What Couples Who Adopt Children From Child Welfare Want Professionals to Know About Supporting Their Marriages

This article provides suggestions for supporting the marriages of couples who adopt children from the child welfare system. These suggestions emerged from qualitative data obtained from 22 spouses in 4 focus groups. Data reveal that couples want professionals to address the impact of adoption on the marital relationship prior to placement of children, to facilitate contact among adoptive couples that focuses on couple relationships in addition to parenting issues after children have been placed, and to actively support the marital relationship in postplacement/postadoption services even when children's behaviors or needs constitute the presenting problem. Taken together, results indicate that it is appropriate for a broad range of professionals to address the couple relationship throughout the adoption process.