Training:

[Fall Forum 2026] Understanding Your Adoptee’s Adoption Story: The Seven Core Issues

Nov 10
Tuesday, November 10, 2026 – 9:30am
9:30am - 11:30am

Audience: Caregivers & Professionals

Level: Intermediate
Ages addressed: 18 and under

Every adoption story carries layers of complex emotions that adoptees may not always have the words to express at any age. This workshop is designed to help parents understand the seven core issues of adoption—loss, rejection, shame, guilt, grief, identity, and control—and how these experiences shape a child’s inner world over time.

Together, we will explore how these core issues show up in everyday moments—through emotional reactions, questions about identity, challenges with trust, and a child’s need for control or reassurance. As parents deepen their understanding of their child’s adoption story, they can respond in ways that build connection, safety, and trust.

This session offers practical, developmentally appropriate strategies to help parents feel more confident navigating meaningful conversations about adoption. You will learn how to support your child’s emotional experiences with empathy while strengthening their sense of identity and belonging.

In this workshop, we will explore:
  • Supporting children through adoption-related emotions
  • Responding to questions about birth family
  • Strengthening identity and sense of belonging
  • Practical language parents can use at home

Register Here

Location:

Foster Adopt Minnesota - Webinar

https://www.fosteradoptmn.org/

Sabra Starnes, LICSW, LCSW-C, LCSW, M.Ed, RPT-S™, is an experienced trainer, speaker, and owner of Next Place Therapy Services, LLC, a group practice supporting children, teens, and families through play therapy and trauma-informed care. A sought-after national presenter, Sabra offers engaging, practical trainings focused on play therapy, sandtray, adoption, foster care, cultural humility, and clinical supervision. She creates and designs her own training courses and is an Approved Continuing Education Provider for the Association for Play Therapy (APT), National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), and Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB). She is also a Certified Daring Way™ Facilitator with advanced training in Brainspotting, EMDR, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Sandtray Therapy, Theraplay®, and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP).