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Are you considering adopting a child over the age of 5? Join our discussion with Dr. Stephanie Bosco-Ruggiero. She has a PhD in Social Work from Fordham University and is co-author of the book Adopting Older Children: A Practical Guide to Adopting and Parenting Children Over Age Four.

In this episode, we talk about:

• The greatest need in both foster care adoption and international adoption is to adopt kids 5 and older.  
• Adolescents have a bad reputation in general in our society and those in foster care or international child welfare institutions have an even worse reputation. 
• These kids and youth may have challenging behaviors that will be hard to parent. (They also may not have challenging behaviors.)
  • Why have they developed these behaviors? (grief and loss, trauma, mental health)
  • What are some typical behaviors that are more difficult for parents?
• Tips for creating trust and attachment with older children. 
• How to prevent these behaviors from influencing other kids in the family?     
• Special issues specific to older kids adopted internationally.
  • Lack of ability to communicate. 
  • Cultural differences. 
• Safety concerns, especially if there are younger children in the family. 
  • Sexually acting out. 
  • Physical abuse.
• Sibling relationships when adopting an older child.
• Contact with bio family members and former foster parents
• Trying to establish rules with teens/tweens who have had too much freedom. 
• Helping kids academically. 
  • Neuropsychological evaluations, IEPs,
• Support for adoptive families

Support the show

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