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

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.Is it possible to control or improve Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) with diet and lifestyle changes? What is PCOS? How is PCOS related to diabetes? How to improve your fertility when you have PCOS. Host Dawn Davenport, Executive Director of Creating a Family, the national infertility & adoption education and support nonprofit, interviews Hillary Wright and Dr. Sunita Kulshrestha. Hillary Wright is a registered dietitian and Director of Nutrition Counseling for the Domar Center for Mind Body Health at Boston IVF in Boston, MA.  She is also the author of The PCOS Diet Plan: A Natural Approach to Health for Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, and The Prediabetes Diet Plan: How to Reverse Prediabetes and Prevent Diabetes through Healthy Eating and Exercise. Dr. Dr. Sunita Kulshrestha is a board certified Reproductive Endocrinologist with Shady Grove Fertility in Pennsylvania. For a discussion of this show, go to our blog tomorrow http:/

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.Infertility treatment is expensive. How can an average person afford to pay? Health insurance can be used to pay for some parts of treatment and clinic affordability programs, such as shared cycles and multi-cylce plans, can bring down the cost of fertility treatment. Host Dawn Davenport, Executive Director of Creating a Family, the national infertility & adoption education and support nonprofit, interviews Davina Fankhauser, Co-founder and President of Fertility Within Reach, and an expert on policy related to benefits for fertility treatment and preservation. For a discussion of this show, go to our blog tomorrow http://creatingafamily.org/blog/.  Creating a Family has many free resources related to this topic on our website at www.CreatingaFamily.org.  If you enjoyed this show, we would very much appreciate you leaving us a review on iTunes. Either go to this website (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id266386337) or if you have iT

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.There are many children over 10 waiting to be adopted in US foster care, as well in orphanages throughout the world. Are you the family to adopt them? What special issues do families face when adopting a tween/teen.  Host Dawn Davenport, Executive Director of Creating a Family, the national infertility & adoption education and support nonprofit, interviews Mark Lacava, adoption therapist with the Modern Family Center at Spence-Chapin Adoption Services. For a discussion of this show, go to our blog on June 4, 2015 http://creatingafamily.org/blog/.  Creating a Family has many free resources related to this topic on our website at www.CreatingaFamily.org.  If you enjoyed this show, we would very much appreciate you leaving us a review on iTunes. Either go to this website (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id266386337) or if you have iTunes on your phone, tablet or computer, simply type in "Creating a Family", click on Ratings/R

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.What matters most in shaping who we and our children will be--their genes or their environment?  Host Dawn Davenport, Executive Director of Creating a Family, the national infertility & adoption education and support organization, interviews Dr. Danielle Posthuma, Head of Department of Complex Trait Genetics at the Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research at the Neuroscience Campus in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and co-investigator for a recently released study on what twin studies have shown about nature vs. nurture.  For a discussion of this show, go to our blog May 28, 2015 at  http://creatingafamily.org/blog/.  Creating a Family has many free resources related to this topic on our website at www.CreatingaFamily.org.  If you enjoyed this show, we would very much appreciate you leaving us a review on iTunes. Either go to this website (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id266386337) or if you have iTunes on your phone, tablet o

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. We tell people that they should use the CDC or SART Infertility Clinic Success Statistics when choosing a fertility clinic, but we often fail to tell people how to interpret these statistics. Which ones are important and which ones can we ignore?  Host Dawn Davenport, Executive Director of Creating a Family, the national infertility & adoption education and support organization, interviews Dr. David Ball, Embryology Lab Director at Seattle Reproductive Medicine and Past President of the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology. For a discussion of this show, go to our blog tomorrow http://creatingafamily.org/blog/.  Creating a Family has many free resources related to this topic on our website at www.CreatingaFamily.org.  If you enjoyed this show, we would very much appreciate you leaving us a review on iTunes. Either go to this website (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id266386337) or if you have iTunes on your phone, t

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.How are the children and parents in alternative/non-traditional families doing? Families through IVF and donor conception, as well as single moms by choice and same sex families are increasing, but how are they doing, and how are the children developing? Are these new family forms harmful to children?  Host Dawn Davenport, Executive Director of Creating a Family, the national infertility & adoption education and support organization, interviews world renowned expert on new family structures, Dr. Susan Golombok, Director of the Centre for Family Research at the University of Cambridge, in Cambridge, England. For a discussion of this show, go to our blog tomorrow http://creatingafamily.org/blog/.  Creating a Family has many free resources related to this topic on our website at www.CreatingaFamily.org.  Show Highlights If you enjoyed this show, we would very much appreciate you leaving us a review on iTunes. Either go to this website (ht

