Product Description
In this book, child and family therapist Patty Cogen, M.A., Ed.D. guides parents in promoting an internationally adopted child's social and emotional adjustment, explaining how to help a child adopted between the ages of six months and five years bond with his or her new parents, become a part of the family, and develop a positive self-image that incorporates both American identity and ethnic origins. Other topics include how (and why) to tell the child's story from the child's point of view; how to handle sleep problems and resistance to household rules; and how to encourage eye contact, ease transitions and separations, and deal with problematic anniversaries (birthdays, adoption day, Mother's Day). With advice on language and school difficulties and the development of self-control and independence, Cogen guides adoptive parents from the initial meeting through their child's teen years. It's an indispensable resource, not only for parents, but also for therapists and educators who work with adopted children.
About the Author
Patty Cogen, M.A., ED.D., is a child and family therapist and child-development specialist in private practice. She is a very active member and leader of the international adoption community in Seattle, both as the parent of an adopted daughter from China and as the founder of support and education groups for adoptees and parents.
Cogen adopted her daughter, then three years old, in 1995. She soon realized that there was a need for a class that would allow children and their adoptive parents to further attachment and education during their first year together. Two years later, she founded The First Year Home Group for other parents of internationally adopted children in the Seattle area. She is also the cofounder of The Panda Institute, a language and culture school for young Chinese adoptees, which began in 1996, and the founder and co-leader of Asian Adopted Teens, a social and education group for connection and friendship, which has met monthly since 2006.
Cogen has a master’s degree in clinical psychology and a doctorate in education. She is also a member of the Child Therapy Association of Seattle and a longtime member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. She is also an experienced public speaker and a regular contributor to Adoptive Families magazine.
