, Cumberland, DeWitt, Edgar, Douglas, Ford, Iroquois, Livingston, Logan, Macon, Macoupin*, McLean, Menard, Montgomery, Moultrie, Piatt, Sangamon, Shelby and Vermilion counties

DCFS Southern Region

1. Children’s Home & Aid Society-Granite City 618-452-8900: (Serves Bond, Clinton, Jersey, Macoupin*, Madison, Monroe, Randolph, S. Calhoun*, St. Clair and Washington counties)
2. Children’s Home & Aid Society-Herrin 618-988-1330: (Serves Alexander, Clay, Crawford, Edwards, Effingham, Fayette, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Lawrence, Marion, Massac, Perry, Pope, Pulaski, Richland, Saline, Union, Wabash, Wayne, White and Williamson counties)

*Families in this county are served by two agencies, according to address. Call to be referred to the appropriate agency

• Catholic Charities – Adoption Preservation Services
  • FREE post adoption preservation services for ALL families living in Cook County who have an adopted child who is under the age of 18. Services include: in-home family focused counseling, support groups for the whole family, mental health and educational advocacy, and crisis intervention. Services are also available in Spanish. Call (312) 655-8357 to learn more.
• Erickson Institute Center for Children & Families
• Holt International Post Adoption Services
• House Calls Counseling
• Individual & Family Connection
• Jewish Child & Family Services
• Metropolitan Family Services – Adoption Preservation Services Free in-home post adoption preservation services for families with one or more adopted children who are under the age of 18 who live in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, Grundy, Kendall, McHenry, and Will Counties. Services include:
  • Therapeutic support from licensed social workers and counselors who understand the dynamics of a family created by adoption
  • Intensive individual and family therapy
  • Specialized treatment for attachment and trauma issues
  • Support during a crisis situation
  • Support groups with other families and children facing similar struggles
  • Assistance in securing appropriate resources available in the community
  • Professional support with advocating for appropriate educational services for your child
  • Respite services for eligible families
• The SPIDER Collaboration (Illinois)
• The Baby Fold: Keeping the Promise – Adoption Preservation Services
• The Theraplay Institute

**Please note that we strongly recommend that prospective adoptive parents and parents attend as many in-person trainings as possible.

• Adoption Center of Illinois at Family Resource Center
• Adoption Learning Partners
• Center for Adoption Support & Education
• Creating a Family ACI families can access unlimited trainings through this site with ACI’s coupon code. If you are an ACI family, please call ACI at 773-334-2300 to request the code.
• Harmony Family Center
• Heart of the Matter Education
• Stylz 4 Kids
• The National Child Traumatic Stress Network

• Attaching in Adoption: Practical Tools for Today’s Parents
• Center for Adoption Support and Education (CASE): Bibliography of Adoption-Related Books
• Creating a Family: Best Adoption Books for Kids and Adults
• In on it: What adoptive parents would like you to know about adoption
• The Connected Child: Bring hope and healing to your adoptive family
• The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind
• Parenting from the Inside Out: How a Deeper Self-Understanding Can Help You Raise Children Who Thrive
• The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist’s Notebook–What Traumatized Children Can Teach Us About Loss, Love, and Healing
• White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism

• Adoptive Families
• AdoptUSKids
• Association for Treatment & Training in the Attachment of Children
• Attachment & Trauma Network
• Chicago Area Families For Adoption
• Center for Adoption Support and Education, Inc.
• Child Trauma Academy
• Child Welfare Information Gateway
• Child Welfare League of America
• Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption
• Jockey Being a Family
• Karen Purvis Institute of Child Development
• National Child Traumatic Stress Network
• National Council for Adoption
• National Organization of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
• North American Council on Adoptable Children
• Pact: An Adoption Alliance
• Path Beyond Adoption
• Sesame Street in Communities
• U.S. Department of State: Intercountry Adoption