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

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Question:  An aspect of adopting that we didn’t hear about was how your mental health is challenged throughout the process. It’s a roller coaster of emotions, and this isn’t discussed as often as organic issues such as drug or alcohol use. Resources: Creating a Family Online Support Group Adoption Process & Important Considerations Self-Care for Parents and Careg...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Are you considering adoption this year but concerned about how to swing the cost? Join us for a practical conversation about managing the expenses of adoption with Ryan Hanlon, PhD, former president of the National Council for Adoption, an adoption advocacy organization dedicated to research, education, and policy in the service of all members of the adoption communi...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Question:  How do you deal with the emotions of not being able to adopt or foster because your husband doesn't share the desire? Resources: A Reluctant Spouse: When Only One Partner Wants to Adopt I Want to Adopt. My Partner Does Not. Creating a Family Online Support Group Support the show Please leave us a rating or review.  This podcast is produced by www. Cre...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Are you considering adoption to create your family this year? We’ve got answers to all (or most) of your questions. Join our discussion with Molly Berger, MSW, who has been with the Adoption Center of Illinois for 12 years as an adoption social worker. She counts it an honor to work with adoptive families and expectant parents. In this episode, we discuss: Part 1: Do...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Question:  Hello, thank you sincerely for your podcast and the work you do. It has helped me feel less alone and allowed me to better navigate foster parenting and adopting from foster care. My husband and I have two amazing boys; they have the same bio mom, and two older siblings each in a different family. Our youngest is 5. We met when he was 3 months. Our oldest...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Join us to learn about family rituals—how to create and why they can help build strong families. Our guest will be Elizabeth Barbour, the author of a new book, Sacred Celebrations: Designing Rituals to Navigate Life’s Milestone Transitions . She’s also a reunited adoptee and an adoptive mom. In this episode, we discuss: Why are rituals important for families?  Define...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Question: We have been matched with an expectant mom due in a couple of months. She is having twins. As we are preparing for the next steps, sleep training has come up frequently in newborn care books. What research is there on the cry-it-out method or other popular sleep training methods in relation to adopted children? We want to make sure they know their needs wil...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Are you looking for practical ways to build your child's resilience and sense of safety, and to strengthen your family's connectedness? Listen to this conversation with Ginger Healy, MSW, LCSW, director of programs for the Attachment & Trauma Network and host of the podcast “Regulated and Relational.” Ginger speaks across the nation on trauma-informed s...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Question: I would love to hear about family profiles for adopting older teens.  Resources: Adopting a Child of a Different Race or Culture Adopting Older Kids Evaluating Risk Factors in Foster Care Adoption 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 mission to stre...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! What is it like to be the only biological child in a large transracial adoptive family? Our guest, Elaine Duncan, shares her story of how transcultural adoption impacted her identity and resilience. She is a writer, speaker, and strategist whose work bridges storytelling, healing, and social change. She has a passion for improving outcomes for underserved young peopl...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Question:  I have a friend whose 12-year-old adopted son (adopted at age 6) has been sexually abusing his younger siblings. She self-reported to CPS and law enforcement,  but they have not done a formal removal yet, and their solutions involved bringing the child back home or kinship (not an option).  The offending child is currently in a temporary behavioral hospita...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! We're thrilled to introduce you to our new Executive Director, Linda Fiore. Listen to today's conversation about her journey to Creating a Family and where we're heading in this next chapter under her leadership. In this episode, we discuss: What first brought you into the world of adoption, foster care, and kinship care? When you started out, what was...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Question: Help for a youth dealing with being bullied because they are in foster care? Resources: 5 Steps to Effectively Advocate for a Child Who is Being Bullied Are Transracial Adoptees More Likely to Be Bullied? Helping Our Kids Cope with Bullies at School StopBullying.gov Support the show Please leave us a rating or review.  This podcast is produced by www. Creat...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Do you feel like raising a child with a history of trauma has stirred up your own traumatic past? If you wonder how to parent from a position of healing, listen to this conversation with Dr. Robyn Koslowitz. She is a psychologist, trauma expert, and author of the new book, Post-Traumatic Parenting: Break the Cycle, Become the Parent You Always Wanted to Be . In this...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Question: I have been fostering our grandchild since March. It is now almost September. Both biological parents had drug addiction. Bio mom was on a trial home visit, but used this as the reason our grandchild is with us. After the trial home visit ended, bio mom was still getting supervised visits 2x a week. After every visit, the little one was dysregulated and sta...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Join us for a fun and inspiring conversation with Emily Cole, co-founder and co-owner of Banana Ball, the new sports phenomenon sweeping the country. We're talking with her about Bananas Foster , their non-profit that celebrates foster families all around the nation. In this episode, we talk about: Please tell us the story of how Bananas Foster got started. What...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Question: Do you have trainings for children transitioning from foster care to adoption? Resources: Transitioning a Child to Your Home Welcoming an Older Child to Your Family Helping Your Child Transition Smoothly from Foster Care to Adoption Using Lifebooks to Explain Complex Issues in Adoption to Kids Books about being adopted from foster care Support the show Plea...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Do you sometimes feel that self-care is an impossible goal when you are parenting kids who have experienced trauma? There isn’t enough time in the day to do it all, much less take care of yourself. Or is there? Join us to talk about how to find time to take care of yourself. We will talk with Angelica Jones, MSW, Program Director of Intercountry Services and the Inte...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Question:  We adopted our son at birth, and he is about to turn one already. I deeply care about his birth parents and have tried very hard to maintain a relationship with them. Even during many months of no contact, I think about them every day. Our only post-placement visit with them was at 2 1/2 months. They have no-showed for all the other visits they asked for,...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Why do our kids melt down, act out, or regress during the holiday season? Listen to our conversation with Dr. David Adams to learn what is going on and what you can do about it to make this holiday season more enjoyable for you all. He is an adoptive and foster dad, a licensed psychologist, and a licensed professional counselor. He is the Founding Director and Presid...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Question : My adoptive child was contacted by the birth mother, never contacted us, it has caused chaos in our family. The parents that adopt kids are never considered after raising a child for over 20 years to give them back.  Resources: Adoptive Mom Feels Left Out at Son’s Reunion with Birth Mother What You Need to Know about Open Adoption 5 Tips for Navigating Sti...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! How do you handle sleep struggles when raising a child who has been impacted by trauma, prenatal substance exposure, or other challenges? Listen to our conversation with Dr. Chris Winter, a sleep researcher and neurologist who has practiced sleep medicine and neurology since 2004. He is also the author of The Rested Child: Why Your Tired, Wired or Irritable Child May...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Question:  How should I deal with an adoptive child with a people-pleasing personality? I want to prevent the anxiety that comes with that, but I'm not sure how.  Resources: 6 Tips for Creating Attachment How to Cultivate Resilience in Your Kids 7 Character Traits Your Kids Need to Thrive Signs Your Child Might Be People Pleasing and How to Help Support the show...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! How do you manage daily expenses and budgeting when you are a foster or kinship caregiving family? We speak with Nicole Valenzuela, a foster parent and founder of Fostering Finances , to learn about simplified budgeting practices and healthy mindsets for managing money. In this episode, we discuss: What are the financial challenges that foster and kinship families co...

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks! Question : My husband and I are considering whether we will open our special needs consideration to include children who are HIV+. We have already been approved to adopt from India, and as our home study update approaches, we are taking a good, hard look at the Special Needs list again. I was listening to your podcast episode on this topic from 2013 and wondered if t...