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

Latest Episodes:

Is It Worth It To Apply For An Adoption Grant? - Weekend Wisdom Mar 31, 2024

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Question: My husband and I are seriously considering domestic infant adoption. In my research I have found grants are available for people who want to adopt. We make decent money, but do not want to spend all of our savings on adoption fees when we know expenses will only go up when we have a child. Will filling out applications for grants be a waste of time for us or will they consider us even though we make decent money?
Resources:

Affording Adoption (Resource page)
Adoption Tax Credit (Resource page)
Welcoming an Older Child to Your Family (Resource page)

This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them. Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:

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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 strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them.
Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:

Weekly podcasts
Weekly articles/blog posts
Resource pages on all aspects of family building

Protecting Our Kids From Sexual Exploitation Mar 27, 2024

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Foster youth or children who have been in the foster care system make up over 80% of children being sexually exploited. What can you do to prevent this from happening to your child? We talk with Audrey Morrissey, Co-Executive Director of My Life My Choice, a survivor-led nonprofit fighting sexual exploitation of youth.
In this episode, we cover:

What are some of the different forms that sexual exploitation can take?
What is included in sexual trafficking?
Internet exploitation.
How does grooming take place?
Are foster children disproportionately represented in the sexually exploited population?
Are children who have experienced trauma over represented?
Seeking love and connection.
Sexual exploit of boys?
What can parents do to protect their children?
What resources are available to parents and young people?

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Can I Breastfeed My Adopted Baby? - Weekend Wisdom Mar 24, 2024

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Question: I am a nurse and am very aware of the benefits of breast milk. I always imagined I would get breast milk from a milk bank if I adopted. Just recently, I read there aren’t many milk banks around, and they can have a supply issue and be very expensive. I then stumbled upon adoptive parents inducing lactation to feed their adopted baby. How common and easy is this? Is it successful? Does never being pregnant before and having small breasts have an effect?
Resources:

Breastfeeding the Adopted Child (Resource page)
Creating and Cultivating Attachment (Resource page)

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Getting a Diagnosis for Prenatal Alcohol or Drug Exposure Mar 20, 2024

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Do you think your child was exposed to alcohol or drugs during pregnancy? If so, a diagnosis can help your child access services and support. Check out this show with Dr. Yasmin Senturias, a developmental-behavioral pediatric specialist with 28 years of experience in developmental pediatrics and prenatal substance exposure. She worked with the American Academy of Pediatrics on developing their FASD Toolkit.
In this episode, we cover:

Prenatal Drug Exposure

Do the impacts differ depending on what drug the child was exposed to?
What’s the difference between Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) or Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome (NOWS).
Short-term impacts?
Is the impact less severe for legal drugs, such as nicotine and marijuana?
Is the impact less severe for legal medications used to treat substance abuse disorders in pregnant women?
What are the medical disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) or International Classification of Diseases (ICD) for prenatal drug exposure?
Do these diagnoses have to be made at birth?
What diagnosis is available if the child was exposed to drugs in utero but was not born dependent and didn’t go through withdrawal, and therefore did not have a diagnosis of NAS or NOWS in their medical record?
Do these diagnoses help the child and youth receive more services?
What type of doctor can make this diagnosis?

FASD:

It is estimated that 1% to 5% of children in the United States may have an FASD.
How common is drinking in pregnancy? (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data indicate that approximately 12% of pregnancies may have alcohol exposure.)
Is the severity of the impact on the child, youth, or adult directly correlated to the amount of alcohol the mother consumed when pregnant?
What are the actual diagnoses that exist on this spectrum of FASDs?
Explain the differences in these disorders.
Is one diagnosis better than another in terms of getting services and support for the child in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood?
Are these different disorders linear on the spectrum from lesser to greater life impacts?
Why is it important to get a diagnosis?
Is it possible to get a diagnosis without mom admitting to using alcohol or drugs during her pregnancy? What to do if the child’s record doesn’t reflect that the mom drank during pregnancy?
If you suspect or know that your child or youth was exposed to alcohol in utero, how can you get a diagnosis?
What are some common misdiagnoses that kids and adolescents with prenatal alcohol exposure may get?
What type of doctor can diagnose?
Do you need a referral from your pediatrician to get an appointment with a specialist?

Dual Exposure to Alcohol and Drugs

How common is the dual use of alcohol and drugs?
How can drugs and alcohol together affect the child both in infancy and throughout life?

Impact of Trauma

How does trauma interplay with prenatal substance exposure?

Resources:

American Academy of Pediatric Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders
The American Academy of Pediatrics FASD Toolkit was developed in coordination with the CDC to raise awareness, promote surveillance and screening, and ensure that all children who possibly have FASDs receive appropriate and timely interventions. Focused primarily on providers, it features basic information on FASD, diagnostic tools for use in children suspected of being affected, evidence-based interventions, and guidelines for case management/

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Teacher Doesn't Believe My Child Has Experienced Trauma - Weekend Wisdom Mar 17, 2024

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Question: We adopted our son at two, but we were his foster parents since he was three months. He is now in second grade and is really struggling in school both academically and with bad behaviors. His teacher is not open to hearing me talk about trauma and how his trauma is impacting his learning and behavior. I think she thinks that since he’s been with us for almost his entire life that he hasn’t had trauma. We seem to be getting nowhere with her. Do you have any suggestions for helping her understand that there may be a cause for his struggles other than just being bad?
We welcome our guest Sarah Naish, the CEO and Founder of the Centre of Excellence in Child Trauma in the UK to contribute to answering this question. Sarah is the adoptive parent of five siblings, a former Social Worker, and the author of many books on foster parenting, including The A-Z of Trauma-Informed Teaching.
Resources:

