If you’ve recently adopted a child, you may have a new perspective on the holidays. You may look at it as a time of joy, a time to celebrate your new family. But your adopted child may not be able to share fully in your holiday cheer. Here are some tips to help your adopted child through the holidays.

• If possible, maintain some of the child’s holiday traditions—obviously, this is more important with older children, who have had the time to establish certain traditions. In addition, it will likely require that you have communications with biological parents. But it can provide a modicum of stability for your adopted child.
• Create new traditions—Find ways to make your adopted child a part of all you do
• Be ready to listen and willing to acknowledge that your adopted child may be struggling—Don’t get caught up in the belief that “he just needs to get over it,” or “it’s Christmas, be happy!” In addition, don’t think that a lot of presents will make everything okay.
• Maintain routines—Don’t change bed times, naps, or rules just because it’s Christmas—Kids thrive on consistency
• Be willing to change some gatherings based on your child’s needs—If your child is unaccustomed to large family gatherings, a big celebration can be intimidating. You may need to see extended family members in smaller groups until your child is comfortable with everyone.

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To set up an appointment, call us in Haddonfield at 856-429-5005 or in Woodbury at 856-845-2555. We can also be reached in Philadelphia at 215-563-2150 or by e-mail. For clients with personal injury or workers’ compensation claims, we offer a free initial consultation, and will represent you on a contingency basis, only charging attorney fees if we recover compensation for you.

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