Adoption Wise

We're talking about the holidays this week. We share tips contributed by our listeners and lots of our own. This is the time to begin making plans that won't push your family over the edge.

Relevant Resources and Links:

Tips from Monica at Emerging Mama

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Being a foster parent is rewarding, challenging, joyful and heartbreaking. It takes courage!

Melissa sits down with seasoned foster mom, Tereasa Mansfield. Tereasa shares her fostering journey from how they became foster parents to what they’re doing now. She also talks about how she went from being lonely and overwhelmed to connected to a tribe that came through with the help she needed.

Tereasa is a parent trainer and coach who motivates overwhelmed moms wanting connected relationships with their children. She also educates caregivers and professionals on the effects of toxic stress and trauma, and how healing can begin.

After years of having foster children in their family, the Mansfield's have decided to close their doors. Tereasa now focuses on their three forever children at home and helping other families outside the home.

If you’re a foster parent or considering becoming one, you’ll love the nuggets of wisdom Tereasa shares.

Links Relevant to this episode:

Tereasa on Facebook

Tereasa on Instagram

Lisa and Melissa answer this reader question:

How can I tell if a behavior is due to trauma and adoption or just a typical kid behavior?

Being a foster parent is rewarding, challenging, joyful and heartbreaking. It takes courage!

Melissa sits down with seasoned foster mom, Tereasa Mansfield. Tereasa shares her fostering journey from how they became foster parents to what they’re doing now. She also talks about how she went from being lonely and overwhelmed to connected to a tribe that came through with the help she needed.

Tereasa is a parent trainer and coach who motivates overwhelmed moms wanting connected relationships with their children. She also educates caregivers and professionals on the effects of toxic stress and trauma, and how healing can begin.

After years of having foster children in their family, the Mansfield's have decided to close their doors. Tereasa now focuses on their three forever children at home and helping other families outside the home.

If you’re a foster parent or considering becoming one, you’ll love the nuggets of wisdom Tereasa shares.

Links Relevant to this episode:

Tereasa on Facebook

Tereasa on Instagram

Lisa and Melissa answer this reader question:

How can I tell if a behavior is due to trauma and adoption or just a typical kid behavior?

Being a foster parent is rewarding, challenging, joyful and heartbreaking. It takes courage!

Melissa sits down with seasoned foster mom, Tereasa Mansfield. Tereasa shares her fostering journey from how they became foster parents to what they’re doing now. She also talks about how she went from being lonely and overwhelmed to connected to a tribe that came through with the help she needed.

Tereasa is a parent trainer and coach who motivates overwhelmed moms wanting connected relationships with their children. She also educates caregivers and professionals on the effects of toxic stress and trauma, and how healing can begin.

After years of having foster children in their family, the Mansfield's have decided to close their doors. Tereasa now focuses on their three forever children at home and helping other families outside the home.

If you’re a foster parent or considering becoming one, you’ll love the nuggets of wisdom Tereasa shares.

Links Relevant to this episode:

Tereasa on Facebook

Tereasa on Instagram

Lisa and Melissa answer this reader question:

How can I tell if a behavior is due to trauma and adoption or just a typical kid behavior?

8 Ways to Help an Adoptive or Foster Mom

Parenting children who join the family through adoption and foster care can be challenging. Friends and extended family may want to help but don’t know where to start. One friend wrote, “The mom looks sad and frustrated all of the time.”

She closed her email with, “What can I do to help? What can our church family do to help?”

Download this printable with 8 practical ways to help.

*If you're already on our email list, you automatically receive each week's download in our Quick Connection email.

Being a foster parent is rewarding, challenging, joyful and heartbreaking. It takes courage!

Melissa sits down with seasoned foster mom, Tereasa Mansfield. Tereasa shares her fostering journey from how they became foster parents to what they’re doing now. She also talks about how she went from being lonely and overwhelmed to connected to a tribe that came through with the help she needed.

Tereasa is a parent trainer and coach who motivates overwhelmed moms wanting connected relationships with their children. She also educates caregivers and professionals on the effects of toxic stress and trauma, and how healing can begin.

After years of having foster children in their family, the Mansfield's have decided to close their doors. Tereasa now focuses on their three forever children at home and helping other families outside the home.

If you’re a foster parent or considering becoming one, you’ll love the nuggets of wisdom Tereasa shares.

Links Relevant to this episode:

Tereasa on Facebook

Tereasa on Instagram

Lisa and Melissa answer this reader question:

How can I tell if a behavior is due to trauma and adoption or just a typical kid behavior?

Adoptive parenting is a tough job. It's even harder when a child is struggling with challenging behaviors—defiance, rejection, running away, drug addiction, sexual misconduct, criminal activity, attachment issues, rage and beyond. Parenting a child in crisis leaves parents worn out from isolation, exhaustion, frustration, and fear.

If you are battle-weary from the day-to-day struggles of parenting a child with difficult behaviors and feel like you want to quit, you will be encouraged by Pam's faith and perseverance with her daughters. She has stubbornly stuck by her girls through multiple crises and shares her wisdom and hope in this episode. There is a brighter tomorrow!

