Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption, Foster & Kinship Care

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Most children will experience bullying at some point. What can parents do to help protect their children and to help their children cope if they are bullied? Host Dawn Davenport, Executive Director of Creating a Family, the national infertility & adoption education and support nonprofit, interviews Brooke Randolph, LMHC, a child and family therapist and author of The Bully Book: A Workbook for Kids Coping with Bullies; and Debora Gish, LCSW, with Adoption Connection with 20 experience working with kids and families.

In this episode, we discuss:

• What is bullying?
• Distinction between bullying and typical childhood cliquish behavior or “mean girl” behavior or kidding around behavior of middle school boys.
• How to help kids not be over-sensitive to teasing or taunting. For example, a first grader having a hard time distinguishing between name-calling meant to bully and the kind of taunts that are part and parcel with schoolyard games like tag (e.g., he went to the teacher over “na na na na na na, you can’t get me”).
• What children are at greater risk for bullying?
• Why do children bully?
• Cyberbullying
• Bullying on the school bus.
• How effective are the classic things we tell kids about how to handle bullies?
• Effective tips for helping kids handle bullying.

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

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks!

We frequently hear from waiting parents that they are unsure when to prepare the nursery, what formula is best, or how often they should expect to feed their new baby. It's a huge life transition, and we thought today we could talk about some basic baby care tips to help you think about what's next for you and your family when you get the baby home.

Resources:

• I'm Adopting a Baby. When Do I Set Up the Nursery?
• Essential Baby Care for Infant Adoption
• Stocking Your Medicine Cabinet for Baby
• Understanding Post-Adoption Depression and How to Manage It
• First 6 Months with a Baby Exposed to Opiates

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

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks!

Does your child struggle to get or stay organized? Is homework a battle you dread every day? Prepare yourself to support your children for the Back to School season with this interview with Dr. Richard Guare. He's a neuropsychologist and board-certified behavior analyst focused on autism, learning, attention, and behavior disorders, and acquired brain injuries. He is the co-author of Smart But Scattered: The Revolutionary Approach to Helping Kids Reach Their Potential.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Define executive skills in a way that makes sense to a parent or caregiver who is unfamiliar with the term.
• Why are these executive skills essential for school success and independence?
• How does early childhood trauma, neglect, or prenatal substance exposure delay or disrupt a child’s executive skill development?
• What kinds of executive skill delays are common in children who’ve experienced foster care, adoption, or early adversity?
• How might a parent or caregiver begin to see a child’s delays in executive skill deficits in school?
• Define the strengths-based approach to teaching executive skills. 
• How can we structure our homes and daily routines to best support what our kids will face during the school day?
  • And practical strategies for supporting your student after school?
• What language can parents and caregivers use with our kids, and with teachers and support staff, to frame a child’s behavior in terms of execution skills vs. defiance or distraction?
• Why is it important for parents and caregivers to understand their own executive skills strengths and struggles?
• Top “takeaways” you want to encourage and support parents and caregivers to consider.

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

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks!

How do you know your child with prenatal substance exposure is ready to potty train? How do you start potty training a child with impacts from prenatal substance exposure, like developmental delays? This Weekend Wisdom offers practical strategies and encouragement to help you stay motivated and keep up the good work.

Resources:

• Raising a Child with Prenatal Substance Exposure
• How Do I Potty Train a Child with Prenatal Substance Exposure?
• Prenatal Exposure, Part 1: Parenting Babies through Elementary Ages

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

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks!

Join us for a look at where CreatingaFamily.org - and this podcast - began and where we are heading from here. We talk today with Dawn Davenport, the founding Executive Director of the organization, as she prepares to retire from Creating a Family.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Tell us how and why you started Creating a Family. Why start a non-profit?
  • The Complete Guide to International Adoption: The Step by Step Guide to Finding Your Child
• Do any significant moments stand out from those early days of setting a path forward?
• Who were the hands-on folks behind the scenes in those early days?
• What were some of your hopes and dreams for this new venture when you started podcasting?
  • What were some of your most memorable challenges?
• How has the world of podcasting changed in the 18 years since you launched this one?
• Were there one or two “big fish” you were excited to get?
• How have you seen the Creating a Family podcast impact the families we serve? The professionals?
• What are the most significant challenges you see facing our community of listeners / adoptive, foster, and kinship families in 2025? 
• Do you have any lessons you’ll take from this season of your life – as a professional and/or as a parent?
• What are you most excited about for the future of CreatingaFamily.org?
• Do you have any retirement plans? 

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

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks!

Question: I have a question that may be well suited for a weekend wisdom episode. I'm aware of the reasons that a domestic infant adoption may fail, but I've also read about foster children having failed adoption(s) and then aging out of the system. What are some of the main reasons that a foster child experiences a failed adoption? How does that look different than (or the same as) a failed domestic infant adoption? 

