Your New Family

Begin Your Life as a New Family

What You Should Know

Adjusting to a new family and culture may be challenging for your child. Children who have spent most of their early lives in an institution must adjust to living in a family. Receiving one-on-one attention, sleeping alone, and owning things may be completely new experiences. Children often have trouble with new eating and sleeping schedules. Older children also may struggle with language and school issues and may need more time to adjust.

Soon after your child arrives in the United States, take him or her for a thorough checkup with a doctor who has experience in intercountry adoption. The University of Minnesota International Adoption Clinic provides a list of recommended screening tests.

Your family also must adjust to your new status as a transcultural and possibly transracial family. Parents who have not joined an adoptive parent support group may wish to do so to share the joys of parenting, learn from each other’s experiences, and help each other through challenges. Adoptive parents also need to be aware of the impact that the adoption of a child from a different country may have on other children in the family.

During this transition and throughout your lives as an adoptive family, adoption agency staff can be a valuable source of support. Some adoption agencies provide services for adoptive families, from about 6 months to several years after placement, to make sure your child is adjusting well. During this time, adoptive parents can also locate resources and referrals for additional services they need. It is normal for adopted individuals and their families to need support beyond this initial transition period.

Some Places to Go

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provide information on follow-up medical exams for children adopted internationally.

There are also many resources to help parents strengthen a transracial or transcultural family. See the Information for Transracial/Transcultural Families.