Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption, Foster & Kinship Care

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Does it feel like your adopted or foster child is sabotaging the holidays? Are there more tantrums, sullenness, and anxiety during the holiday season? In this episode, we explore why holidays are difficult for kids who have been exposed to trauma and what to do about it.  We talk with Rebeccca Robotham, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker at Beehive Counseling & We...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Is your child more challenging than most? Do typical parenting approaches not work? We talk about how to parent harder to parent kids with Dr. Ross Greene, the originator of the Collaborative & Proactive Solutions parenting model, a non-punitive, non-adversarial, trauma-informed model of care. Dr. Greene is a clinical psychologist, former Harvard professor, and t...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Should you consider adopting or fostering a child that is older than a child already in your family. Are there things you can do to make it easier for all the children. We talk with Teresa Bernu, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker at Adoption Center of Illinois, and Mark Lacava, LCSW and Chief Clinical Officer at Spence Chapin Services to Family and Children an Adopti...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Do you dread the teen years? Do you want to keep your kids little forever or go back to that sweet stage when they were still in footy pajamas? Listen to this fantastic interview with Dr. Ken Ginsburg to help you embrace the wonderful years between 11 and 20. Dr. Ginsburg is the Co-Founder and Director of Programs at the Center for Parent and Teen Communication and P...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! We talk about the 7 core issues in adoption and foster care with Allison Davis Maxon, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and co-author of Seven Core Issues in Adoption and Permanency: A Guide to Promoting Understanding and Healing in Adoption, Foster Care, Kinship Families and Third Party Reproduction . Support the show Please leave us a rating or review.  This...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Have you ever thought about international adoption. Are you terrified of having to decide what types of medical or emotional conditions you would accept. This is the show for you. We interview Dr. Judith Eckerle, Medical Director of the Adoption Medicine Clinic at the University of Minnesota to help demystify the common issues she sees in kids adopted from abroad. Sh...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! What are the causes and treatment for male infertility? What lifestyle factors impact fertility in men? We talk with Dr. Natan Bar Chama, Director of the Center of Male Reproductive Health at RMA of New York and a board-certified Urologist and Male Infertility Specialist; and Dr. Eleanor Stevenson, a Professor and Chair of Division of Women, Children and Families at...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! In this episode we talk about practical tips for disciplining while maintaining attachment with Amanda Purvis, a Training Specialist at the Karyn Purvis Center for Child Development, a social worker, and a mom of five. Support the show Please leave us a rating or review.  This podcast is produced by www. CreatingaFamily.org . We are a national non-profit with the mis...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! The world of adoption can be confusing. How do you adopt, what type of adoption is best, what is the cost, and how long does it take. Host Dawn Davenport, Executive Director of Creating a Family, the national adoption & foster care education and support nonprofit answers all of these questions and more. Support the show Please leave us a rating or review.  This p...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! What are some tried and true ways to afford adoption? We talk with Julie Gumm, author of “You Can Adopt Without Debt: Creative Ways to Cover the Cost of Adoption”.  In this episode we cover ways to find “extra” money that you can put towards your adoption, ideas for increasing your savings, and reasons to be cautious about asking for donations to pay for adoption. Su...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Learn more about popular medications used to treat infertility. We talk with Dr Alex Quaas, an associate physician with Reproductive Partners San Diego and a clinical assistant professor at the University of California San Diego, about the basics of infertility medications. Support the show Please leave us a rating or review.  This podcast is produced by www. Creatin...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Who are the expectant moms who place their baby for adoption? What factors influence their decision? We talk with Stephanie Rider, a birth mom who placed her daughter for adoption in 1997, and Chantilly Wijayasinha MSW, MPH, and the Supervisor of the Domestic Adoption Program at Vista Del Mar Child & Family Services. Support the show Please leave us a rating or r...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Adding a child to your family changes the dynamics for everyone, but most especially for the children who are already in the home.  We talked with Gail Heaton, the biological mother to five children and an adoptive mother to twins. She is a Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) practitioner and Circle of Security Parenting facilitator. She founded Suddenly Sibli...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! What are some behaviors that are typical of children adopted internationally? How can parents help their children overcome these behaviors. We talked with Leah Strom, a social worker who has worked in the Child Welfare community for nearly 20 years. She is the Director of Social Work for International and Domestic adoption at Children’s Home Society & LSS of Minn...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Everything you ever needed to know (but where afraid to ask) about female fertility. We talk with Dr. Julie Lamb, a board-certified reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist at Pacific NW Fertility in Seattle who also serves as a clinical faculty at the University of Washington. Support the show Please leave us a rating or review.  This podcast is produ...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! What must you know about pre-implantation genetic testing when going through IVF and should you consider it? We talk with Rachael Cabey, a Licensed Certified Genetic Counselor and a lead laboratory genetic counselor for Cooper Genomics and Jenna Miller, a Licensed Certified Genetic Counselor and a clinical science liaison for Cooper Genomics. Jenna travels around the...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! What are the common risk factors when adopting a baby in the US and how can adoptive parents evaluate these risks when considering an adoption match. We talk with Dr. Dana Johnson, a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota where he co-founded the Adoption Medicine Program in 1986. Over the course of his career, he has reviewed the medical records of ov...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! How does prenatal exposure to alcohol damage the brain of the developing fetus? What type of behaviors are typical from children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)? What parenting techniques are effective for helping a child with FASD reach their full potential? We talk with Suzanne Emery, a Nurse Practitioner and Program Director at FASCETS (Fetal Alcohol S...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! How can parents help their transracially adopted child transition to college and why can this transition be hard for both teen and parents. We talk with Dr. Amanda Baden, a Professor in the Counselor Education Program at Montclair State University. She is an active researcher and currently leads their Adoption Research Team. She is also a transracial adoptee. Support...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! The next step in understanding Trust-Based Relational Intervention is the new book, The Connected Parent , by Dr. Karyn Purvis and Lisa Qualls, with great assistance from Emmelie Pickett. We interview Lisa and Emmelie for this episode. Support the show Please leave us a rating or review.  This podcast is produced by www. CreatingaFamily.org . We are a national non-pr...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Adopting or fostering siblings presents advantages to both the children and parents, but also presents unique challenges that parents should be prepared for. We talk with Erin Q. Nasmyth, LCSW specializing in adoption, and Executive Director of Adoption Support Alliance. Support the show Please leave us a rating or review.  This podcast is produced by www. CreatingaF...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Should you consider adopting a child with Down syndrome? What medical, behavioral, and emotional issues may accompany this genetic disorder. We talk with Dr. Emily Jean Davidson, Down Syndrome Program at Boston Children’s Hospital and Assistant Professor in Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School. Support the show Please leave us a rating or review.  This podcast is produ...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! How can white parents raise anti-racist children in this time of violence against people of color and protests. We talk with Dr. Ann Hazzard, a clinical child psychologist who was on the faculty at Emory University in Atlanta and co-author of Something Happened in Our Town:  A Child's Story about Racial Injustice; and Dr. Joy Harris, a Full-time Lecturer at Prin...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! How does home insemination with donor sperm differ from intrauterine insemination? Who should consider this option and how do you do home insemination? We spoke with Corey Burke, the Executive Vice President of Cryos International Sperm & Egg Bank​. He answered common questions and walked us through an overview of the process, including discussions about the bene...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Kinship parenting provides both joy and challenges. Grandparents and other relatives raising their grandkids, nieces, nephews and cousins face unique issues which we discuss with Robin Sizemore, the Director of Hopscotch Adoptions, which specializes in international kinship adoptions; and Jeanette Willis, the Executive Director of Advantage Adoptions - One Church One...