When my husband and I were waiting for an adoptive placement, we thought it would be of great benefit to become involved with an adoption support group. Never at that time did I think I’d ever be a part of building the kind of support network we have today.
After my husband and I were blessed with our first precious son, it was only I who continued attending group at the local state offices in which we’d adopted from. A friend from group and I, eventually became the old-timers and were able to direct the meetings how we felt to be most beneficial. My friend eventually moved on from the support group to focus more on her family, but before doing so, she, another group member, and a friend named Anna I’d met on Adoption.com, helped to start a private group called Oregon Adoptive Parents Network (OAPN). Anna and I are currently the sole leaders of the group.
Anna and her husband have two adopted children in addition to Anna’s two adult biological children. My husband and I currently have two children by adoption. Both Anna and I wanted a group that focuses on where we are currently at; wanting to connect with others and move forward as a healthy family. We also wanted to provide support in ways we found to be of great benefit while waiting and with new placements.
Anna, who is also a Blogger here at Families.com, has also built a national special needs adoption website that focuses mainly on the unique needs of families impacted by state or province foster-adoptions. Her website HappyMomAnna.com provides resources, information on state adoptions; addresses unique concerns people might have with special needs, and connects families from all around North America in an online support group-like setting through her web-forum. Her website has also been of great benefit in keeping our local support group connected in between meetings.
Our hope with OAPN is similar to that of Anna’s website: to serve families in the community who are in need of resources, to provide a safe place for support, and for adoptive parents to connect.
If there is not a support group in your area, I encourage you to connect with others online. You can do this not only through Anna’s site, but right here on Families.com and through Adoption.com as well.
For related blogs, please check out:
What You Have to Offer a Support Group
Making a Support Group Successful
Different Types of Adoptive Parent Support Groups
Finding Support: Parents of Special Needs Children
Melissa is a Families.com Christian Blogger. Read her blogs at: http://members.families.com/mj7/blog