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

Latest Episodes:

Adoption Microaggressions Parents Need to Know About Mar 30, 2022

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What are the microaggressions or stigmas in the world of adoption and how do they impact adoptees, birth parents, and adoptive parents? We talk with Dr. Amanda Baden, a Professor and the Doctoral Program Director at Montclair State University in the graduate counseling program and a licensed psychologist in private practice in Manhattan. She is an adult adoptee from Hong Kong and an adoptive parent of a daughter from China.
In this episode, we cover:

What are microaggessions in general and how do they apply to adoption?
These microaggressions apply to all members of the adoption kinship network (adoptees; adoptive parents, grandparents, siblings; first/birth parents/grandparents).
Where do some of the unconscious attitudes and stigmas toward adoption come from?
Common microaggression themes for adoptees:
- biology is best/normative is based upon the belief that biological ties are superior, more permanent, and more authentic than ties formed through adoption or foster care
- bad seed adoptees or damaged goods
- grateful adoptees, a third theme, refers to the idea of adoptees as both lucky and privileged to have been adopted
- cultural limbo and invalidation of heritage
What are some of the microagressions against birth parents?
What are some of the microaggressions against adoptive parents?
Lack of intent to hurt.
How can microsaggressions impact the mental health?

Danger of a Single Story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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

Stop Managing Behavior and Start Raising Joyful, Resilient Kids Mar 23, 2022

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How can we raise joyful resilient kids? We talk with Dr. Mona Delahooke, a clinical child psychologist and the author of Brain-Body Parenting: How to Stop Managing Behavior and Start Raising Joyful, Resilient Kids.

In this episode, we cover:

“Too often we are focused on the child’s behavior instead of the child. We are concerned about solving problems rather than cultivating the relationship.”
A child’s behavior is a clue for us parents to understand what is going on inside the child.
No one-size fits all approach to child rearing. What’s most important isn’t the rules, but the child. We must understand how our parenting is landing on our child. Personalize our parenting.
Three pathways to the mind-body platform.
Body budgeting.
The distinction between behaviors that seems to be defensive but are actually protective.
How do you approach tantrums in a preschooler?
How to co-regulate with our child and why?
How to build resiliency in our children?

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

Please leave us a rating or review RateThisPodcast.com/creatingafamily

Support the show

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Parenting Kids with Prenatal Exposure (Part 2): Transistioning into Adolescence and Adulthood Mar 16, 2022

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The impact of prenatal exposures to alcohol and drugs is not something that kids outgrow and the transition into adolescence and adulthood can be particularly tricky. We talk about this transition with Kathy Hotelling, a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders and is the co-founder of NCFASDInformed.org. She is also the mother to a 27 year old with FASD.
In this episode, we cover:

Tell us a bit about your story as the mother of a child with FASD.
Does the impact and symptoms of prenatal exposure to alcohol change as the child ages?
Are the impacts different depending on whether the child has been exposed prenatally to alcohol or other drugs, such as opiates, methamphetamines, marijuana, etc?
We talk about the primary impacts of FASD and prenatal drug exposure and the secondary impacts? Give us some examples?
How can parents help prevent some of the secondary impacts?
How does puberty impact children with prenatal exposure?
How does your parenting need to change as your prenatally exposed child reaches adolescence and adulthood?
How to prepare your child to launch into adulthood?
What resources are available to help parents navigate this journey?
Often times adoptive, foster, and kinship parents do not know for certainty that their child was exposed prenatally to alcohol and drugs. How should they proceed?
Is it important to have your child officially diagnosed with FASD?
How do you get your child diagnosed?
What is the Registry of Unmet Needs or the Medicaid Waiver list and how do you get your child on this registry or list?
FASD Respect Act- how can people advocate?

