How Teachers Can Integrate Adoption Education into the Classroom

Integrating Adoption Education into Schools

8/11/2026

Guest blog post provided by
Leah Sutterlin for the National Council for Adoption

1 out of 25 American families have a child who has been adopted, but for many students, including adoptees, adoption is simply not talked about in schools. A lack of adoption literacy can mean these students may feel isolated or misunderstood by peers and people carry misconceptions about adoption into adulthood.

More and more states are catching on to the need to increase adoption awareness in classrooms. Tennessee, Louisiana, Michigan, Utah, Virginia, and South Carolina are states that currently require adoption to be part of their family education curriculum.

I spoke to three educators (Linda Armbrusher, a third grade teacher from St. Louis, Missouri, Laura Latall, a high school English teacher from Lebanon, Missouri, and Kate Migues, a high school teacher in Louisiana who founded the Placed Adoption Education Foundation), who shared their experiences with teaching adoption in their classrooms.

Here are some of their takeaways for teachers looking to explore this:

1. Connect with impacted students

Before starting a lesson plan on adoption, it is important to know who is in the room. Teachers can send a letter home to the parents or caregivers of students touched by adoption or foster care to let them know that they will teach about adoption. This will prepare the students to figure out how much, if anything, they would like to share with peers. When sharing about adoption, Kate said, “Remind the students that everyone’s story is different,” so that they know that each adoptee’s perspective is valid, but may not represent the full picture of the adoption landscape.

2. Identify the right integration point within the curriculum

The teachers interviewed found ways to integrate adoption education into language arts, leadership development, and health education. Teachers could also explore National Foster Care Month (May) or National Adoption Month (November) as natural opportunities to bring up the topic.

A teacher reads to a small group of elementary students seated together on a classroom carpet. The children listen attentively during a class discussion or story, highlighting an inclusive learning environment.

3. Find a trusted lesson plan

There are several organizations that provide teachers with a custom-made or tried-and-true adoption lesson plan. The Foster Care Adoption Reading Program provides two age-appropriate books (one for K-5 and the other for grades 6-12), templates, discussion questions, and extension activities like an art challenge. Placed Adoption Education brings in a guest speaker to lead a 50 to 90-minute lesson plan for high school students. These programs help to destigmatize and normalize adoption dialogue, build empathy for the experience of birth parents and adoptees by elevating lived experience voices, and increase student knowledge about different types of adoption (e.g. adoption from foster care vs private adoption vs intercountry adoption, open vs closed adoption).

4. Brainstorm extension activities

Students who are aware grow into students who care. When learning about foster care and adoption, many students may feel empathy for children in foster care or waiting for adoption and want to do something to help. Teachers may be able to facilitate enrichment activities that involve their students in local charitable activities, like donation drives for foster families, or have them build an awareness brochure or video for their friends and families.

5. Consider how to make your normal curriculum more inclusive

After piloting an adoption unit or lesson plan, teachers can look through and adjust their existing curriculum to better accommodate adoptees. Instead of family tree assignments, which may be difficult for students with no genetic history, they could consider community maps or a life story book assignment as a more inclusive option. Linda also emphasized the importance of inclusive language: "Families come together in many different ways; instead of focusing on 'mom and dad’ in talking about parents, focus on identifying who the loving caretakers are for each child."

6. Evaluate Outcomes

Kate uses pre- and post-lesson surveys to track student learning during her adoption lesson plans, consistently achieving a 28% improvement in correct responses. She also asks the students anonymously to share any personal connections to adoption. Collecting this data can be helpful for making a case for support to school administrators or reporting back on outcomes.

A group of smiling adults and young children wearing backpacks gather together in a school hallway. The image represents families, caregivers, and educators working together to support children in welcoming school communities.

7. Encourage School-Wide Adoption Education

Most of the teachers interviewed said others around them were interested in following their example and that this led to an adoption-friendly school culture. Linda said, “[Adoption education] is really school-wide and the principals and administration and counselors are really setting a tone of just, we are here to support each other and we all belong." Schools can take more steps to embrace and normalize adoption by training their staff on adoption, showcasing books, movies, and other media representing different family types, and adding adoption-related titles to their school library.

Conclusion:

Adoption education has proven benefits for the classroom. Teachers report seeing their adopted students feel more accepted, and their entire class feel more empowered to talk about these issues. “At the beginning, I would say not many students could talk about foster care and adoption, but at the end, they all could,” said Laura. “It made the entire class more empathetic and curious about the history of the people around them.”

For teachers who are uncomfortable getting started, Laura said, “It’s okay to not know everything and to say I will need to find out the answer. You can involve the school guidance counselor or talk to other people in your community to learn more about adoption.”

Kate added, “The kids are going to remember that you were always willing to answer your questions and hear their ideas. Be a supportive friend and resource in learning about adoption, and you will make a difference.”

Leah Sutterlin is an adult adoptee based in California, who works for the National Council For Adoption. She is a contributing author to the book “It’s Okay to Talk About Adoption" and frequently writes and speaks on adoption.

How do you talk to your children about adoption, and what do you think
they should understand about it from an early age?

Do you think schools do enough to represent adopted children and different types of families in everyday lessons, books, and classroom conversations? Why or why not?

What is the best way for schools to teach children about adoption without making adopted students feel singled out or pressured to share their personal stories?

Should adoption education be intentionally included in school curriculums, or do you think it is better addressed naturally when the topic comes up?

What is one change you would like to see schools make to create a more inclusive environment for children who are adopted, in foster care, or part of families formed in different ways?

Please leave your comments below.
Your feedback is always appreciated.