Adoption, Fostering & Tea: The New Family Social Podcast

Oliver returns to the podcast to talk about how he navigated the adoption process (including some ill-informed questions) as a bisexual man.  He discusses his journey to positively identify as bisexual, and also brings us up-to-date on life with his four-year-old son.

Their previous podcast can be found here Episode 97

This episode of Adoption, Fostering and Tea was recorded live at our annual summer camp for LGBTQ adoption and fostering families, taking questions from our audience.

Robin and James were in their late 40s when they decided it was time to adopt.  They talk about how they overcame the negative messages they'd received, as children, about gay people.  They discuss their decision to adopt an older child, why they'd recommend this to others, and how they helped their son when he faced homophobic bullying.

Archie was diagnosed as autistic during the adoption assessment process.  Tor and Archie talk about what it's like to learn you're autistic and the strengths it brings the as parents.

Carlos has wanted children since he was 17.  He started researching adoption in his mid-twenties and, ten years later, he's stuck in stage one but excited about his future as a single adopter for one or two children.

Charlie and Ben had said they felt unable to take a child with complex medical needs but when their daughter was born and taken straight to intensive care, they knew they wanted to make it work.  They talk about early contact sessions and the toll they took.  They also talk about their family's delight in meeting the new baby and how much joy she's brought into their lives.

On our 100th episode, Miles and Pip talk openly about the process of adopting their daughters and Miles tells us about being best known for "poisoning" a fellow contestant, in front of seven million people, on the hit BBC TV show Traitors!

Traitors Season Two 

Peter and Tor adopted their children over a decade ago and they talk about what it's like to parent teens.  They also share what they've learnt along the way and what they wish they'd known when they started out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLuEY6jN6gY 

Max and his husband adopted their son just over a year ago.  Max was concerned about the assessment process because he has a trans history and has anxiety.  Luckily, they had an awesome social worker who made things as easy as possible.  Max talks about the joys (and tiredness!) of parenting.

Adam and Oliver were struggling with family finding when they came to the NFS summer camp.  The people they met gave them the strength to continue and their son came home weeks later.  They talk about the highs and lows, including how they've dealt with their son initially bonding more with Oliver than with Adam.  They even tell us all about their "Jar Fairy" who magically sends messages to the people their son misses.