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Parenting Kids with Prenatal Exposure (Part 1): Practical Tips Mar 09, 2022

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Do you suspect (or know) that your child was exposed to alcohol or drugs during pregnancy? We discuss tips for how to best work with these children with Dr. Robin Gurwitch, a professor at Duke University's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Center for Child and Family Health.
In this episode, we cover:

How does prenatal exposure to alcohol or drugs affect children at different ages?
Oftentimes adoptive, foster, and kinship families may not know specifically if their child was exposed in pregnancy to alcohol or drugs? How can a parent determine if their child was prenatally exposed?
What are some of the more common signs, symptoms, and behaviors a parent might see at different ages?
- Birth to age five
- Elementary age
- Tweens and adolescence
- Young adults
Parents, teachers, and other adults working with these children often don’t think about prenatal exposure because of the lag in time between the exposure and when the more disruptive symptoms appear. At what age do you see parents and kids beginning to struggle more?
What are some of the common misdiagnoses that these children receive?
How do the attention and focus issues common with kids who have been exposed to alcohol and drugs differ from ADHD? Is ADHD medication effective to improve attention in prenatally exposed kids?
Is it common for children with prenatal exposure to be uneven in their abilities? For example, average to above average in verbal skills but substantially below average in other areas.
What do we mean by “executive function” or “higher level thinking skills” and how does prenatal exposure to alcohol and drugs impact this?
We hear from parents that one of the most frustrating symptoms is not being able to learn from their mistakes. Doing the same thing even though they have been told not to. Not learning from cause and effect. Is this common with kids who have been exposed to alcohol and drugs during gestation?
What are some practical tips for working with kids with prenatal exposure to help them thrive at home and at school?

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Understanding and Preventing Miscarriage and Recurrent Pregnancy Loss Mar 02, 2022

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What causes miscarriage and recurrent pregnancy loss? What is the best treatment and what are the controversies in the diagnosing and treating of miscarriage? In this episode, we talked with Dr. Lora Shahine, Reproductive Endocrinologist and Director of the Recurrent Pregnancy Program at Pacific NW Fertility and clinical faculty at the University of Washington in Seattle, and author of the book Not Broken: An Approachable Guide to Miscarriage and Recurrent Pregnancy Loss.
In this episode, we cover:

What is miscarriage? What other names do medical professionals use?
- Does the name change depending upon when in the pregnancy it occurs?
- What is a biochemical pregnancy and is it a “miscarriage”?
- When does miscarriage become “recurrent pregnancy loss”?
- How common are miscarriages? How common is recurrent pregnancy loss?
- Who should you see?
- What is the role of the male in miscarriage and recurrent pregnancy loss?
Common causes and treatment
- What are the common causes for first trimester miscarriage?
- What are the common causes for recurrent pregnancy loss?
- How to diagnosis the cause of recurrent pregnancy loss?
- How to treat/prevent recurrent pregnancy loss?
- What should patients do to reduce their chance of a miscarriage?
Understanding the controversies in treatment of recurrent pregnancy loss.
- Inherited Thrombophilia
- Methylene Tetrahydrofolate Reductase (MTHFR)-how our body processes folate
- Luteal Phase Defect and progesterone treatment
- Infection
- Thyroid
- Immune system & immune treatment for RPL
- Aspirin treatment
- IVF as treatment for recurrent pregnancy loss

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How to Choose an Adoption Competent Therapist Feb 23, 2022

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Have you or your child faced adoption related struggles? Do you think therapy might be helpful? We discuss how to find and choose an adoption competent therapist with Kelly Raudenbush, a child and family therapist and the director of Sparrow Counseling, providing specialized therapeutic services for foster and adopted children and their families.
In this episode, we cover:

What type of professional can provide therapy?
What’s the difference between being adoption competent and adoption informed?
Why is competency in adoption issues important?
What do we mean be an “adoption competent therapist”? What makes a therapist adoption informed?
Is adoption competence the same as trauma competence?
How can you tell if a therapist is competent to handle adoption issues? Are there specific trainings that provide adoption competency?
Creating a Family provides a list of ways to find an adoption competent therapist on our Adoption Therapy section.
How to find a therapist with lived experience of being adopted?
Is one type of therapeutic model of treatment more effective for adoptive children and families? Theraplay, Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI), Narrative therapy, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)
Should therapy with adopted kids on adoption issues involve just the child, or the child and the parent?
How can a parent determine if the therapist is a good fit for the child and family? What questions should they ask?
What is home-based therapy and what are the advantages to this type of therapy for adoptive and foster families.
How can you find a therapist that will provide therapy within the home? (One source is http://www.familycenteredtreatment.org/)
Is therapy via tele-health or via teleconferencing as effective for adoptive families? How to know if it will work for your family? Ways to make it more effective.
When to seek a therapist?