Helping Our Children Heal from Trauma (Resource page)
Parenting Kids with Challenging Behaviors (Resource page)
Back to School Resources

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Understanding and Overcoming Blocked Care Mar 13, 2024

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Are you struggling to feel connected to your child? Do you sometimes wish you could turn the clock back and not be parenting this child? If so, you need to listen to this interview with Melissa Corkum, adoptee, adoptive mom, and co-author of Reclaim Compassion: The Adoptive Parent’s Guide to Overcoming Blocked Care with Neuroscience and Faith.
In this episode, we cover:

What is blocked care, and how does it differ from blocked trust?
What is the attachment cycle?
What is the blocked care cycle?
Does it only happen when parenting children with more extreme behavior issues?
What causes a well-meaning parent not to be able to attach and bond with their adopted child?
Is it more common with kinship caregivers—especially non-grandparents?
What are the common emotions for parents who are experiencing blocked care?
Ten signs of blocked care. To take the free assessment.
What can we do about this feeling of not liking or loving our child? We’ll give some specific examples.
- Be kind to your body.
- Establish a healthy mindset.
- Surround yourself with life-giving people.
- Connect with your child.
Can the situation have gone too far?

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What to Ask For In Adoption Assistance When Adopting From Foster Care - Weekend Wisdom Mar 10, 2024

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Question: We are close to adopting two kids from foster care. Is there somewhere that shows the possible options for things we should ask for in adoption assistance? I don’t want to rely just on the child welfare office to hopefully tell us all the possible options.
Resources:

Josh Kroll, Adoption Subsidy Resource Center, Families Rising (Formerly NACAC)
- joshk@nacac.org
- 651-644-3036, extension 115
Foster Care Subsidies: What is Reasonable and How to Negotiate (On-Demand course on CreatingaFamilyEd.org)

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Evaluating Risk Factors in Domestic Adoption Mar 06, 2024

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Are you thinking about domestic infant adoption? This is an interview you must listen to! We talk with adoption medicine pediatrician, Dr. Todd Ochs, about common risk factors you should know about before adopting an infant.
In this episode, we cover:

Common Risk Factors in Domestic Infant Adoption
- Lack of prenatal care.
  - Why do expectant moms who are considering making an adoption plan often have limited prenatal care?
  - What is covered in prenatal care and how might a lack of prenatal care impact a baby?
- Prematurity
  - What causes a premature birth?
  - Poor prenatal care?
  - Are expectant moms who are considering making an adoption plan more likely to have a premature birth?
  - What are the risks with a premature birth based on the degree of prematurity?
- Prenatal exposure
  - Alcohol
    - What are some red flags that a mom might have abused alcohol during her pregnancy?
    - Does the degree of impact differ depending on when alcohol was consumed in the pregnancy?
    - What are the long- and short-term impacts of alcohol consumption on a child exposed prenatally?
    - Very often, you will not have a diagnosis of FASD and won’t be detected in the hospital post-natally.
    - Resources to help parents of a child exposed to alcohol. Creating a Family has a facilitated interactive training for foster, adoptive, and kinship parents to help recognize kids who may have been prenatally exposed to alcohol or drugs, and best practices for helping this child thrive, on-demand courses, and additional resources on the long- and short-term impacts of prenatal substance exposure – visit the Raising a Child with Prenatal Exposure for find more information.
  - Opioids
    - List of opioid drugs in increasing degree of strength
      - Codeine.
      - Hydrocodone (Vicodin, Hycodan)
      - Morphine (MS Contin, Kadian)
      - Oxycodone (Oxycontin, Percoset)
      - Hydromorphone (Dilaudid)
      - Heroin
      - Methadone, Suboxone
      - Fentanyl (Duragesic)
    - Does the degree of impact differ depending on when in the pregnancy the opioid was used?
    - Does the degree of long-term impact differ depending on whether the baby was born dependent or with a diagnosis of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome?
    - What are the long- and short-term impacts of opioid exposure on a child exposed prenatally?
    - Does the impact differ depending on what drug was involved or whether it was a legal or illegal drug?
- Methamphetamine
- Cocaine
- Marijuana
- Hallucinogens, including Ecstasy
Mental Health Issues
- What is the genetic connection for the following mental health disorders? How heritable are these mental illnesses?
  - Anxiety disorders, including panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and phobias.
  - Depression, bipolar disorder, and other mood disorders.
  - Personality disorders (antisocial, borderline, narcissistic, obsessive-compulsive)
  - Psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia
  - ADHD
- Autistic Spectrum Disorders
Legal Risk Factors
- Most often in domestic infant adoption, the primary legal risk factor is an unknown or unidentified birth father
- Controlled by state law
- Work with your agency or attorney to understand the risk and what must be done to reduce your risk.

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Dealing with the Emotional Roller Coaster of Trying to Adopt - Weekend Wisdom Mar 03, 2024

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Listener Response: 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:

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Building Resilience In Our Kids Feb 28, 2024

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Do you want to raise a child that can bounce back from all the hard stuff life throws at them? Join us to talk about this with Dr. Caroline Leaf, a communication pathologist and clinical and cognitive neuroscientist. She is the author of several books, including Switch on Your Brain, Think Learn Succeed, and How to Help Your Child Clean Up Their Mental Mess.
In this episode, we cover: