The Essentials for Adoption Attuned Parenting

Join adoptive parents and adoption coaches, Susan David and Gayle Swift, as they discuss observing National Adoption Month. A s adoptive parents, we probably already think and talk a lot about adoption. And this month,  we might even find ourselves sharing on social media smiling, happy photos. After all, adoption helped us build a family!  Why wouldn't we be excited?  But how would it be if our c...

Listen to excerpts from Growing Intentional Families Together's Discovery Webinar Is Adopting a Child Right for Me?  Hosts, adoptive parents, and adoption coaches, Susan David and Gayle Swift, continue their hiatus 'til June. Meantime, they've been busy working with their colleagues and have recently launched  Is Adopting a Child Right for Me? Child-centric and adoption attuned, it's a six-module,...

Join hosts, adoptive parents, and adoption coaches, Susan David and Gayle Swift, as they discuss their upcoming course, Is Adopting a Child Right for Me? Child-centric and adoption attuned, it's a six-module, on-demand course that offers information, preparation, and competency to make that important, life-changing decision to adopt a child ... or not.   More information about this upcoming course...

Taking a break is an opportunity to catch a breath, reassess, and tweak ... SO this episode is a rebroadcast as your hosts take a winter-into-spring hiatus. Join us for new episodes in June!    A desire to connect with another person is at the heart of every conversation. Too often our words land in an unintended way. Mismatches are not uncommon in conversations between parent and child. So what c...

Join adoptive parents and adoption coaches, Susan David and Gayle Swift, as they discuss 4 EASY things to do as resolutions for the year ahead. These suggestions were designed with the holiday weary listener in mind. They remain applicable as we move further along in the coming year. Like all parents, adoptive moms and dads can neglect their own self-care and this can affect how we "show up" with...

Join adoptive parents and adoption coaches, Susan David and Gayle Swift, as they discuss how to go about building an Adoption Attuned Library. Last month they discussed "The Top Six Reasons You Want an Adoption Attuned Library." And now in this follow-up episode, 3 types of readers are addressed and an example of how a specific book for each type fits the bill of Adoption Attunement is identified....

Join adoptive parents and adoption coaches, Susan David and Gayle Swift, as they discuss why its important to develop a family library that is Adoption Attuned.  Books serve as an immensely valuable tool for helping families address adoption complexity. And, a loving parent's lap offers the perfect, safe place to share a book. So you can see why developing a well stocked adoption library can help...

Did you realize that adoptive parenting and hurricane preparedness have a lot in common? Think of it as "hope for the best yet prepare for the worst."  Join adoptive parents and adoption coaches, Susan David and Gayle Swift, as they discuss how p reparing to be an adoptive parent is like storm preparation. We can't think that challenging parent/child issues won't head our way. We can't think, "Not...

Join hosts, adoptive parents and adoption coaches, Susan David and Gayle Swift, as they celebrate 50 episodes of The Essentials for Adoption Attuned Parenting .  Susan and Gayle discuss special podcast highlights including:  Adoption Attunement' foundational truths How coaching can benefit adoptive families The gains and the losses for all in the adoption constellation Why appropriate adoption lan...

Hosts Susan David and Gayle Swift have taken an August hiatus to spend some time with family, friends and extended relatives!   Please join them for a rebroadcast  of their interview with adoption author, adoptee, and adoptee genealogist, Lynn Grubb for an enlightening first discussion about genetic genealogy for adoptees. Lynn lets us in on what you need to know before starting to search and some...

Join adoptive parents and adoption coaches, Susan David and Gayle Swift, as they discuss how we can make our adopted children -- all children -- feel safer in a world that is currently experiencing many events that make us all afraid. It seems as if violence is permeating our world whether here in the United States or thousands of miles away. So what do we find ourselves doing to deal with this fe...

Join hosts, adoptive parents and adoption coaches, Susan David and Gayle Swift, as they focus on mothering and how we can nurture respectful, healthy relationships between ourselves and our children's birth moms. With so many competing emotions in adoption, all three parties in the adoption constellation -- birth mother, adoptee, and adoptive mother -- can wrestle with fear of rejection and of not...

