[ Browse by Service Category : Support Groups : Sub-Topics of Parenting/Family Support Groups (3) ]
Adoption and Foster/Kinship Care Support Groups
Mutual support groups whose members are individuals who have adopted a child or are considering or in the process of adoption, birth parents who relinquished a child for adoption, people who were, themselves adopted, foster care providers, children in foster care, kinship caregivers (paternal or maternal grandparents, aunts, uncles and other family members, members of a child's tribe or clan, godparents, stepparents, neighbours, friends of the family or other adults who can serve as "family"), children cared for by relatives under a formal or informal kinship care arrangement and/or adults who, as children, were raised in foster or kinship care. Groups may also be structured for adoptees, siblings and/or birth parents who have been reunited; older kinship caregivers who have taken on an unexpected parenting role later in life; and people who have other kinship issues, e.g., grandparents and other relatives who have been denied access to a grandchild or other youngster due to a death or divorce in the child's family. Meeting formats may include in-person, telephone or Internet options.
Marriage and Relationships Support Groups
Mutual support groups whose members are individuals or partners who want to learn to build healthy, lasting relationships and/or work through problems such as poor communication, lack of equity or trust, or infidelity in a current relationship or marriage. Included are groups for people who have never been married, are divorced, widowed, in a relationship or presently married, and want to learn to develop intimacy, communicate effectively, work as a team to solve problems, manage conflicts without damaging closeness and preserve and enhance love, commitment and friendship within the context of a marriage or relationship. The groups meet in-person, by telephone or via the Internet; and provide an opportunity for participants to share their experience, strengths and hopes, understand their relationships and work through related emotions.
Separation/Divorce Support Groups
Mutual support groups whose members are adults and/or children who are experiencing the trauma of a divorce or a broken relationship. The groups provide an opportunity for participants to understand their relationships past and present; work through feelings of grief, loss, rejection, guilt and other emotions related to their experience; and gain a sense of their own identity. Meeting formats may include in-person, telephone or Internet options.
The above terms and definitions are part of the Taxonomy of Human Services, used here by permission of INFO LINE of Los Angeles.