Family Hope Connection

Counseling and Support Groups

During different developmental stages, adoptees may grapple with difficult issues such as identity, grief, loss and abandonment or feelings of being different or undeserving of love.

Adoptive parents may struggle with trans-racial or trans-cultural issues, or with the realities and behaviors associated with having adopted a child who is grappling with the issues mentioned, or with the realities and behaviors associated with having adopted a child with special needs. Family Hope Connection staff can help you deal with these issues and more.

How We Help

• Compassionate, experienced FHC staff has helped many adoptive families deal with a variety of issues that may challenge families formed by adoption, and we can help you.
• Mothers who have adopted internationally can participate in FHC's Mom's Coffee Club. Facilitated by a therapist from FHC sister agency Squirrel Hill Psychological Services (who is also a mother who adopted internationally), this group provides a forum for moms to discuss the unique challenges and joys of having adopted a child from another country.
• FHC staff can provide direct referral to services of our parent agency, Jewish Family & Children's Service
  • Our sister division, Squirrel Hill Psychological Services is a referral away for those who need clinical counseling. Trained therapists provide child, couple and family counseling.
  • JF&CS special needs resource coordinators can provide information, referral and direct support to those families who have adopted a child with special needs.
• We are able to offer qualifying post-adoption services free of charge through the Statewide Adoption & Permanency Network (SWAN) to anyone in Pennsylvania who has finalized adoption.

Meet the People We Help

• Gary* and Mary Anne* started having trouble with their adopted three-year old daughter, Leigh*, around six months after they brought her home from her native China. Leigh threw horrible temper tantrums, frequently sulked for hours, even days, when she didn’t get her way, and seemed to be having trouble sleeping. The couple never experienced any of this with their biological eight-year-old daughter, so they were at a loss for what to do.
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• Darcy and her husband had added to their family by adopting a beautiful baby girl from China. Knowing that they and their new daughter would encounter issues and challenges related to the adoption throughout the life cycle of their family, Darcy joined the Mom’s Coffee Club, a support group for moms who had adopted internationally.
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*Name changed to protect client confidentiality.

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