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.What issues should families consider when adopting or fostering a child that may have been sexually abused? What are warning signs of past sexual abuse? How can these children be helped while not endangering children already in the home.  Host Dawn Davenport, Executive Director of Creating a Family, the national infertility & adoption education and support organization, interviews Dr. Jennifer Shaw, a clinical psychologist at the Gil Institute for Trauma Recovery and Education in Fairfax, Virginia. Dr. Shaw specializes in play therapy and therapy with children and teens who have experienced early trauma, including sexual abuse. Show Highlights For a discussion of this show, go to our blog Monday, May 11, 2015. http://creatingafamily.org/blog/.  Creating a Family has many free resources related to this topic on our website at www.CreatingaFamily.org.  If you enjoyed this show, we would very much appreciate you leaving us a review on iTu

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.It is possible to do an independent adoption without using an adoption agency.  Host Dawn Davenport, Executive Director of Creating a Family, the national infertility & adoption education and support organization, interviews two of the top adoption attorneys that facilitate independent adoptions in the US: Steven M. Kirsh and Mark McDermott. Creating a Family has thousands of free resources related to this topic on our website at www.CreatingaFamily.org.  If you enjoyed this show, we would very much appreciate you leaving us a review on iTunes. It only takes a moment and it really helps others find us. Thanks. 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 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 strength

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.What should every fertility patient know about embryology labs before going through treatment. Host Dawn Davenport, Executive Director of Creating a Family, the national infertility & adoption education and support organization, interviews two of the leading embryologist to find out what patients should know and what advances are on the horizon to improve success rates. Dr. Marie D. Werner, a fellow in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Rutgers, Reproductive Medicine Associates of NJ where she has completed an intensive 6 month embryology training program.  Dr. Werner is one of the lead investigators of the SuMMIT study. Dr. Michael Tucker has worked in the field of reproductive medicine/embryology for over 26 years.  Dr. Tucker has received world-wide recognition for his pioneering work in the IVF technologies that have helped to revolutionize the treatment of infertility. In 1992, he helped to advance the ICSI technique and was

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.Parenting children tweens and teen requires a different approach than parenting preschool and school aged children. No where is this more true than when parenting transracially adopted kids. It helps to think about these differences when our children are young. Host Dawn Davenport, Executive Director of Creating a Family, the national infertility & adoption education and support organization, interviews Beth Hall, founder and director of Pact and Adoption Alliance, co-author of Inside Transracial Adoption, and a mom to two transracially adopted young adults; and Judy Miller, an adoption educator and support specialist, author of the email course, Parenting Your Adopted Child: Tweens, Teens & Beyond, and mom of four through birth and adoption. For more information on this subject, check out the free resources on Transracial Adoption on our website.  If you enjoyed this show, we would very much appreciate you leaving us a review on iTun

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.How much of our children's basic temperament, their mental health, their intelligence, their learning disabilities, and all the things that make them who they are comes from their genes and how much from their environment. What can we learn about genetics vs. environment from the ongoing twin studies, including the study of twins separated at birth? Host Dawn Davenport, Executive Director of Creating a Family, the national infertility & adoption education and support organization, interviews three leading twin researchers: Dr. Matt McGue, Professor of Psychology at University of Minnesota, a behavioral and quantitative geneticist, Co-Director of Minnesota Twin Family Study and the Sibling Interaction and Behavior Study and Research on Adoption and adoptive dad; and Dr. Nancy Segal, Professor of Psychology, Director of the Twin Studies Center at California State University, Fullerton and author of Indivisible by Two: Lives of Extraordin

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.Which embryos in IVF are more likely to implant and grow for 9 months and result in a healthy baby? What can patients and doctors do to select the best embryo to give you the best chance of a successful pregnancy? Host Dawn Davenport, Executive Director of Creating a Family, the national infertility & adoption education and support organization, interviews Dr. Marcy Maguire, a reproductive embryologist at Reproductive Medical Assiociates of New Jersey and Clinical Assistant Professor of Reproductive Endocrinology at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, about the latest developments in fertility treatment.   Blog summary of the show and highlights can be found here:   Blog summary of the show   Highlights   More Creating a Family resources on IVF can be found here. 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 i

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.Parenting a child that constantly argues, is often moodly, and is generaly disagreeable is difficult and often feels impossible. Some of these children will be diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder and some will never be diagnosed. What causes children to be this way, and what parenting techniques work? Host Dawn Davenport, Executive Director of Creating a Family, the national adoption & infertility education and support organization interviewed Dr. Russell A. Barkley, a clinical professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. He is the author of 21 books and manuals, including Your Defiant Child: Eight Steps to Better Behavior and Taking Charge of ADHD: The Complete, Authoritative Guide for Parents.   Blog summary of the show and highlights can be found here:   Blog summary of the show   Highlights   More Creating a Family resources on parenting after adoption and infertility. 

