The Honestly Adoption Podcast

By Mike and Kristin Berry

Kids & Family

What's The Honestly Adoption Podcast about?

The Honestly Adoption Podcast features real voices, sharing real hope and encouragement to parents on the journey of foster care and adoption. Hosts Mike and Kristin Berry, and Nicole Goerges share open and honest perspectives from the journey of foster, adoptive, and special needs parenting. Their goal is to be real and honest but also bring hope and encouragement to parents, all over the world.

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How To Advocate For Your Ch...

03.24.2023

The FASD journey can be very defeating and very frustrating. Mostly because, we are constantly dismissed by providers, or made to feel like we're a bit crazy when we try to get answers. How do you break through this? We're ...

The Honestly Adoption Podcast episodes:

03.24.2023 How To Advocate For Your Child With An FASD The FASD journey can be very defeating and very frustrating. Mostly because, we are constantly dismissed by providers, or made to feel like we're a bit crazy when we try to get answers. How do you break through this? We're ...
03.17.2023 Understanding What Resiliency Is Not The caregiver journey is hard and full of challenges. We hear words like resiliency and we often get the wrong idea. What does that really mean? It's not what you think. Resiliency is not perfection, it's not about never failing, ...
03.03.2023 Insight That Will Transform Your Parenting Journey From the memorable quotes, to the "ah-ha" moments, to the tears, to the on-camera dancing....the dancing....oh the dancing! Insight Virtual Conference 2022 was one for the history books. And now...we get to do it all over again! That's right...Insight Virtual ...
02.25.2023 How To Overcome Feelings Of Guilt On The Caregiver Journey As caregivers, we often carry around immense feelings of guilt from something we said, or did. How do we face these feelings, let alone overcome them? It's a question all of us have had at one time or another. And ...
02.19.2023 Understanding How The Body Keeps The Score While it may be hard to see and understand, our bodies are super computers that capture and hold data for years. This has never been more the case, then with our child's trauma history. You've probably found yourself scratching your ...
02.10.2023 How To Effectively Respond To Your Child's Behaviors One of the most confusing and overwhelming aspects of the foster and adoption journey, is trying to make sense of behaviors that come from trauma. Where do you even begin? Let's be honest... Trying to make sense of our child's ...
02.03.2023 Why Does My Child Reject Me? Rejection hurts, no matter who you are, or the circumstances. It especially stings when it's coming from our children. Why does it happen, and how can we respond? In this episode of The Honestly Adoption Podcast, we're sharing an insider's ...
01.21.2023 Readjusting Our Expectations Of Ourselves And Our Children This journey is long and can often be defeating. The fact is, parenting is hard. Sometimes, in the face of it all, we just need some solidarity. We need to know that we are not alone, and we need to ...
01.13.2023 Your Child's Behavior Is Not About You It's really, really, really hard to believe this when you're in the middle of it, but the behaviors you see in your children are not about you. They're a window into something much bigger. In short, the behaviors you are ...
12.30.2022 How To Build Connection With A Child Who Consistently Rejects You We're concluding our special podcast series, The Insight Archives, with a question that many parents wrestle with: How do I build a connection with a child who consistently, and constantly, rejects me? You pour more love, and time, and energy, ...
12.23.2022 How Transracial Adoptive Families Can Thrive It's week 3 of our end-of-2022 podcast series, The Insight Archives, where we're sharing some of our favorite sessions from both the 2021 and 2022 Insight Virtual Conference replays. This week, our good friend Ligia Cushman joins us to talk ...
12.16.2022 How To Navigate The Online World With Vulnerable Children It's week 2 of our end-of-the-year podcast series, The Insight Archives. We're sharing 4 amazing sessions from the 2021 & 2022 Insight Virtual Conference! In this episode, our good friend Chuck Hagele shares valuable insights into the online world and ...
12.09.2022 How To Respond To And Effectively Manage Crisis At some point, the odds of your family being in the middle of a crisis are great. It kinda sorta comes with the territory of the foster and adoption journey. In that moment, what do you do? We've been in ...
12.02.2022 How Former Foster Youth Carry A Lifelong Connection Into Adulthood The story of foster care can often be heartbreaking. Especially when a child ages out of the system and finds themselves on their own. But, what if a stronger bond existed than what we can see with our eyes? We ...
11.25.2022 Creating A Path Of Change And Empowerment For Women We had the opportunity to sit down with Lata Hamilton who is a leaderships expert and adult adoptee living in Australia. She has an amazing story that will bring hope and empowerment to women worldwide, but also everyone who listens ...
11.18.2022 Resources That Transform (Part 12): Telling A Different Adoption Story We love heart-warming adoption storylines. And this week, we are excited to share an interview with Preston Pouteaux, one of the producers of a new documentary called "I'll See You Later." I'll See You Later is a documentary that tells ...
