Most parents agree the adolescent and teen years are without question the most challenging for their children and for the family as a whole. This can be especially true in the case of adopted children who, like all teens, struggle with issues related to who they are and who they want to be. Imagine the added confusion during this crucial developmental stage, when teens reflect on their unique situation as an adopted child.

Questions that may not have bothered adoptive children in the past, take on new meaning in the teen years when they are actively working to define themselves and differentiate themselves from their parents. "Why do you look different from your mom and dad?" "What happened to your birth parents?" These and other questions resurface in the mind of the adoptive child and, when not addressed, become a source of frustration and confusion that can lead to low self-esteem, anxiety, depression and related problems.

Debbie Riley and Dr. John Meeks reveal in their book, Beneath the Mask: Understanding Adopted Teens, that though only 2% of American children are adopted, they make up one-third of the teens in therapy. The statistics support their thesis: adopted children endure a special set of emotional issues that reemerge during adolescence. Unless therapists and parents understand and deal with the wounds of adoption, teens cannot heal and become healthy adults.

"We added our Adolescent Adoption and Loss Curriculum component because we saw a definite need for a specific therapeutic approach in the case of adoptive children," says Sharon Bitz, executive director of Mount Bachelor Academy in Prineville, Oregon. "In our collaboration with the Kinship Center, MBA has been able to help our students work through some of the tougher issues surrounding their adoption. And by getting the family involved through seminars and conferences, we create a sense of wholeness and harmony throughout the entire family unit."

Mount Bachelor Academy, a co-educational boarding school for teens founded in 1988, provides a comprehensive academic and therapeutic curriculum designed for teens with behavioral, emotional, motivational problems or special learning needs. Demand for a specific program designed to address the challenges of adoptive children and families lead them to partner with Kinship Center of California, one of the world's leading adoptive services organizations.

Addressing the specific needs of adoptive children, MBA provides adoption-focused group therapy, thematic workshops for processing stages of grief, and access to a nationwide adoption support network. Because MBA's Adoption Curriculum is overseen by an adopted staff member and 25-30% of the student body is adopted, the program has a personal reference for the trials adoptive teens and their families undergo. In addition, MBA's staff has achieved full certification in the Kinship Center's Adoption Clinical Training, a theoretical lens for understanding adoption.

"Adoptive children wonder why they were placed for adoption in the first place and can struggle with feeling worthy and good-enough, especially during the teenage years when it's natural for them to assert themselves as unique individuals," says Bitz. "We can help them work through their feelings of loss and can even provide support if they decide to reunite with their birth parents."

According to Bitz and others, the teenage years present daunting developmental obstacles for children of adoption and their families. By encouraging teens to express and work through their feelings of loss, MBA can provide the catalyst for the healing process.

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