Adopting more than one child can bring tremendous joy and connection to a family while also creating unique parenting challenges. When children come from different birth families, they may bring very different experiences of prenatal development, early caregiving, trauma, attachment, culture, identity, loss, and family relationships.

This interactive 90-minute workshop will explore the ways each child may experience adoption differently, even when they share the same adoptive parents. Participants will learn practical approaches for responding to differences in temperament, developmental needs, attachment, grief, identity, behaviour, and relationships with birth families.

The workshop will emphasize connection over comparison, curiosity over assumptions, and belonging without requiring sameness.

By the end of the workshop, parents will be able to:

  1. Understand why children adopted into the same family may have very different needs and experiences.
  2. Recognize how pre-adoption experiences can influence attachment, regulation, behaviour, and relationships.
  3. Support each child's individual adoption and identity story.
  4.  Avoid common sibling dynamics that can unintentionally create comparison, competition, or hierarchy.
  5. Respond to grief, loyalty conflicts, birth-family questions, and differences in adoption experiences.
  6. Build a family culture where children can belong without having to minimize or hide their differences.
  7. Identify practical ways to strengthen attachment and emotional safety for each child.

Date: Thursday, November 19, 2026
Time: 6:15 to 7:45 p.m. PCT
Session fee: Free
Format: Online via Zoom

Please note 
This session will be recorded. All registered participants will receive a private link to the recording, which will remain available for two weeks after the event. Families who are unable to attend live will still be able to access the full workshop at their convenience. If you prefer that your name not appear on the recording, you’re welcome to join the session using a pseudonym.

About the facilitator 
Ashleigh Martinflatt has over 20 years of experience in the permanency field. She holds a Master of Social Work with a specialization in children, families, and permanency. She has served as a professor at the University of Victoria and an instructor in the Child and Youth Care Department at Vancouver Island University. Ashleigh also has a private counselling practice specializing in trauma, adoption, parenting, and child and youth issues. For the past three years, she has provided exceptional learning opportunities for MCFD staff.