11.11.2022 Resources That Transform (Part 11): A Resource That Brings Awareness & Safety During Traffic Stops You may have just had a double-take when you read the title of this episode! What in the world does safety during a traffic stop have to do with the foster care and adoption parenting journey? A lot, actually! Many ...
11.08.2022 Resources That Transform (Part 10): How To Kickstart Success For FASD Caregivers Welcome to our super duper special episode of The Honestly Adoption Podcast! We're all about surprises here at Honestly Adoption and we have a big one today. Our good friend Jeff Noble, from FASD Success jumped on Zoom for a ...
11.05.2022 Resources That Transform (Part 9): A Conversation About Racial Identity Development, Trauma, & Relationships We are pleased to welcome Dr. Abby Hasberry, Ph.D. to The Honestly Adoption Podcast. She is an Executive Educational Leadership Coach & Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist Associate. In addition, she is also an adult adoptee and birth parent. A ...
10.28.2022 Resources That Transform (Part 8): "Brain-Based Resources That Help Caregivers Thrive." We are pleased to welcome back our good friend, and therapist, Jessica Sinarski from Brave Brains. Jessica is a highly sought-after therapist, author, and speaker. Extensive post-graduate training and nearly 20 years as a clinician and educator led her to ...
10.20.2022 Resources That Transform (Part 7): Stories & Soundbites That Transform Last week, we spent time with some of our closest friends at The Replanted Conference in Chicago, IL and it was AMAZING! We featured this valuable resources on a previous show in this series, but then we took it a ...
10.07.2022 Resources That Transform (Part 6): The Global Mission Of Reunification It's Part 6 of our podcast series, Resources That Transform. This week we're replaying an awesome interview we did with Brandon Stiver from 1Millionhome. 1MILLIONHOME is all about reunification. And our guest for this episode, Brandon Stiver, is helping to ...
09.30.2022 Resources That Transform (Part 5): The Importance Of Accurate History & Where To Find It One of the things we LOVE about hosting this podcast, is the deeply valuable lessons we learn from our guests. We intentionally schedule guests who challenge us, inspire us, and motivate us. This discussion with Marcie was one of the ...
09.23.2022 Resources That Transform (Part 4): Providing Dignity & Support For Children In Foster Care It's Part 4 of our podcast series, Resources That Transform. For this episode we're sharing a highly valuable and transformational resource that is making an impact in the foster care system! We are excited to share the good work that ...
09.16.2022 Resources That Transform (Part 3): A Few Of Our Personal Favorite Resources It's Part 3 of our podcast series, Resources That Transform, and we're going Oprah style and handing out awesome resources like cars. Okay, maybe not quite to that magnitude, but this list is pretty awesome! We wanted to take a ...
09.09.2022 Resources That Transform (Part 2): How To Find Refreshment As A Caregiver It's Part 2 of our brand new podcast series, Resources That Transform. We are excited to jump into a topic that ALL of us can relate to, and need more of: refreshment and rejuvenation! But in all honesty, how in ...
09.02.2022 Resources That Transform (Part 1): How To Provide Good Care For Your Child's Hair As caregivers, we crave good resources. But they can be so hard to find. In this brand new series, we're spotlighting some of the best resources on earth, that help us become the best caregivers possible! We're kicking off with ...
08.26.2022 Resources That Transform (Series Preview) You need resources, we need resources, we ALL need good resources to help us become the best parents possible. But let's be honest..... This. Is. So. Hard. To. Find! We have so many questions, struggles, needs, desires, hopes, wishes, and ...
08.19.2022 FASD Expert Spotlight (Part 4): Overcoming Shame & Disappointment On The Journey As we conclude our special series, FASD Expert Spotlight, we are pleased to share an interview we had the pleasure of doing with our good friend Jeff Noble from The FASD Success Podcast. Jeff is an FASD caregiver turned educator ...
08.12.2022 FASD Expert Spotlight (Part 3): The Value Of Understanding & Resources In the 3rd installment of FASD Expert Spotlight, we're airing an episode we did on our good friend Robbie Seale's podcast, FASD Family Life. We talked trauma, navigating getting a diagnosis for your child, and finding valuable resources (among other ...
08.05.2022 FASD Expert Spotlight (Part 2): FASD Hope And Advocacy We are excited to share an interview we did just a few years ago with Natalie Vecchione, on her podcast, FASD Hope. We primarily talked about the release of our latest book, Securely Attached, but wanted to share this interview ...
07.29.2022 FASD Expert Spotlight (Part 1): FASDs And The Online World We know that Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders have a profound effect on a person’s ability to reason, think logically, and control impulses. But in today’s society there are extra dangers. Our children must live and function in a media-saturated world ...
