Adoption Program | Adoption Therapist

Post-Adoption Support Groups

Having an opportunity to connect with others, and to share with and hear from those who understand your experience, is important. The Cradle offers virtual psychoeducational support groups where you can share the challenges and joys you’ve experienced while receiving support from a clinically trained therapist.

Learn more about The Cradle and Illinois post adoption support services.

Search and Connection with Birth Relatives

This 4-week series is for adult adopted people aged 21 or older, who have searched for and connected with birth parents or other birth relatives and will:

Explore motivations for searching, expectations of a connection and hoped for outcomes
Discuss the actual outcome, the integration of new information into your life and what the connection meant for you
Examine how you processed the connection and managed the emotions involved

Group 1: Complete
Group 2: In Progress
Group 3: Tuesdays at 12-1:15pm CT (Central Time) starting November 29, 2022 and ending December 20, 2022

The fee for this series is $50. Registration is required and space is limited to 20 participants per group. Registration is not complete until payment is made.

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About the Moderator

Nina M. Friedman has an in depth understanding of adoption issues. She has extensive experience working with adoptive and foster children and their families, adult adoptees, and birth parents. Prior to joining The Cradle’s staff in 2004, she worked with adoptive and foster families at Lutheran Social Services of Illinois and Community Counseling Centers of Chicago. She also had a private social work therapy practice working with individuals, couples, and families.

Nina has a Master of Social Work degree from Washington University in St. Louis with a concentration in Mental Health and a specialization in Family Therapy. As an undergraduate, she majored in Psychology with a minor in Family Relations and Human Development at The Ohio State University. Nina is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the State of Illinois, has her DCFS Child Welfare Employee Licensure and is a Licensed Direct Child Welfare Services Employee. She represents The Cradle on the Illinois Adoption Registry-Confidential Intermediary Advisory Council, the Illinois Post Legal Adoption Services Meeting of Agencies, the Original Birth Certificate Access Oversight Committee, and the Stakeholder Advisory Team for the National Quality Improvement Center for Adoption and Guardianship Support and Preservation.

Past Support Groups

7 Core Issues of Adoption: No sessions currently open.
This series for adult adopted people addresses the 7 core issues of adoption as identified by Silverstein and Kaplan: loss, rejection, guilt/shame, grief, identity, intimacy, master/control. Understanding these core issues, and how they impact your life, can be validating. Participants can expect to talk about their experiences, hear other people’s stories, struggles and joys, give and receive support, and better understand the lasting effects of the adoption experience.