Pam Parish is the founder of Connections Homes an Atlanta-based organization impacting the lives of young adults who are aging out of foster care, homeless or without family. She and her husband, Steve, are the parents of seven young adult daughters. One of their daughters came to them through the gift of birth and six through the gift of foster care and adoption. They are also Pops and Nana to four adorable grandchildren.

Links Relevant to this episode:

Pam's Website

Pam's books (including the devotional for Battle-Weary Parents)

#28: Hope for Youth Aging Out of Foster Care with Pam Parish

Lisa and Melissa answer this reader question:

How do we help our kids navigate hard questions at school?

Adoptive parenting is a tough job. It's even harder when a child is struggling with challenging behaviors—defiance, rejection, running away, drug addiction, sexual misconduct, criminal activity, attachment issues, rage and beyond. Parenting a child in crisis leaves parents worn out from isolation, exhaustion, frustration, and fear.

If you are battle-weary from the day-to-day struggles of parenting a child with difficult behaviors and feel like you want to quit, you will be encouraged by Pam's faith and perseverance with her daughters. She has stubbornly stuck by her girls through multiple crises and shares her wisdom and hope in this episode. There is a brighter tomorrow!

Pam Parish is the founder of Connections Homes an Atlanta-based organization impacting the lives of young adults who are aging out of foster care, homeless or without family. She and her husband, Steve, are the parents of seven young adult daughters. One of their daughters came to them through the gift of birth and six through the gift of foster care and adoption. They are also Pops and Nana to four adorable grandchildren.

Links Relevant to this episode:

Pam's Website

Pam's books (including the devotional for Battle-Weary Parents)

#28: Hope for Youth Aging Out of Foster Care with Pam Parish

Lisa and Melissa answer this reader question:

How do we help our kids navigate hard questions at school?

*If you're already on our email list, you automatically receive each week's download in our Quick Connection email.

Adoptive parenting is a tough job. It's even harder when a child is struggling with challenging behaviors—defiance, rejection, running away, drug addiction, sexual misconduct, criminal activity, attachment issues, rage and beyond. Parenting a child in crisis leaves parents worn out from isolation, exhaustion, frustration, and fear.

If you are battle-weary from the day-to-day struggles of parenting a child with difficult behaviors and feel like you want to quit, you will be encouraged by Pam's faith and perseverance with her daughters. She has stubbornly stuck by her girls through multiple crises and shares her wisdom and hope in this episode. There is a brighter tomorrow!

Pam Parish is the founder of Connections Homes an Atlanta-based organization impacting the lives of young adults who are aging out of foster care, homeless or without family. She and her husband, Steve, are the parents of seven young adult daughters. One of their daughters came to them through the gift of birth and six through the gift of foster care and adoption. They are also Pops and Nana to four adorable grandchildren.

Links Relevant to this episode:

Pam's Website

Pam's books (including the devotional for Battle-Weary Parents)

Lisa and Melissa answer this reader question:

How do we help our kids navigate hard questions at school?

Free Devotional for Battle-Weary Parents

In this excerpt from Ready or Not for Battle-Weary Parents, explore fear and frustration through the eyes of grace and truth and rediscover faith when parenting a child who seems lost

*If you're already on our email list, you automatically receive each week's download in our Quick Connection email.

Adoptive parenting is a tough job. It's even harder when a child is struggling with challenging behaviors—defiance, rejection, running away, drug addiction, sexual misconduct, criminal activity, attachment issues, rage and beyond. Parenting a child in crisis leaves parents worn out from isolation, exhaustion, frustration, and fear.

If you are battle-weary from the day-to-day struggles of parenting a child with difficult behaviors and feel like you want to quit, you will be encouraged by Pam's faith and perseverance with her daughters. She has stubbornly stuck by her girls through multiple crises and shares her wisdom and hope in this episode. There is a brighter tomorrow!

Pam Parish is the founder of Connections Homes an Atlanta-based organization impacting the lives of young adults who are aging out of foster care, homeless or without family. She and her husband, Steve, are the parents of seven young adult daughters. One of their daughters came to them through the gift of birth and six through the gift of foster care and adoption. They are also Pops and Nana to four adorable grandchildren.

Links Relevant to this episode:

Pam's Website

Pam's books (including the devotional for Battle-Weary Parents)

#28: Hope for Youth Aging Out of Foster Care with Pam Parish

Lisa and Melissa answer this reader question:

How do we help our kids navigate hard questions at school?

*If you're already on our email list, you automatically receive each week's download in our Quick Connection email.

Do you feel frustrated when your kids won’t just go play? And what about the bins of Legos and awesome craft supplies? Why won’t they play with them?

Or, do you see playful moms and wish you could be more like them? Lisa and Melissa both do!

In this episode, Lisa interviews Melissa about play. Melissa has done her research and shares great information that will help you view play in new ways. You'll also gain insight into your kids and yourself.

Relevant Resources and Links:

Books (affiliate links):

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown

Attaching Through Love, Hugs and Play: Simple Strategies to Help Build Connections with Your Child by Deborah Gray

The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun by Carol Kranowitz