Abstract

Adult adoptee and family therapist Katie Naftzger shares her personal and professional wisdom in this guide to help adoptive parents remain a calm parental influence in the midst of stormy and erratic teen behavior. This guide describes the essential skills you need to help your adopted teen confidently face the challenges of growing up and outlines four key goals for adoptive parents:

· To move from rescuing to responding
· To set adoption-sensitive limits and ground rules
· To have connecting conversations
· To help your teen envision their future

Parenting in the Eye of the Storm contains invaluable insights for adoptive parents and simple strategies you can use to prepare your adopted teen for the journey ahead and strengthen the family bond in the process. It provides answers, guidance and understanding - working as a road-map through the tempestuous teenage years.

Wow. Life changing. No nonsense. Filled with fresh ideas My daughter ( adopted internationally) is 14. I'm already using Katie's advice in day to day life. You'll need a hard copy to highlight and leave on your bedstand.
Beth O’Malley M.Ed adoptee, older adoptive mom and adoption professional.
Katie Naftzger maintains a private psychotherapy practice in Newton, MA. There, she sees primarily adopted teens, young adults, parents and families and leads local and online groups for adoptive parents. She is actively involved in the adoption community and has spoken at many local and national organizations.
This book is Katie at her best ... a clear, gentle voice cutting through emotional chaos to provide needed structure and steps for change. A must-read!
Stacy Schroeder, Exec Dir/Pres of KAAN: The Korean-American Adoptee Adoptive Family Network (also adoptive parent and sibling)
Naftzger provides useful day to day insights and practical suggestions for adoptive families with teens. Her book is filled with personal accounts and situations that are both from her personal experience as well as her clinical practice. This combination of lived and professional insight in the adoption world is rare and makes this book a must-have for all adoptive families.
Iris Chin Ponte Ph.D., President of Ponte and Chau Consulting Inc and Director of The Henry Frost Children's Program
This book gives a unique insight into the world of adopted teenagers. The authors personal experience and thought provoking anecdotes add significant value to the content, and the practical strategies make this a very useful resource for adoptive parents.
Jennifer Jones, Inspired Foundations www.inspiredfoundations.co.uk
This is the most insightful book I've read about parenting adopted teens. Naftzger draws from her own experience as an adoptee and a therapist to offer parents practical tools for improving communication with their child, without ever being preachy or prescriptive. Most importantly, she honors the emotions, integrity and intellectual capacity of the adopted teen at every turn, helping parents better understand the complexity of their child's experience.
Nicole Opper, Director/Producer, Off and Running: An American Coming of Age Story
I loved Parenting in the Eye of the Storm. While Katie Naftzger defines her work as 'a guide for adoptive parents in the teen years', I found it to be so very much more. Inside this book I found priceless wisdom and insight into the wounded hearts of adopted teens. The tools Ms Naftzger shares here are like a flashlight and compass for parents to light the way for their struggling adopted teen and bring them home. Well worth the investment of time!
Nancy L Thomas, author of When Love is Not Enough; a Guide to Parenting Children with Reactive Attachment Disorder
After my adoptive daughter's teen years, I appreciate even more the value of Katie Naftzger's keen insights and sage advice. By sharing adoptee's stories and empathizing, as only a once teen adoptee can, Naftzger ably steers adoptive parents through the choppy waters of adolescence.
Melissa Ludtke, author of Touching Home in China: in search of missing girlhoods.
As I read this book, it resonated with me deeply through my professional lenses as Executive Director of ATTACh and in my role as an adoptive mother with four teens. I had so many 'ah-ha' moments as Katie shared her stories and they rang true. How I wish every parent raising a teen could read this insightful and poignant book.
Mary M. McGowan, Executive Director of The Association for Training on Trauma and Attachment in Children