Creating A Family: Talk About Infertility, Adoption & Foster Care

Do you know how the legal process of adoption works? How do you get an original birth certificate? How do you get a social security number for your adopted child? We talk with Brinton Wright, an adoption attorney and Fellow in the Academy of Adoption & Assisted Reproduction Attorneys about the legal and social implications of adoption.In this episode, we cover:Different types of adoption.The difference between voluntary and involuntary termination of parental rights.What is meant by a "legal risk" adoption.What is meant by open adoption.Support the show (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)

We talk about Coping with the Stress of Infertility with Dr. Tonya Wood, a clinical psychologist specializing in family planning,  pregnancy loss and infertility. She is the Director of Clinical Training at Pepperdine University and is 2020 President of the California Psychological Association.In this episode, we cover:Why is infertility so stressful?What are the losses women experience when they realize that either they or their partner is infertile?What are the losses men experience when either they or their partner is infertile?Why do some patients feel shame or guilt surrounding their infertility?What is ambiguous loss and why is that type of loss more stressful?How can infertility impact marriages and partnerships?How do men and women deal with the stress of infertility in different ways?What are healthy techniques to deal with the stress of infertility?Importance of not postponing life while in infertility treatment.Should patients share that they are infertile with others?What are some of the cultural,

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.Talking with your adopted or foster child about the hard parts of their story can feel like a daunting task.  Should you tell your child that her birth father is in jail or that her birth mother is addicted to drugs, or that she was conceived by rape? If so, how in the world do you share this news. We talk with Lesli Johnson, an EMDR therapist who specializes in adoption and foster care and an adult adoptee; and Susan Myers, a licensed Master Social Worker with Adoptions from the Heart Adoption Agency with offices throughout the northeast.In this episode, we cover:1.     Adopted and foster children often come to us with hard back stories: his birth parents are in jail, her birth mother used drugs or drank alcohol when she was pregnant, he was conceived via rape, siblings were kept by first family, it’s not known where siblings are, her first mother abused him, his birth father abused his mother, her first parents are addicted to drugs or alcoho

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.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 & Wellness in Connecticut. She is also an adoptee and former foster child.In this episode, we cover:There are many sources of trauma for children, and many adopted and foster children have experienced trauma before they come to our homes. Trauma can include neglect, prenatal exposure, abuse, domestic violence, and the actual act of being removed from your parents.How can trauma impact children both physically and emotionally?What is it about the holidays that makes it hard for kids with trauma? (change in routine, lots of people, bringing up memories, over-stimulation, change in diet, d

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 the author The Explosive Child and Raising Human Beings.Support the showPlease leave us a rating or review RateThisPodcast.com/creatingafamily

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.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 Adoption organization in NYC.Support the showPlease 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

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.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 Professor of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He is the author of 5 award-winning books including: Building Resilience in Children and Teens: Giving Kids Roots and Wings.Support the showPlease 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

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.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 showPlease 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

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. She is also an adult transracial international adoptee.Support the show (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)

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 the Duke University School of Nursing where she focuses her scholarship on improving the emotional and informational needs of men experiencing infertility. She is the co-founder of All about Fertility, a website providing resources on male infertility.Support the show (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)

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 (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)

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 (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)

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.Support the show (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)

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 (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.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 showPlease 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

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 Siblings™ to help parents prepare their children already in the home when a family adopts or fosters.   We also talked with Molly Heaton, an adult resident sibling, and a big sister for 15 years to Russian-born, orphanage-raised, twin adoptive brothers with special needs due to early trauma.Support the show (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.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 Minnesota.Support the showPlease 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

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.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 showPlease 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

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.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 US educating clinicians about genomics and genomic testing.Support the showPlease 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

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 over 20,000 children and counseled potential adoptive parents on the likely medical needs of these adoptees. He is a dad by both birth and adoption.Support the show (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)