Presented by Kids and Families Together
Trainer: Laurel Mooney
Adoption is often portrayed as a positive, child-centered act, with adoptive parents viewed as heroes and adoptees expected to feel grateful. This simplified narrative overlooks the complex realities of adoption, including the grief, loss, identity challenges, and mixed emotions experienced by adoptees, birth parents, and adoptive families. This training provides a more balanced understanding of adoption by exploring the seven core issues that affect everyone in the adoption constellation, emphasizing loss, identity, and belonging. Participants will learn the importance of open communication, accurate adoption language, helping children understand their stories, and maintaining connections with birth families whenever possible. Adoption is not a single event but a lifelong journey, and this training offers practical ways to support adoptees and their families throughout that journey.

Laurel Mooney earned her Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy from California Lutheran University, with a specialization in attachment theory. She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist at Kids & Families Together and serves as Assistant Manager of Clinical Programs. In her dual role, Laurel provides therapeutic support to children and families involved in the child welfare system, using a trauma informed and attachment-focused approach. She also brings a unique and valuable perspective through her lived experience as a transracial adoptee and is actively engaged in the adoptee community.

CE Hours: 1.5