Adolescence and Adoption: Teens and Tweens

Please find some of our best articles, essays and reviews on this topic.

For more topics and articles, check out our full listing on our Resource Library.

Tweens and teens develop a new ability to be introspective and analytical and develop new views of the world, some of which may be challenging to adults. Emotionally, their job is to become “their own person." For adopted and foster kids, this raises identity issues on a deeper level than ever before. Topics include delayed launching, identity, independence, anger, birth parent search, and parenting strategies.

If you prefer, you can use our Library Search Tool to search by title or author. All the material in this section is copyrighted by Pact; for permission to reproduce or re-post it, please contact us at education@pactadopt.org.

• Adopted Adolescents - Delayed Launching
  by Gregory Keck (2009 | 57KB | )
  
• Adoption and Genetics: Why We Need To Pay Attention
  by E. Kay Trimberger (2011 | 125KB | )
  
• Adoption and the Stages of Development - What Parents Can Expect at Different Ages
  by Beth Hall (1992 | 114KB | )
  
• Ask Pact Is There Something Wrong With Me?
  by Pact (2010 | 327KB | )
  
• Ask Pact: Hip Hop
  by Pact (2006 | 341KB | )
  
• Birth Parent Profile - My Secret Life
  by Michelle Cabrerra (1997 | 124KB | )
  
• Book Review: Beneath the Mask Understanding Adopted Teens
  by Debbie Riley (2007 | 84 KB | )
  
• Book Review: Parenting Adopted Adolescents: Understanding and Appreciating Their Journeys
  by Gregory Keck (2009 | 408 KB | )
  
• Book Review: Pieces of Me: Who Do I Want to Be?
  by Robert Ballard (2010 | 210 KB | )
  
• Book Review: The English American
  by Alison Larkin (2008 | 304 KB | )
  
• Book Review: The Identity Trap: Saving Our Teens from Themselves
  by Joseph Nowinski (2008 | 403 KB | )
  
• Borders of Belonging
  by Sofia Arroyo (2008 | 309 KB | )
  
• Building An Adoptive Identity
  by Harold Grotevant (2009 | 129 KB | )
  
• Director’s Corner: Adolescence Who Am I? Where Am I Going?
  by Beth Hall & Gail Steinberg (2003 | 98 KB | )
  
• Director’s Corner: Anger & Mood Swings in Tweens & Teens
  by Beth Hall (2008 | 114 KB | )
  
• Director’s Corner: INSPIRATION -- in Capital Letters, Visiting Historically Black Colleges
  by Beth Hall (2008 | 120 KB | )
  
• Encouraging Reluctant Teens & Tweens to Attend Teen Club
  by Pact (2011 | 342 KB | )
  
• If The Shoe Doesn’t Fit
  by Gail Steinberg (1995 | 131 KB | )
  
• Laughter, Attachment and Adopting Older Kids
  by Pat O’Brien (1996 | 340 KB | )
  
• Letting Go - Launching Adolescents
  by Beth Hall (2007 | 49 KB | )
  
• Nine and A Half Months
  by Allison Towle (1995 | 109 KB | )
  
• Prenatal Trauma and the Adoptee Experience
  by Sally Clark (1996 | 112 KB | )
  
• Proactive Parenting: How to Recognize Issues and When to Seek Help
  by Dee A. Paddock (1998 | 327 KB | )
  
• Quinceañera!
  by Veronica Maciel (2003 | 73 KB | )
  
• Still Parenting After All These Years
  by Gail Steinberg (1992 | 96 KB | )
  
• Talking to Your Adopted Adolescent about Adoption
  by Randolph W. Severson (1995 | 334 KB | )
  
• Talking with Children about Difficult History
  by Holly van Gulden (1995 | 339 KB | )
  
• Teen Corner: A Letter From My Heart
  by Melissa Cunningham (2010 | 327 KB | )
  
• Teen Corner: Adopted Teens Speak Out
  by Pact Teen Club (2009 | 373 KB | )
  
• Teen Corner: Dominique’s Journey
  by Dominique Parker (2005 | 94 KB | )
  
• Teen Corner: Making Sense of Living Transracially
  by Ryo and Jake (2010 | 53 KB | )
  
• Teen Corner: Mission Possible
  by Rabia Cons (2008 | 83 KB | )
  
• Teen Corner: Picture Me
  by Sofia Arroyo (2005 | 72 KB | )
  
• Teen Corner: Psychological Heavy Lifting
  by Lilah Goldthwaite (2008 | 350 KB | )
  
• Teen Corner: TRA (Transracial Adoptee) Understanding and Love
  by Sara Blair (2007 | 83 KB | )
  

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