07.22.2022 Becoming Pro-Human (Part 9): Caring For Human Beings Through Listening As we conclude our series, Becoming Pro-Human, we're ending with arguably the most important aspect of this journey: listening. In fact, we actually show the greatest care and concern for others when we choose to listen. But what does it ...
07.14.2022 Becoming Pro-Human (Part 8) How To Help Our Children With Sensory And Emotional Challenges As we continue our series, Becoming Pro-Human, we are diving into all things sensory related and talking about sensory and emotional challenges. To do that, we've invited the best of the best to the show. Our good friend Jessica Sinarski ...
07.08.2022 Becoming Pro-Human (Part 7): Finding Faith And Family Through Foster Care There is often a negative or dim narrative that follows foster care. And, unfortunately, the beauty of the journey gets pushed to the side by a headline. In-spite of this, however, there is immense hope. Tori Peterson knows hope. In ...
06.30.2022 Becoming Pro-Human (Part 6): Problematic Narratives And What Foster & Adoptive Parents Can Do In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, a lot of problematic, and dangerous, narratives have risen up. In this episode, we discusss what we've heard, and what foster and adoptive parents can do ...
06.24.2022 Becoming Pro-Human (Part 5): A Conversation About Fatherhood, Faith, And Equality For our 5th installment of Becoming Pro-Human, we are excited to welcome our friend, and fellow author and adoptive parent, Steve Disselhorst, to The Honestly Adoption Podcast. We had an amazing conversation on his book, the importance of community for ...
06.17.2022 Becoming Pro-Human (Part 4): Overcoming Stigmas Around Pre-natal Drug & Alcohol Exposure Raised eyebrows. Dismissal in a pediatrician's office. Unfair blame, judgement, or criticism. Conclusion that this is "just a bad kid who wants to do bad things!" If you're parenting a child who was exposed to drugs or alcohol prenatally, this ...
06.09.2022 Becoming Pro-Human (Part 3): How To Care For Our Mental Health As Caregivers The adoption and foster care journey can take its toll on us. We're not saying that our children take a toll on us. It's just the exhaustion of understanding diagnosis, managing difficult behaviors, navigating a difficult foster care system, and ...
06.03.2022 Becoming Pro-Human (Part 2): What Are You Afraid Of? In case you weren't aware, we are raising human beings who are going to grow to think, believe, and identify the way they choose. We can either accept that or resist that. There is no in-between. Yet, so many caregivers ...
05.27.2022 Becoming Pro-Human (Part 1): A Different Discussion With so much discussion, debate, and arguing happening around Roe v. Wade, and the pro-life versus pro-choice movements, we've decided to start a different discussion: becoming pro-human. But what does that mean? Where do we even begin? Join Kristin, Nicole ...
05.21.2022 Why Won't My Child Respect My Boundaries? It's possible that because of your child's trauma history, and the impact that has had on his or her brain, they simply can't follow simple guidelines, or adhere to boundaries. Hard to believe, but it's true.
05.13.2022 Why Does My Child Reject Me? If you've spent more than a couple of days on this journey, you know rejection is par for the course. Regardless of how hard you try to connect, build trust, reach out, or meet needs, your child rejects you. It ...
05.06.2022 Can A Person Overcome Childhood Trauma? But will they ever be able to live free of it later on in life when they are adults? On today's show we are so excited to welcome Best-Selling Author, Anna LeBaron on to talk about the effects of childhood ...
04.29.2022 What Happens When Birth Parents And Adoptive Parents Support One Another? If you haven't met Ashley Mitchell yet, you need to. At age 26 Ashley placed her son for adoption. It was a dark time in her life. She felt a deep sense of loss as she returned home from the ...
04.22.2022 Why Re-regulation Strategies Are NOT Spoiling Or Enabling You've probably been there a time or two when your child was dysregulated: extended family, close friends, or even your other children frustrated or angry because, instead of swift correction (which they all believe should happen) you're talking calmly to ...
04.15.2022 Becoming Trauma-Informed is Everything! If you were to ask our guest for this week's podcast, she would tell you, "Become trauma-informed!" When you understand trauma, and you know how it manifests itself in your child's life, and behavior, everything changes. Andie Coston is our ...
04.08.2022 How To Bring Hope To Vulnerable Children It begins with compassion, understanding, and making yourself and your life available. From there, it takes action. Peter Mutabazi is demonstrating all of this in his mission through NowIAmKnown.com and his journey as a foster dad.
04.01.2022 Insight That Will Transform Your Journey From the memorable quotes, to the "ah-ha" moments, to the tears, to the on-camera dancing....the dancing....oh the dancing! Insight Virtual Conference 2022 was one for the history books. More than 650 caregivers and professionals, from all corners of the world, ...
03.25.2022 Meeting Our Children Where They Are In our latest episode of The Honestly Adoption Podcast, Mike, Kristin and Nicole have a candid conversation about the fallacies in education (especially when they first began this journey), how there's no one right way to help our children process ...

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