By Michael Hill
When we conduct adoption-related trainings for healthcare and/or helping professionals, we often utilize an activity that helps participants better recognize their thoughts and feelings regarding adoption. One great tool for this comes from the Infant Adoption Awareness Training Project’s “Understanding Infant Adoption” training. The tool itself is called the “Personalizing Adoption Work Sheet,” and participants are given 10 minutes to complete it. Participants are asked to think about their personal adoption experience by answering the following questions:
My Experience…….
How might this experience affect the way I view adoption?
How might my experiences and views affect my ability to discuss the adoption option with my patients/clients?
It’s a simple tool, but a very effective one in that it helps people truly understand how personal life experience creates the basis for individual values around adoption. There is no doubt that we all have our own biases and values regarding adoption. However, by being more aware of these biases and values, healthcare and helping professionals are better equipped to provide accurate information about adoption that is free of any personal biases or values.