Olivia Sullivan

3.1

As a 19 year old Adoptee myself, I have found that most adoption support services are aimed at younger children and are activities that evolve around culture (Families with Children from China ‘FCC’), based in Sydney & Canberra. However, experiencing grief as a teenager the only support I got was from Sydney, which was difficult to access as I lived in Newcastle. Therefore online education will be beneficial, in additional to a platform where adoptees can communicate about their struggles with the option of being anonymous available. I would also recommend face to face day programs and plans for regional communities so it can be easily accessed.

3.2

– online (forums, interactive)
– face to face (one on one vs group work)
– different programs/ services for different ages ranges and different topics

3.3

– knowledge on the country/ or the period of the time. i.e. the documentary of One child nation gains an insight to the one child policy in China and the propaganda and consequences of having more than one child NB: personally I was unaware how bad the propaganda & secrets the chinese government told their people
– how to accept and have gratitude
– how to deal with grief and other emotions
– how to upload DNA to different websites
– platform/ thread to hear other peoples experiences in categories of age, country etc.

3.4

– social media platforms
– interactive websites/ platforms
– phone applications

3.5

– having informed/ knowledgeable stakeholders as counsellors, mentors etc that have gone through or have someone that has gone through a similar experience > so they can relate & connect to the person
– suggestions of phrases you can say i.e. when you feel uncomfortable what someone says negative things e.g. racism or being adopted

3.6

– how to deal with being adopted
– how to overcome challenges and PTSD
– how to have a sense of worth, identity
– increase awareness & knowledge of adoption