The Search and Match Adoption Process
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Kaitlin Fischer, LICSW, LMSW
As our Child Matching & Family Support Specialist, Katie provides support to families in Barker’s Project Wait No Longer older child adoption program and is responsible for the review of child referrals and matching with prospective adoptive families. She joined the PWNL team following several years working with the international adoptions program. Prior to coming to Barker in 2019, Kaitlin worked for a non-profit serving families experiencing homelessness and poverty in the Washington, DC area.
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10 Quick Tips Regarding Back To School
Back To School!
As you prepare to send your child or children back to school, there are many tasks that need to get done as the new school year approaches. If you’re a parent of a child through adoption, your list likely has additional tasks other than just buying school supplies and books for the new year. Each year, children usually have to start over again, with a new teacher and new classmates and when you add adoption into the mix, it complicates the transition even further. Children will likely get questions from new classmates and teachers alike about their family history. If the teacher is not familiar with adoption, it can make things particularly difficult.
Oh, How Do You Do It?
Oh, how do you do it?
This is the first question I typically get when I tell someone I’m a single mom. Fair enough - I agree that it’s tough. I didn’t start off in a two-parent situation, but as a single mom and it’s all I know. And I do the best that I can. I was fortunate to bring home an almost-three-year-old girl, Luna, from China in January 2017. I recognize I was very lucky... Luna was already potty-trained, slept through the night like a champ, ate whatever was put in front of her, and never seemed to go through separation trauma (at least not yet).
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Cradle Care Sister
The Beginning
One day, my sister and I found my mom, phone in hand, with a smile across her face.
“I just got off the phone with Barker,”
I stared at her because this meant very little to 11-year-old me.
“Barker?”
“The Barker Foundation! We’re going to be a Cradle Care family!”
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Pregnancy Counseling Information Form
Reflections From A Birth Father: Love Is Greater Than The Event
This is the story of a birth father who later made a decision to become an adoptive father. These are his reflections on how he experiences Father’s Day as a son, a birth father, and now an adoptive father. Names of the individuals have been changed to protect the identities of all involved.
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The Value of Permanency
The Value of Permanency
Permanency is critical for children who are placed in foster care. Permanency is a process that focuses on establishing connections and building both healthy and supportive relationships between the child and the adults in their lives. Permanency helps a child in foster care develop bonds and connect with their foster families. It also helps children transitioning from foster care into an adoptive home develop bonds with their forever families. Establishing permanency works to ensure safe, stable and long-lasting outcomes for children in foster care.
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Sami Albert, LCSW-C, LICSW
Sami is the Senior Search and Match Specialist for Barker's Project Wait No Longer (PWNL) Program at The Barker Adoption Foundation. Before joining Barker, Sami dedicated much of her social work career to the public child welfare system in Washington, D.C., where she worked closely with children and families to achieve permanency through reunification, adoption, or guardianship. With extensive experience supporting individuals who have faced significant trauma and navigating complex mental health challenges, Sami brings a compassionate, informed approach to every case.
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