Adoption: cognitive-behavioral protocol for parents

Abstract

Introduction: adoption as currently practiced has the welfare of the adoptee as a priority. The adopting parents, however, present dysfunctional beliefs regarding the adoption and the future adoptive children that intervene in the healthy development of the adopted child in its new family. Objective and methodology: the authors, from professional experience in the psychiatric and psychological legal areas, develop a preliminary cognitive-behavior protocol approach for adopting parents, after a non-systematic review of the national literature and Scielo, Pubmed and Google Scholar databases. No publications that address this matter were found in Brazilian journals. Synopsis: the preliminary version is of a protocol of ten cognitive-behavior psychotherapy group interviews, with emphasis in psychoeducation, and the inclusion of cognitive reorganization techniques, behavioral assays, social abilities training and problem solving. Final comments: in Brazil adoption is a subject of great social relevance, but still very little studied. There is also a scarcity of publications using the cognitive-behavior approach for adopting parents. The preventive intervention proposal has the objective of attenuating adaptation difficulties, bond development, secret exposure, as well as guiding the establishment of limits and positive reinforcement to the well-adapted behaviors of the adopted children.