It is that time of year again -- we just honored mothers on their special day, graduations of all sorts are being celebrated, and Father's Day is just around the corner. Join hosts Susan David and Gayle Swift as they revisit a previous episode discussing how to manage holiday celebrations, the Adoption Attuned way. 

Adoption coaches, Susan David and Gayle Swift, are joined by special guest, adoption consultant Abby Jacobson as she shares her personal adoptee experience that now assists her in understanding the unique issues that adoptees face. Abby's  candid sharing is refreshing, informative, and one of inspiration for adoptees and the families that love them.  Learn more about Abby Jacobson at www.adoptionc...

Join hosts, adoption coaches and adoptive parents, Susan David and Gayle Swift, as they discuss Adoption Attuned parenting strategies.  This month, they'll focus on 5 of the unique, additional, and essential characteristics that adoptive parents need to parent well. Parenting is surely a tough job and adoptive parenting is parenting on steroids! But parenting well is achievable with intention, pre...

At the heart of every conversation is a desire to connect with another person. Too often our words land in an unintended way. Mismatches are not uncommon in conversations between parent and child. So what can we parents do to avoid these conversation mishaps?      Join hosts, adoption coaches and parents, Susan David and Gayle Swift, as they discuss how to listen so your kids feel seen, heard, and...

Join adoption coaches and parents, Susan David and Gayle Swift as they  host special guest, adoption coach and consultant, and adoptee, Sharon Butler-Obazee.  They'll be discussing ideas for making your new year's parenting resolutions Adoption attuned and child centric. Make resolutions that are solid for 2022 and beyond.  Ms. Obazee is a well-trained and experienced coach with lived understandin...

Join hosts, adoption coaches and adoptive parents, Susan David and Gayle Swift, as they interview adoption author, adoptee, and  adoptee genealogist, Lynn Grubb for an enlightening first discussion about genetic genealogy for adoptees. Lynn lets us in on what you need to know before starting and some other considerations you might not have considered. As always, your hosts focus on Adoption Attune...

Join hosts, adoption coaches and adoptive parents, Susan David and Gayle Swift, as they discuss Gayle's recent book, co-authored with adoptive parent and adoption coach, Sally Ankerfelt,  Reimagining Adoption: What Adoptees Seek from Families and Faith.  Their book has been well received by both faith communities and those in the adoption constellation and blends personal experience, expert insigh...

Join hosts, adoption coaches and adoptive parents, Susan David and Gayle Swift, as they interview adoption author, adoptee,  adoptee genealogist, and adoptive parent, Lynn Grubb for an enlightening discussion about the adoptee experience. Let's continue to discover together Adoption Attuned considerations  as we strive to raise healthy and happy adopted children.  And for those of you with adult a...

  Join us as we listen to a special reading of GIFT coach, adoptive parent, and award winning author, Gayle Swift as she reads, The Blessing of Fatherhood.  

This is a previous edition originally broadcast in February 2020. Join adoption coaches and adoptive parents, Joann DiStefano and Susan David, as they discuss a few of the adoption myths that persist in our culture.   

Join hosts, adoption coaches and adoptive parents, Joann DiStefano and Susan David of Growing Intentional Families Together as they host special guest, author and adoption writer, Lori Holden for a discussion about the benefits of openness in adoption.   Lori's book The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption: Helping Your Child Grow Up Whole is on required reading lists at adoption agencies around the...

Adoptive parents and GIFT Family Services ' adoption coaches, Joann DiStefano and Susan David are joined by special guest, UK adoption coach and adoptee, Simon Benn . His work with children focuses on showing parents how to help their children be happy, build their children's confidence and strengthen their resilience. This is the 2nd part of a 2-part interview with Coach Simon and he'll share bot...

Join hosts, GIFT adoption coaches and adoptive parents, Joann DiStefano and Susan David, as they discuss the longing for all people to belong, especially our adoptive children. The saying is that we're all a little Irish on St. Patty's Day; it's both a call for merriment and to be part of the "in" crowd. While we nor our ancestors may not hail from the Emerald Isle, let's explore a few ways to hel...