The Fearless Fostering Podcast

Healing After Hard Goodbyes: Recovering from a Relinquished or Failed Adoption


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There’s a kind of heartbreak that doesn’t get talked about enough — the quiet, complicated grief of a relinquished or failed adoption.
The world often doesn’t have a name for it, but you do.
You know what it feels like to have hoped, to have attached, to have planned and to have it all unravel.

Maybe you were days away from finalization when everything shifted.
Maybe you made the incredibly brave, gut-wrenching decision to say “no” because your family simply couldn’t meet that child’s needs.
Or maybe, despite everything you gave — the late-night rocking, the therapy appointments, the prayers whispered in the dark — the system decided otherwise.

No matter what your specific story looks like, the ache is real. And the healing? It’s a process that deserves time, compassion, and space to breathe.

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The Fearless Fostering PodcastBy Cathleen Bearse

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