W.I.S.E. Up!® is an empowerment program designed to create a safe space for children to express their feelings about being adopted and prepare them for intrusive questions and insensitive remarks from peers and others:
To empower BOTH foster and adopted children, C.A.S.E. developed W.I.S.E. UP!®. This program teaches children that they can decide if, when, and how to share their story. When the questions begin, W.I.S.E. Up!® give kids the tools to answer.
C.A.S.E. staff has traveled extensively to teach the W.I.S.E. UP!® program. Adoptive families and professionals across the country, and in England, Scotland, and Australia have embraced its simplicity and power.
Parents often report feeling “caught off guard” when confronted with questions and comments about adoption. They often regret how they responded. If adults feel so vulnerable, imagine how challenging it is for children to be asked: “Where are your REAL parents?” “Why don’t you look like your mother?” “I’m glad I’m not adopted.” These questions/comments can be troubling, confusing, and extremely wounding. Former C.A.S.E. Adoption-Competent Therapist, Ellen Singer, LCSW-C will share what parents need to know to effectively teach W.I.S.E. UP!® to their children.
You’d be amazed at the questions children who have been adopted are asked. For some children, it begins as early as age 3: “Why don’t you look like your mom?” For others, it begins at school: “What happened to your real mother?” or “Why did your parents give you away?” Friends, classmates – even well-meaning grown-ups – make comments or ask questions that can be uncomfortable for children. Empower your child with the W.I.S.E. Up!SM Powerbook – the program that has helped more than 50,000 children who have joined their family through adoption or foster care. Praised by parents around the world, this simple, effective book helps children who have been adopted learn that their story is unique, personal and theirs to share or not.
All children in foster care need simple, effective easy-to-remember methods for identifying and managing their own feelings while responding to the questions, comments, and curiosities of others. Based on the nationally acclaimed empowerment program, W.I.S.E. Up!® Powerbook for Children in Foster Care does all this and more! It is tailored to meet the specific needs of children in foster care and is perfect for children, foster parents, relative caregivers, social workers, school counselors, teachers, and other mentoring adults.
Empower your child with the W.I.S.E. Up! Pocket Guide. This handy little booklet can be carried on the go. Praised by parents around the world, this simple, effective booklet helps children who are adopted learn that their story is unique, personal and theirs to share or not. The W.I.S.E. Up! Owl delivers easy-to-follow, polite and effective messages that adopted children can decide when and how to share information and respond to others’ questions/comments.
We ask our Wendy’s Wonderful Kids adoption professionals to work aggressively to find homes for the thousands of children on their caseloads across the nation. In order to accomplish this vital task, they must have the most current, evidence-based best practices and tools at their disposal. We were thrilled to provide the W.I.S.E. Up! Powerbook created by the Center for Adoption Support and Education (C.A.S.E.) to each of our 120 Wendy’s Wonderful Kids professionals to use with the children they serve. Not only does W.I.S.E. Up! empower children in foster care to own and share their thoughts and feelings about their situation, but it teaches the very adults charged with their well-being to understand and support children in that effort. This is an important tool that should be in the hands of every child in foster care and every adult who works with and on their behalf.
Families and children can have a good time and learn a lot about how each other feels when using the wisely constructed W.I.S.E. UP! Powerbook! A must!
It was a megahit. Our support group introduced it & we’ve heard reports back already about kids using it & instructing other adopted friends about it. Please accept our thanks for developing something so empowering. This is strategy applies to many things in their young lives.
When I was growing up, I didn’t have anything like W.I.S.E. Up! to help me get through difficult moments at school, on the playground or in my foster home. This is why I hope that you take advantage of the skills W.I.S.E. Up! teaches because I personally know the power that it gives you.
The W.I.S.E. Up! program is a simple but powerful way for adopted children (and their families) to answer personal questions. We can’t choose the questions others ask us, but we can choose our responses. What makes the W.I.S.E. Up! program so important is that it really works!
Thank you for presenting W.I.S.E. Up! I did take a poll of our 2nd graders who recited their questions to me. They all said they knew how to answer these hard questions because of W.I.S.E. Up! How wonderful to know they are prepared!
The W.I.S.E. Up! workshop was both informative & enjoyable! My 11 year-old daughter, husband & I took away information & tools we can use when we are asked questions about being an adoption family. Most days, I can’t remember my password. Yet even months later, I can remember the four approaches to responding to questions about adoption. Walk away. It’s personal. Share something. Learning alongside other parents and kids made the experience even richer. We made a connection with another family and went out to lunch together afterward! Ellen Singer has presented this workshop the world over and it shows. This is a signature workshop from C.A.S.E.
Being adopted is really not that easy. You get a lot of questions that you don’t want to answer but you don’t want to say it in a rude way.
This was one of the most helpful trainings I have ever listened to. We recently adopted our son in March and I have had many questions like this that have gone unanswered from DCS and my agency. Thank you for the valuable resource!
Since 2009, C.A.S.E. has trained teams of professionals from 16 agencies, both nationally and internationally, as W.I.S.E. Up!® Facilitators. To enable other professionals the ability to provide this widely acclaimed program in their communities and to preserve its integrity, C.A.S.E. offers a “Train the Trainer” course to become a certified organization to present W.I.S.E. Up!® program.
Below is our national and international directory of W.I.S.E. Up!® Facilitators trained to present the W.I.S.E. Up!® Program. Contact an organization in your area to see when the next offering of W.I.S.E. Up!® will be held.
Please consider donating to support our efforts in spreading the word about W.I.S.E. Up!® and empowering more children and teens who are adopted with the tools they need to improve their confidence with answering questions about their own unique adoption story.
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Due to traumatic life experiences and compromised beginnings, many children who are adopted, who are being raised by relatives (kinship care), or have experienced foster care have higher risks for developmental, health, emotional, behavioral, and academic challenges.
Of therapy clients were children under the age of 18 in 2021.
Served in 2021 through therapy, case management, post-adoption services and Wendy's Wonderful Kids recruitment program.
Registrants for our monthly Strengthening Your Family webinars and parent support groups featuring a wide array of topics for the adoptive, foster and kinship community.
