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

How in the world does an average family pay for an infant domestic adoption or international adoption? What options are available for financing adoptions? What grants and loans are available? Host Dawn Davenport will interview the following panel: Natalie De Prat, with American Christian Credit Union; Cherri Walrod, with Resources 4 Adoption; and Kelly Ellison, with Your Adoption Finance Coach. Domestic adoption, baby adoption, international adoption, adopting from China, adopting from Ethiopia, infant adoption, Chinese adoptions, Ethiopian adoptions, adopting from Korea, Korean adoptions, adoption agencies, adopting from DRC, adopting from Colombia, adopting from Thailand, adopting from Taiwan   Blog summary of the show and highlights can be found here:   Blog summary of the show   Highlights   More Creating a Family resources on paying for adoption can be found here. Support the show (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)

Fertility declines with age, but what can women do to increase the odds of getting pregnant over the age of 40 with or without using infertility treatment? Host Dawn Davenport, Executive Director of Creating a Family, the national infertility & adoption education organization, interviews Dr. Marcy Maquire, board certified reproductive endocrinologist with RMA of New Jersey, and Clinical Assistant Professor of Reproductive Endocrinology at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Blog summary of the show and highlights can be found here:   Blog summary of the show   Highlights   More Creating a Family resources on becoming an older parent can be found here. Support the show (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)

Host Dawn Davenport interviewed Dr. Ira Chasnoff, one of the nation's leading researchers studying the effects of maternal alcohol and drug use on the newborn infant and child. Blog summary of the show and highlights can be found here:   Blog summary of the show   Highlights   More Creating a Family resources on adoption can be found here. Support the show (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)

Children adopted from foster care or from an orphanage abroad have likely experienced some level of trauma from abuse, neglect, or malnutrition. What can adoptive parents do to help? Host Dawn Davenport will interview Dr. Bruce Perry, child psychiatrist and founder of Child Trauma Academy, and author of The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog. Dr. Perry has been consulted on how to help children involved with the following high profile incidents involving traumatized children such as the Branch Davidian siege in Waco (1993), the Oklahoma City bombing (1995), the Columbine school shootings (1999), the September 11th terrorist attacks (2001), Hurricane Katrina (2005), the FLDS polygamist sect (2008), the earthquake in Haiti (2010), the tsunami in Tohoku Japan (2011) and the Sandy Hook Elementary school shootings (2012).  foster care adoption, international adoption, special needs adoption, older child adoption, toddler adoption, orphan care Blog summary of the show and highlights can be found here:   Blog summary of

Raising children who have been abused or neglected is different from raising children who have not experienced trauma. Host Dawn Davenport will interview Dr. Karyn Purvis, author of The Connected Child and Director of the Institute of Child Development at Texas Christian University, about how abuse, neglect and institutionalization affects children in the short term and long term, and what parenting techniques work for these children from hard places. Blog summary of the show and highlights can be found here:   Blog summary of the show   Highlights   More Creating a Family resources on attachment can be found here. Support the show (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)

IVF and other infertility treatments are expensive and often not coverered by health insurance. Host Dawn Davenport talks with two pioneers in the field of fertility medicine about way and options to lower the cost of fertility treatments, including IVF. Dr. Joe Massey, a reproductive endocrinologist at Servy Massey Fertility Institute. He was involved with the first ICSI pregnancy in the US, the first US egg freezing in the US, and the world’s first successful assisted hatching procedures. Dr. Fran Yelian, a MD, PhD reproductive endocrinologist with Life IVF Center in Irvine, California. He specializes in minimal stimulation IVF and natural cycle IVF, as well as traditional infertility treatments. Recently, Dr. Yelian took a sabbatical leave to work at Kato Ladies Clinic in Japan where he mastered the new techniques and skills of Natural Cycle IVF and Minimal Stimulation IVF.  Blog summary of the show and highlights can be found here:   Blog summary of the show   Highlights   More Creating a Family reso

