What are the Playshops?
Jane Brown is a social worker and educator with years of experience working with children. She is both a mother (of eight) and an adoptive parent (five of her children were internationally adopted from Korea and China) and a grandmother.
Jane is a well known speaker on adoption matters, is a member of the editorial noard of Adoptive Families magazine. Jane brings her professional knowledge and first hand experience to the challenges faced by both adoptive parents and children. Jane has come to Toronto every year since 2004 to deliver the Playshops.
Jane Brown designed the Playshops to give children an opportunity to explore their ideas about their adoption and to interact with their peers. The Playshops are relevant to all adopted children and Jane uses multi-sensory games and props to encourage the children to discuss their feelings about being adopted. She helps children understand that the questions and thoughts they have about adoption are normal and help them acquire skills they can transfer to settings with all of their peers.
Children are placed in Playshops according to their ages at the date of the Playshops. Playshop A is for children who will be aged 5 or 6 at the time of the Playshop, Playshop B is for children who are 7 or 8 and Playshop C is for children who are 9 or 10. The AdoptShops are for pre-teens and teens who will be between the ages of 11 and 16, with AdoptShop 1 for ages 13 to 16 and AdoptShop 2 for ages 11 or 12.
Each Playshop is 2 hours in length and each AdoptShop is 2 ½ hours Following the Playshop or AdoptShop, there is a debrief with the parents for approximately 1 hour. Jane will debrief the parents to advise them about the content of the Playshop or AdoptShop and some of the discussions and issues that arose during the Playshop or AdoptShop. During this debriefing period, the Playshop or AdoptShop participants will be supervised in an adjacent room.