Adoption Ethics and Trauma Consultation
Joanne Bagshaw, PhD, LCPC, is a baby-scoop-era adoptee, adopted from foster care as an infant. She provides consultations for adoptive parents who want ethically grounded support in understanding adoption and adoption trauma.
These consultations focus on ethical issues in adoption, adoption trauma, and the lifelong emotional realities that can affect adoptees, first families, and adoptive families.
This service is rooted in a child-centered, trauma-informed, and ethically reflective approach. There are many pathways to adoption, and no single story encapsulates the complexities of what it’s like to be adopted. My role is to help you think honestly about your child’s adoption and how to center your adopted child’s long-term well-being. I will help you think critically about adoption and challenge popular positive framing narratives so that you can navigate adoptive parenting with care, honesty, and responsibility.
I am experienced with talking about race and racial dynamics in transracial adoptions, and I’m also likely to recommend you consult with an expert who is the same race as your adopted child.
Whenever it is safe and possible, I am pro-family preservation; therefore, I don’t provide referrals to private adoption agencies. The financial interests of the adoption industry can create conditions where the needs of prospective adoptive parents are prioritized over deeper questions about coercion, informed consent, structural inequality, the child’s best interests, and whether family preservation was fully supported.
My Approach
Who this service is for?
Adoptive parents seeking a deeper understanding of adoption ethics
Families preparing for foster adoption, kinship adoption
Parents who want help understanding adoption trauma and attachment issues
Families seeking guidance on how to talk about adoption honestly and responsibly
Adoptive parents navigate complex relationships with first families
What this service is not:
Provide referrals to private adoption agencies
Facilitate private infant adoption placements
Match adoptive parents with expectant parents
Endorse coercive or profit-driven adoption practices
Offer legal advice or agency brokerage services
Provide home-studies for adoption
Possible consultation topics:
“Is adoption the right path for our family?”
“How do we think ethically about different adoption pathways?”
“What should we understand about adoption trauma?”
“How do we support a child’s connection to their first family?”
“How do we prepare for open adoption?”
“How do we talk to our child about adoption without secrecy or shame?”
“How do we parent in ways that support identity, grief, and belonging?”
“Should I parent my adopted child differently than my biological child?”
Recommended Resources
CASE: Nonprofit support organization offering adoption-competent therapy, case management, support groups, training, and education for adoptive, foster, and kinship families. Maryland families can access free Maryland-funded support through its state partnership. Also offers services in Virginia. Country-wide list of adoption competent therapists.
Books
Podcasts
Therapists, Training, & Education
Books & Podcasts
Resources on Family Finding & Family Preservation
Family Finding
Adoptee Therapist Network (USA)