Is infertility experienced differently by the fertile partner in a relationship? Host Dawn Davenport will interview Dr. Andrea Braverman, a Clinical Associate Professor with a joint appointment in the Department of OB/Gyn and Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University.  Since 1985, Dr. Braverman has worked as a health psychologist with a specialty in infertility counseling, third party reproduction and medical health management issues. infertility, male infertility, egg donation, sperm donor, egg donor, adoption Blog summary of the show and highlights can be found here:   Blog summary of the show   Highlights    More Creating a Family resources on donor coping with infertility can be found here. Support the show (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)

Sometimes our adopted kids come to us from a history in their birth families or drug abuse, rape, incest, abuse, or prison. Should adoptive parents share this information with the adopted child? If so, how? Host Dawn Davenport will talk with Beth O'Malley, author of many books about preparing lifebooks for adopted and foster children,  including Lifebooks: Creating a Treasure for the Adopted Child; and Angela Magnuson, a licensed professional counselor with Bethany Christian Services with specialized adoption training through Rutger’s Certificate Program in Adoption and seven years experience working with foster, kinship and pre and post adoptive families. adoption, foster care adoption, international adoption, lifebooks, domestic adoption, adopting a baby Blog summary of the show and highlights can be found here:   Blog summary of the show   Highlights   More Creating a Family resources on lifebooks and parenting after adoption can be found here. Support the show (https://creatingafamily.org/donati

Adoptive parents are often asked to be present at the hospital in open adoptions. This emotional time is complex for both adoptive and birth parents to navigate and hospital staff often do not help. Host Dawn Davenport will speak with Dr. Jennifer Bliss, the National Associate Counseling Director at the Independent Adoption Center, a non-profit domestic infant adoption agency; and Rebecca Vahle, Adoption Program Coordinator and founder of the Family to Family Adoption Support Program at Parker Adventist Hospital in Parker, Co - just southeast of Denver. open adoption, domestic adoption, adopting a baby in the US, American adoption, adopting an infant, infant adoption. Blog summary of the show and highlights can be found here:   Blog summary of the show   Highlights   More Creating a Family resources on open adoption can be found here. Support the show (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)

How does your weight or Body Mass Index (BMI) affect your fertility. Does it alter your chances of success with infertility treatment. How does Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) affect fertility and infertility treatment. Host Dawn Davenport will interview Dr. Allison Styne, a reproductive endocrinologist with RMA New York. Blog summary of the show and highlights can be found here:   Blog summary of the show   Highlights   More Creating a Family resources on infertility and PCOS can be found here. Support the show (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)

Adoptive parents wanting to adopt a baby in the US must prepare an adoptive parent portfolio, also known as an adoptive parent profile. To learn more about how to prepare an adoptive parent profile, host Dawn Davenport interviewed Madeleine Melcher, an adoptee, mother of three through adoption, the owner of Our Journey to You (an adoption portfolio design company), and author of the new book How to Create a Successful Adoption Portfolio: Easy Steps to Help You Produce the Best Adoption Profile and Prospective Birthparent Letter; and Aki Parker, the National Marketing and Design Associate at the North Carolina branch of the Independent Adoption Center.  In addition to marketing/designing nationally, she has also worked with adoptive families providing consultation on their letters and online profiles. Blog summary of the show and highlights can be found here:   Blog summary of the show   Highlights   More Creating a Family resources on donor insemination can be found here. Support the show (https://creati

Should you adopt a child with cleft lip or cleft palate. What is involved with this special need? Host Dawn Davenport interviews four medical specialist working with chidlren with cleft lip/palate:  Dr. Andrea Smith a dentist specializing in dental and facial Prosthetics, in fact  she is one of only 350 Maxillofacial Prosthodontists worldwide. She is also Clinical Director at Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic in Lancaster Penn.  We also have Dr. Thomas Samson Pediatric Plastic Surgeon at Penn State Hershey Medical Center. Hi is co-director of the Penn State Hershey Craniofacial Clinic and the Penn State Hershey Vascular Anomalies Clinic. Abbie Ellis is a feeding specialist at the Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic. And of course no show on cleft impairment would be complete without a speech therapist. We are pleased to have Maureen Rostolsky, she has her Masters in Speech Pathology and specializes in working with children with cleft lip and palate at the Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic. Blog summary of the show and hi