Resources:

Creating a Family’s Adoption Therapy section
A Guide to Selecting an Adoption or Foster Therapist
10 Reasons for Parents to be in Child’s Therapy Session

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Shifting Realities in Adoption and Foster Care in 2022 Feb 16, 2022

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How is adoption and fostering changing? We talk with April Dinwoodie, a transracial adoptee and thought leader in the field of adoption. She is host of two podcasts: Navigating Adoption and Born in June, Raised in April: What Adoption Can Teach the World!
In this episode, we cover:

What are some of the shifting realities that you see in adoption?
Decline in international adoptions.
What do you see happening with domestic infant adoptions?
Increase importance on openness.
What can adoption teach the world?

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Adoption Options in 2022 Feb 09, 2022

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Are you thinking about adopting? Today we will talk about Adoption Options in 2022. This is the first of a two-part series on What is Happening in Adoptions. We will talk with Jackie Zerbe, Domestic Adoption Supervisor with Vista Del Mar Adoption Agency, Debora Phillips, founding CEO of Children’s Connections, Inc., and Viviane Martini, Family Coordinator with Hopscotch Adoptions, an international adoption agency.
In this episode, we cover:

What is happening with domestic infant adoption in the US?
What is happening with adoptions from foster care?
What is happening with international adoptions?
How has the pandemic impacted adopting in the US?
What are some of the shifts in adoption in the last 5 or so years?
What are some of the changes you anticipate for 2022 and beyond?

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Benefits of Acupuncture and Eastern Medicine for Infertility Patients Feb 02, 2022

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Have you ever thought about using acupuncture or herbal medicine to improve your fertility or treat your infertility? We talk with Dr. Mike Berkley, a New York State licensed acupuncturist and board-certified acupuncturist and practitioner of herbal medicine by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. He is also a member of The American Board of Oriental Reproductive Medicine.
In this episode, we cover:

What are the principles of acupuncture? How does it work?
How does acupuncture differ from Herbal Medicine or Traditional Chinese Medicine?
- Do they have to be used together?
Can acupuncture and/or Chinese Medicine be used in conjunction with Western infertility medicine and IVF?
Is there western research that supports the benefits of acupuncture and Herbal Medicine for the treatment of infertility or is western style research not relevant to the discussion of acupuncture and Eastern Medicine?
Can acupuncture increase the blood flow to the uterus and ovaries?
Can acupuncture and Herbal Medicine be used to treat PCOS? What results are seen?
How does acupuncture and Herbal Medicine impact endometriosis?
One of the most common reasons for female infertility is advanced maternal age. How can acupuncture and Herbal Medicine impact the diminution of ovarian reserves and egg quality?
Can acupuncture reduce stress?
- Is acupuncture more effective than other stress reduction techniques such as exercise, yoga, meditation or prayer, massage?
Many women, men, and couples will not have a firm diagnosis of why they are not getting pregnant. Is acupuncture and Herbal Medicine effective for unexplained infertility?
Male infertility is the cause of approximately 1/3 of infertility. How successful is acupuncture or Herbal Medicine in the treatment of male infertility?

Get more information at The Berkley Center at www.berkleycenter.com.

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

Weekly podcasts
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Please leave us a rating or review RateThisPodcast.com/creatingafamily

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Setting Up Effective Kinship Navigator Programs Jan 26, 2022

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Do you serve kinship families and are wondering how to best to meet their needs? We talk about kinship navigator programs with Stephanie Perkowski is a Social Worker and Policy Analyst at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago; Julia Donovan, the Program Director of Ohio’s statewide Kinship and Adoption Navigator program, OhioKAN; and Tia-Maria Smith, the Program Director for Pennsylvania KinConnector which helps informal and formal kinship families find the information, resources, and emotional support they need.
In this episode, we cover: