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

Time Magazine’s cover story on parental favoritism got to me.  I literally argued out loud with the author while reading.  It seemed only fare to have him on the show so we could argue in person.  Jeffrey Kluger, author of the new book The Sibling Effect: What the Bonds Among Brothers and Sisters Reveal About Us, and an editor and science reporter at Time, will be our guest to talk about siblings, favoritism, birth order, ideal spacing, and lots more. Birth Order, favoritism, spacing between children, sibling rivalry, preference for sons.

You may be eligible for a monthly cash subsidy, health care coverage, and college tuition for your children when adopting from foster care, but how do you know what you are eligible for and how to get it. Our guests are Josh Kroll,Project Coordinator with the Adoption Subsidy Resource Center at the North American Council on Adoptable Children and Seth A. Grob, adoption and reproductive law attorney and one of the top legal experts on adoption subsides in the US.  He has published extensively about adoption and the rights of children and foster parents. Foster care adoption, special needs adoption, adopting a child with special needs

The nature vs. nurture debate is particularly relevant to parents through adoption, egg donation, sperm donation, or embryo donation.  How do genes and the environment affect intelligence, IQ, behavior, temperament, weight, substance abuse, mental illness, and depression. What have the leading researchers in this field found? Our guests are Sally Ann Rhea, who has been the Study Coordinator for 25 years for one of the most renown adoption research projects in the world, the Colorado Adoption Project. The focus of this project is investigating genetic and environmental influences on human behavior.  And Dr. Alexandra Burt, Associate Professor of Behavioral Genetics with affiliation with the Michigan State University Twin Registry and a research focuses on the role of genes and the environment interplay in the development of anti-social development.

Is there a right way or right time to tell your child that they were conceived through donor egg, sperm or embryo, or carried by a surrogate? Join our guest Dr. Elaine Gordon, a Clinical Psychologist with a specialty in infertility and child development, and author of Mommy, Did I Grow in Your Tummy? Where Some Babies Come From, a children's book  explaining a child's unique reproductive beginnings. Egg donation, donor sperm, artificial insemination, embryo adoption, embryo donation, surrogacy, gestational carrier, surrogate, donor egg

In July 2011 Russia and the US signed a new bilateral agreement to govern international adoptions between the two countries.  How is it working, what age children are available and how healthy are they.  Join Debbie Wynne, Director of Buckner Adoption and Maternity Services; Denise Hoppenhauer, international case manager for Beacon House Adoptions,and Tiffany Wilkins, a mom who recently adopted 2 older children from Russia. International adoption, adopting from Russia, Russian adoptions, fetal alcohol syndrome, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, international adoption doctors, FASD, FAS

Adoptive parents spend a lot of time preparing themselves for adoption, but what about their extended family.  As much as we want grandparents, aunts, and siblings to be supportive and excited about our upcoming adoption, this is not always the case.  Join us today to talk about how to help our extended family understand our adoption.  Our guest will be Elisabeth O’Toole, Author of In On It: What Adoptive Parents Would Like You To Know About Adoption.  A Guide for Relatives and Friends.  Becoming an adoptive grandparent. How to help your child or sibling when they are adopting a baby or child.  Adoption and the Extended Family.

Compassionate Transfer, Disposal Ceremony, or Other Ways to Find Closure for Infertility Patients with Unused Frozen Embryos.  Couples with unused frozen embryos must decide what to do with these embryos once they finish fertility treatment.  For some, donating to another family or research or simply thawing and disgarding are not comfortable options.  Those couples often seek some form of closure to their years struggling to have a family and a way to honor these embryos in the process.  Our guests to talk about compassionate transfers and other ways patients have found closure are Dr. Kristen Wright chief Reproductive Endocrinologist at the Reproductive Science Center of New England’s New Hampshire fertility clinics and former Assistant Professor of reproductive endocrinology and infertility; and Patricia Sachs, Clinical Social Worker and infertility counselor at Shady Grove Fertility. IVF, infertility treatment, frozen embryos, disposing of  frozen embryos, embryo disposition, embryo donation, embryo adoption, donating embryos to research

Secondary infertility is little understood by the general public and those suffering often have a harder time finding answers and support.  What causes secondary infertility, how is it treated, and what are the odds of success with treatment? Can pregnancy and birth complications increase your chances of being unable to conceive a second child? Our guest to talk about Secondary Infertility is Dr. Tanmoy Mukherjee, a board certified Gynecologist and Reproductive Endocrinologist, Associate Director of the Mount Sinai Division of Reproductive Endocrinology, and Co-Medical Director of Reproductive Medicine Associates of New Yor.

Adopting an older child takes preparation for the parents, the existing children in the family, and the new child. Join our guests to learn tips for smoothing this transition when adopting an older child from abroad.  Abbie Smith, adoptive mother and Director of Clinical Services at Holt International, specializing in attachment therapy, trauma and parenting of adopted children; and adoptive moms, Shila Henderson, who adopted two older daughters from China, and Vicki Hanson, who adopted an older son from Ethiopia. International adoption of a preschool child. Adopting from Ethiopia, adopting from China, adopting from Russia.

How do children of color adopted by white parents learn about race and their place in our racially aware society?  Large numbers of children have been adopted from China, Guatamala, Korea, Ethiopia, and other African countries, as well as the thousands of domestic adoption of African American and biracial/multiracial children by white parents. How do transracial adoptees form their racial identity and what can adoptive parents do to help.   Join our guest adult transracial adoptee and adoption researcher, Dr. Gina Samuels.  Dr. Samuels is an Associate Professor at the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration and a Faculty Affiliate at The Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture. Her research and publications examine transracial adoption, multiracial identity formation, and family identity and belonging among young adults with foster care and adoption histories.