Family Trees for Adopted Kids
Including Birth, Foster and Adoptive Families in Genealogy Projects
Making a family tree for an adopted child can be a challenging and fulfilling project. Try these creative ways of showing family ties.
More and more school curriculums are not requiring children to complete a family tree project because of the diversity in the types of families that exist today. However, it may still be valuable for an adopted child to make a family tree to show how his birth, foster and adoptive families connect with each other.
Generally, family trees are diagrams that show relationships between people of different generations and contain information such as names, dates and locations. Family trees are often included in baby books, lifebooks, time capsules and family history documents as a framework for family stories. For many families, especially adoptive families, traditional family trees do not show all the relationships. Here are some ideas for “family trees” that include more than just members of the adoptive family.
Traditional Genealogy Chart
Many family tree software programs and pre-printed family tree charts may work for an adopted child if some minor changes are made. Relationships with the adoptive family could be indicated with a solid line, whereas birth family relationships could be shown with a different colour line or a dotted line.
Family Tree with Roots
Make a one-of-a-kind family tree by drawing a picture of a tree showing many branches without leaves. Write the child’s name on the trunk of the tree and cut out enough leaves for each member of the child’s adoptive family to go on the tree. Label each of the leaves with the person’s name and relationship to the child and then glue them on the branches. Write the names of the child’s birth parents, birth grandparents and other birth family on the roots of the tree. The names of the child’s foster family can also be written on cut out leaves and they can be scattered around the base of the tree.
Birth Family Tree and Adoptive Family Tree
If the child has many details about his birth family’s history, he may want to create a tree that incorporates both the birth family and adoptive family. One way to do this is to create a double-crowned tree, with the child’s name on the trunk, showing the birth family tree being grafted to the adoptive family tree.
Circle of Caring
If the traditional family tree image does not work for the adoptive family, close relationships around a child can be shown with a circle of caring. Draw a circle on the middle of the page and put the child’s name in it. Draw a circle around the child’s circle, and another one around the second circle. Make as many circles as generations the child wants to include. In the first circle surrounding the child’s name, put the names of adoptive parents, foster parents and birth parents. In the next circle include grandparents, birth grandparents and adoptive grandparents. Extended family and siblings can also be included in the circles. This model of showing generations of family also works well for single parent adoptive families.
Working on a family tree together can be a fulfilling project that helps start discussions about all family relationships. Whether it is a very elaborate poster project or a simple diagram, an adoptive child’s family tree is helpful to show his roots and where he came from.