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.Can diet affect your fertility? What foods will increase your fertility or increase your chances of conceiving with infertility treatments, such as IVF? Can adding or avoiding specific foods increase the odds that you will conceive with or without infertility treatment or in vitro fertilization (IVF)? Host Dawn Davenport interviews Dr. Jeffrey Russell, Director of the Delaware Institute for Reproductive Medicine and a leading researcher on the impact of diet on fertility and fertility treatment. 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.It's time for our annual adoption tax credit show. If you had adoption expenses in 2014, can you get a federal tax credit for them? Is this tax credit applicable to foster care adoption, or international adoption, or infant adoption? Can you claim birth mother expenses. Host Dawn Davenport, Exec. Director of Creating a Family, the national infertility & adoption education and support organization, will interview Becky Wilmoth, an Enrolled Agent and Adoption Tax Credit Specialist® at Bills Tax Service, and a frequent speaker on this topic. We also have Josh Kroll, Adoption Tax Credit and Adoption Subsidy Coordinator at the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC).   Blog summary of the show and highlights can be found here:   Highlights   More Creating a Family resources on the adoption tax credit can be found here. Support the showPlease leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org.

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.Embryo donation (also known as embryo adoption) can be confusing. One of the question we receive the most is how to find embryos that another couple has donated. Host Dawn Davenport, Exeutive Director of Creating a Family, the national infertility & adoption education and support organization, will interview Kimberly Tyson, Director of the Embryo Adoption Awareness Center. Blog summary of the show and highlights can be found here:   Blog summary of the show   Highlights   More Creating a Family resources on embryo donation can be found here. 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 o

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.Should genetic screening become a standard part of IVF? Who should consider this option and for what reasons? Host Dawn Davenport will interview Dr. Jessica Mann, a Board Certified Reproductive Endocrinologist with Reproductive Science Center of New Jersey.   Blog summary of the show and highlights can be found here:   Blog summary of the show   Highlights   More Creating a Family resources on genetic testing of embryos can be found here. 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 causes premature menopause or ovarian failure? What are the symptoms?  What can you do to prevent and treat it? Host Dawn Davenport, Exec. Director of Creating a Family, the national infertility & adoption education and support organization, will interview Dr. Mark Perloe, Medical Director of Georgia Reproductive Specialists in Atlanta. He received trained at Penn State University and the University of Wisconsin before completing an Reproductive Endocrinology fellowship at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Benjamin Leader is Director of Clinical Research at ReproSource, a clinical fertility testing and research laboratory dedicated to improving reproductive health. Dr. Leader is a Harvard and MIT-trained physician scientist. Blog summary of the show and highlights can be found here:   Blog summary of the show   Highlights   More Creating a Family resources on premature ovarian failure can be found here. Support the showPlease leave

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.What lifestyle choices affect your ability to conceive or the odds of fertility treatment working? How do diet, drinking alcohol, and exercise affect getting pregnant and miscarriage risk. Do supplements work? Host Dawn Davenport will interview Dr. Sheeva Talebian, a board certified Reproductive Endocrinologist and infertility specialist at Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York based in Manhattan. Dr. Talebian icontributes to publications including Women’s Health, Well + Good, and Women’s Running.  Outside of work, she is an avid runner and cyclist, and is frequently approached for her expert advice on incorporating exercise while attempting to conceive.   Blog summary of the show and highlights can be found here:   Blog summary of the show   Highlights   More Creating a Family resources about infertility can be found here. Support the showPlease leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We a

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.Adopting two unrelated children or babies at the same time is a controversial topic with adoption professionals? Should you consider adopting two children when going abroad to adopt? What about if you are fortunate enough to have two expectant moms choose you for a domestic infant adoption? What are the pros and cons to adopting two children at the same time? Host Dawn Davenport will interview Ginger Healy, an adoption social worker with Children's House International Adoptions, and Marissa Leuallen, a licensed masters social worker with Holt International Children's Services, She has a post graduate certificate in therapy with adoptive and foster families. 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 yo