The following article was written by my mother-in-law, who over the years has been a wonderful grandmother to our several foster children, 3 adopted children, and our birth daughter. She is a great resource and support to our family and we are very thankful to have her and our other very supportive family members.
"As a grandmother of older, adopted grandchildren I found it harder to establish a relationship. The boys were brothers, ages nine, eleven, and thirteen at the time. I noticed that they acted differently on a one-to-one basis versus all together. I knew that I needed to get to know them individually if I was going to learn to love them and have a relationship with them. I decided to start taking them on outings one at a time so I could develop my own relationship with them as their grandmother. I took them to movies, out to dinner, or just to my house to hang out. It has taken some time, but over the past six years I have seen them grow and develop as well as adjust to their new family. I believe that there will always be trust issues with the boys due to being older before being adopted. However, I also believe that a genuine, sincere attempt at getting to know them and show them love will help them feel like they belong to this family and will increase their willingness to begin to trust that they are wanted and truly cared about."
