The 'W.I.S.E. Up!' tool: empowering adopted children to cope with questions and comments about adoption

Families of adopted children and the children themselves are not strangers to intrusive questions about private information, such as "Is that your real child (or mother)?" and "Why did your mother give you away?" While the questions may be benign, they can be uncomfortable to handle and harmful to a child's self-esteem. To counteract this, The Center for Adoption Support and Education (C.A.S.E.) in Maryland has developed an empowering tool for adoptive children and their families. The "W.I.S.E. Up!" tool is based on the premise that adoptive children are wiser about adoption than peers who are not adopted. The tool uses the acronym W.I.S.E. to teach children four options for responding to uncomfortable questions: W (walk away), I (ignore or change the subject), S (share what you are comfortable sharing), and E (educate about adoption in general). Nurses can assist adoptive families by introducing them to this empowering tool.