Whether you are religious or not, this list from Sherrie Eldridge is a powerful tool. She’s included Bible verses for those who would like them.
EMOTIONAL NEEDS
- I need help in recognizing my adoption loss and grieving it. (Ecclesiastes 1:18)
- I need to be assured that my birth parents’ decision not to parent me had nothing to do with anything defective in me. (Proverbs 34:5)
- I need help in learning to deal with my fears of rejection–to learn that absence doesn’t mean abandonment, nor a closed door that I have done something wrong. (Genesis 50:20)
- I need permission to express all my adoption feelings and fantasies. (Psalm 62.8)
EDUCATIONAL NEEDS
- I need to be taught that adoption is both wonderful and painful, presenting lifelong challenges for everyone involved. (Ezekiel 17:10a, Romans 11:24)
- I need to know my adoption story first, then my birth story and birth family. (Isaiah 43:26)
- I need to be taught healthy ways for getting my special needs met. (Philippians 4:12)
- I need to be prepared for hurtful things others may say about adoption and about me as an adoptee. (John 1:11)
VALIDATION NEEDS
- I need validation of my dual-heritage (biological and adoptive). (Psalm 139:16b)
- I need to be assured often that I am welcome and worthy. (Isaiah 43:4, Zephaniah 3:17)
- I need to be reminded often by my adoptive parents that they delight in my biological differences and appreciate my birth family’s unique contribution to our family through me. (Proverbs 23:10)
PARENTAL NEEDS
- I need parents who are skillful at meeting their own emotional needs so that I can grow up with healthy role models and be free to focus on my development, rather than taking care of them. (II Corinthians 12:15)
- I need parents who are willing to put aside preconceived notions about adoption and be educated about the realities of adoption and the special needs adoptive families face. (Proverbs 23:12, Proverbs 3: 13-14, Proverbs 3:5-6)
- I need my adoptive and birth parents to have a non-competitive attitude. Without this, I will struggle with loyalty issues. (Psalm 127:3)
RELATIONAL NEEDS
- I need friendships with other adoptees. (Ecclesiastes 4:12)
- I need to taught that there is a time to consider searching for my birth family, and a time to give up searching. (Ecclesiastes 3:4)
- I need to be reminded that if I am rejected by my birth family, the rejection is symptomatic of their dysfunction, not mine. (John 1:11)
SPIRITUAL NEEDS
- I need to be taught that my life narrative began before I was born and that my life is not a mistake. (Jeremiah 1:5a, Ephesians 1:11)
- I need to be taught in this broken, hurting world, loving families are formed through adoption as well as birth. (Psalm 68:6)
- I need to be taught that I have intrinsic, immutable value as a human being.
- I need to be taught that any two people can make love but only God can create life. He created my life and I’m not a mistake. (John 1:3)
This list is reprinted with permission from: Copyright, 1999, Sherrie Eldridge, Random House Publishers-TWENTY THINGS ADOPTED KIDS WISH THEIR ADOPTIVE PARENTS KNEW.