Resources:

• Failed Adoptions:
  • Help, I Don’t Think I Can Continue With This Adoption!
  • Adoption Disruptions/Dissolutions – How to Prevent and When to Accept
  • Evaluating Risk Factors in Foster Care Adoption
• Failed Adoption Matches:
  • Predicting and Coping with Failed Adoption Matches
  • How Common are Failed Adoption Matches?

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

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks!

What should you look for when you are considering therapy for your child or your family? How do you find the right fit for your child's needs? We talk today with Kelly Raudenbush, Executive Director of The Sparrow Fund, a non-profit that provides therapeutic services for foster and adoptive children and their grown-ups. She is a child and family therapist with an MA degree in counseling and a certificate in clinical infant and early childhood mental health. She's also an adoptive mom.

In this episode, we discuss:

• What are some of the common reasons families seek therapy for their child or family unit? 
• When is it time to seek a therapist?
• What types of professionals can provide therapy?
• Is there a difference between therapy and counseling? 
• What makes a therapist trauma-informed?
• What’s the difference between being adoption-competent and adoption-informed?
• What should parents look for to determine if a potential therapist is competent to handle the trauma, adoption, or foster issues they are facing?
• Where can parents or caregivers go to find a therapist with the lived experience of being adopted? What might the benefits be in seeking a therapist with this lived experience?
• Can you list the more common therapeutic models of treatment that adoptive, foster, or relative caregiver families might consider? 
• When should therapy with our kids involve just the child, or the child and the parent? 
• What questions can parents or caregivers ask to determine if the therapist is a good fit for the child and family? 
• Are there additional or specific considerations for therapy that should be addressed if our child has experienced sexual abuse?
• What is home-based therapy and what are the advantages to this type of therapy for adoptive, foster, or relative caregiving families?
• Is therapy via tele-health or via teleconferencing as effective as in-person for our families? 

Additional Resources:

• https://sparrow-fund.org/
• Therapy Resources for Adoptive, Foster, and Kinship Families
• Adoptee and Foster Alumni Voices
• Therapists: Parents Should Be With Their Kids for Adoptive or Foster Therapy Sessions
• A Guide to Selecting An Adoption Or Foster Therapist
• Family Centered Treatment 

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

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks!

Question: My husband and I adopted our daughter in 2019, and she is now 5. As of a week ago, we were matched with a birth mother who is due in six weeks. We have explained the process to our daughter (we made a book about our life, and one day someone will pick us), but now that we’ve been chosen, what is the best way to approach this with my daughter? We have several of the books from your (wonderful) book list, but not many pertain to same sex parents who are bringing home an adopted sibling. How do we prepare our daughter for the possibility of having a sibling, while also being open and honest about the possibility that this baby might not be ours to take home? 

Resources:

• Prepare Children for the Adoption of a Sibling (Suggested Books)
• Books for Transracially Adopted Kids (Suggested Books)
• Talking with Kids about Adoption (Resource page)

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

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks!

Are you looking for practical strategies to build attachment with your child? Jeanette Yoffe, MA, MFT, is a psychotherapist specializing in adoption and foster care with over 20 years of experience treating children with complex trauma. Her new book, The Traumatized and At-Risk Youth Toolbox: Over 160 Attachment-Informed Interventions for Working with Kids and Families in Foster Care and Beyond offers specific strategies and tools parents and caregivers can build into their family rhythms to promote regulation and healing in their homes. 

In this episode, we discuss:

• Overview of trauma’s impacts on the brain, on learning, regulation, and on the ability to trust.
• What does co-regulation look like between a caregiver and a child with a trauma history?
• What are some simple, everyday things caregivers can do at home to support a child’s self-regulation? 
• What practical tools – activities or routines – will help us build emotional safety in our homes?
• Why is play such a powerful tool for connection and healing?
• Trauma often mimics ADHD or overlaps with it. How to help teachers understand what’s really going on.
• How can parents or relative caregivers support our kids for homework, without turning the evening into a power struggle?
• What kinds of professionals should we look for?

Resources:

• Working with Traumatized Children in the Classroom
• What is Adoption?
• What is Foster Care?
• What is Family Court?

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

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks!

Question: My wife and I adopted a newborn baby almost 3 years ago, and we could not be happier. Now that he is getting a little older, he is talking and starting to understand things. My question is, how can we best normalize his adoption with him? I know it is better for kids to grow up with everyone being open with him and his adoption so it feels like now is a good time to start.  But I am not sure how to that with an almost 3-year-old.  For context, we do not have any contact with the birth family. We send updates and pictures to the agency, but they have not expressed interest in having contact with us. This always seemed like an avenue to start that conversation (you have a birth family and an adoptive family). Without that, I’m not sure how start talking to him about this.  Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

Resources:

• Talking with Kids About Adoption (Resource page)
• Talking with Kids About Birthparents (Suggested Books)
• Adoptee Voices (Resource page)

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