Adoption and Fostering
Adoption, fostering and Music Therapy
Music Therapy can provide a safe space for children and young people who have been adopted or fostered to improve their self-esteem, regulate their emotions and explore their experiences around loss and trauma. Therapists can either work one-to-one with the child, or alongside parents/guardians to improve parent/guardian-child relations. Through musical play, positive experiences can be created allowing the both parent/guardian and the child to interact in new and engaging ways, leading to strengthened relationships.
The Music Therapist can work with the child and the family to promote:
- Positive attachments
- Harmonious communication skills
- Innovative and adaptive ways of enhancing parent-child connections
- Extended social skills
- Positive shared experiences
Examples of outcomes
Music Therapy can create the safest of spaces to invoke change wherever possible. The following outcomes are taken from a Music Therapy report where an intervention plan was delivered to a post-adoptive family. During Music Therapy, the child was able to:
- demonstrate enthusiasm and delight in playing music with his carers, deepening the connection and attunement between them all
- sit closer and in parallel to carers than usual especially at the large table drum, creating a sense of togetherness and working towards common goals
- find instruments for carers to play, offering an experience of autonomy and positive choice-making opportunities
- sing improvised songs to include all members of the family, bringing a cohesiveness and turn-taking experience to the dynamic
A post-adoption / foster care music therapy programme has been cited as a key factor in enabling families to remain together. It can allow access to a provision where the processing of difficult and traumatic experiences can be safely explored whilst healthy bonds are further developed within the family.
