70% of adoptive families report that their children have significant social, emotional and mental health needs.
So, you can be reassured that you’re not the only family going through this.
Adoptive children have faced adversity and challenges from their early experiences can arise at any age.
It’s best to access specialist support and guidance as soon as possible instead of struggling.
But you’ve probably discovered there’s not enough readily accessible support for adoptive families. This can leave you feeling overwhelmed, unsure what to do for the best for your child and neglecting your own self-care.
Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy/Therapeutic parenting and specialist advice can help create a clear pathway, which takes a holistic whole-family approach to let you explore your worries in an empathic and accepting space.
DDP can help you and your child connect and love even more, celebrate their growth and help them explore feelings connected to the past and present.
Early traumatic and neglectful experiences in childhood, is called developmental trauma.
This can lead children to struggle with attachment and cause emotional & behavioural issues. For adoptive parents, this can make it harder to bond with your adoptive child or children.
DDP is a therapeutic approach which helps children who have experienced developmental trauma and their parents. It is a widely used, evidence-based approach of helping families to develop healthier patterns of relating and communicating.
DDP helps children and parents enhance their connection and helps children feel safer and more secure.
Adopted children may have strong emotions and DDP helps them develop robust emotional regulation in connection with their parents.
Adopted children often have traumatic early life experiences, but DDP helps to facilitate safe exploration while helping adoptive parents to understand their own attachment histories too
Instead of having ‘fear’ and feeling that your love may not be enough or that you will cause more harm, DDP can give you the confidence to parent.
Being an adoptive parent can feel like twice the parenting.
Not only do you have to deal with the usual parenting tasks such as packing lunches, dealing with bedtime tantrums, and getting children to eat the right foods. You also must deal with emotional & behavioural issues that stem from the trauma an adopted child has faced.
Dr Kerry Sweeney understands these issues. Having worked for 20 years in the NHS, most of which as a Consultant Clinical Psychologist, and now four in independent practice including court assessments. She is a specialist with adopted/cared for children who have experienced developmental trauma.
Dr Kerry Sweeney is the first DDP Consultant on the island of Ireland, leading the way in supporting adoptive families to have a healthier and happier family life.
Get a referral from your GP and book a first meeting with Dr Kerry Sweeney through Kingsbridge Private Hospital or TESSA Adoption support (self-referral). This can be either in-person or online for Northern Ireland and Ireland.
Dr Kerry Sweeney will work with parents first to understand your unique family circumstances using an attachment- trauma- developmental-based formulation. During this meeting, next stages will be decided.
Depending on what support you need, Dr Sweeney may undertake a further session for assessment and signpost you to the support you need or any further neurodevelopmental assessments such as ASD, ADHD or dyslexia. Or plan 4-6 therapeutic sessions with parents and bring in the child if & when appropriate.