How much of our personality traits, temperament, talents, health conditions, mental illness, and intelligence are controlled by our genes and how much by our environment? Which trumps in parenting: Nature vs. Nurture? What relevance does this have to us as parents? Host Dawn Davenport interviews Dr. Matt McGue, a behavioral and quantitative geneticist and director of the Minnesota Twin Study; and Dr. Kerry Jang, a Professor with the UBC Department of Psychiatry. Highlights of the show can be found here:   Highlights   More Creating a Family resources on nature vs. nurture can be found here. Support the show (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)

One of the hardest things many adoptive parents have to do is to decide if the risks or special needs of a particular birth mother match or referral are too great for them to handle. What are the likely effects of prenatal exposures to drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes? What if their is a history of mental illness in the birth parents family. What is the child has been in an orphanage for years? Host Dawn Davenport will interview Dr. Dana Johnson, Director of the International Adoption Clinic at the University of Minnesota and Professor of Neonatology, about what factor are red flags, what questions to ask, and how to interpret the scant medical history provided. Highlights of the show can be found here:   Highlights   More Creating a Family resources on adoption can be found here. Support the show (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)

Infertility patients worry about the wrong embryos being transferred; their egg, sperm or embryos being mislabled; the wrong sperm being used to fertilize the egg, etc. Mistakes are rare, but infertility patients need to be prepared. What should you know to protect yourself? Host Dawn Davenport will interview Dr Jacob F Mayer, Embryologist at the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology; Dr. Elizabeth Ginsburg, Past-President of the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, Associate Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at Harvard, and director of the IVF program at Brigham and Women's Hospital; and Jessica Berg, Professor of Law and Biomedical Ethics at Case Western Reserve University School of Law and Associate Director of the Law-Medicine Center. Highlights of the show can be found here:    Highlights   More Creating a Family resources on IVF labs can be found here. Support the show (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)

Raising a child with Attention Deficit Disorder is hard on kids and hard on parents. How to parent a child with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder to avoid frustration for both parent and child. Host Dawn Davenport interviews the ADHD guru, Dr. Edward Hallowell, author of numerous books on ADD, including SuperParenting for ADD and Driven to Distraction. We'll talk about parenting techniques that work with children with ADHD. Highlights of the show can be found here: Highlights   More Creating a Family resources on parenting children with special needs can be found here.   Support the show (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)

How can Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) be used to treat infertility. Can acupuncture and TCM be used with western infertility medicine and  in vitro fertilization (IVF)? Will the fertility medications you are taking interfere with the effectiveness of Traditional Chinese Medicine? Host Dawn Davenport interviewed Dr Angela C. Wu, author of Fertility Wisdom: How Traditional Chinese Medicine Can Help Overcome Infertility to get some of the answers. Highlights of the show can be found here:   Highlights   More Creating a Family resources on donor insemination can be found here. Support the show (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)

Should you have only one child? Is it fair to your child? Is it fair to you? Host Dawn Davenport will talk with Lauren Sandler, author of One and Only: The Freedom of Having an Only Child and the Joy of Being One. Blog summary of the show and highlights can be found here:   Blog summary of the show   Highlights   More Creating a Family resources on family size and type can be found here. Support the show (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)

What happens inside an embryology lab at an infertility clinic? How important is the laboratory to the success of IVF. How do labs differ? Host Dawn Davenport will talk with embryologist Scott Kratka, senior embryologist at the Reproductive Science Center of New Jersey and Board Certified by the  American College of Embryology. Blog summary of the show and highlights can be found here:   Blog summary of the show   Highlights   More Creating a Family resources on infertility treatments can be found here. Support the show (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)

Have you ever considered international adoption? Can you adopt from China, Korea, Taiwan, or Hong Kong? What are the requirements and how much does it cost? Host Dawn Our guests are Dana Woods, China Program Director at A Helping Hand Adoption Agency, located in Lexington, KY,  an affiliate of Nightlight Christian Adoptions; Kimberly Alls, Director of Adoption and the Waiting Child Coordinator for Dillon International; and Emily Mathews, Missouri Director of All Blessings International Adoption Agency.  Highlights of this show can be found here: Highlights For more information on adopting from Asia, click here. Support the show (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)