Stable Moments Podcast

On this week's episode we dive into some sticky situations submitted by Stable Moments locations. Many people ask "how does the approach look in action?" Here are some practical trauma informed responses listeners can use when they are faced with sticky situations. 

Jennifer Fairfax, Esq. gives us the low down on all the different types of adoption, the difference between open and closed adoptions and why adoptive parents choose which path.

Jennifer's life has intersected with the areas of adoption and family building since she was a teen.  Her adult goddaughter is an international adoptee from Korea and her adult nephew is a domestic adoptee.  She, herself, underwent fertility treatments to become a parent and has found assisting others in buidling their families through adoption and/or Assisted Reproduction Technology ("ART") rewarding.  She has a compassion and vision for famlies unmatched by others in the area and limits her practice to these areas of the law to ensure she can provide the best service to her clients.    

Jennifer is a Bethesda Magazine 2019 Top Adoption Attorney (see Bethesda Magazine Attorney Profile) and most recently spoke at the 2019 Florida Adoption Council Conference on ethical considerations when representing expectant parents and birth parents.

Check Jennifer out here:

www.jenniferfairfax.com 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jenniferfairfaxllc

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ParentingChoice

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/jennifer-fairfax-llc-family-formation-law-offices/?viewAsMember=true

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/adoption_and_art_attorney/

In this week's episode Darren Fink from Transfiguring Adoption tells us about his own adoption journey of four children and how their family uses magical creatures and play to address sensory, attachment, emotional and behavioral challenges. His experience lead him to write a family book A Guide to Magical Creatures Around Your Home and to start Transfiguring Adoption where reviewers use a trauma informed lense to review books, movies and video games for certain trauma triggers and therapeutic discussion opportunities.

Transfiguring Adoption offers an online support group community through platforms such as Facebook Live and Zoom. During our Monday Caregiver Check-in shows, we strive to talk with professionals and experts in the foster care and adoption industry who can field questions asked by our viewers.
Viewers have mentioned that they appreciate being able to connect with other people and fight back fears of feeling alone. When questioned, viewers tend to say that they feel they are better parents after joining one of our live support groups. Right now they take place on Mondays at 6:30pm EST for about 30-45 min.

Please join the Facebook Page before you come to the show:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/662209997612930

In this episode I take some time to reflect on what we’ve learned in the first 35 episodes and reposition ourselves with a new vision for the podcast.

Listen in while I talk about a new vision to build an army of people that are interested and willing to take responsibility for our foster youth and who are supportive of foster and adoptive families. I want this to be a place where community members feel like they can make a difference, where they feel good enough to make that difference and believe that they can be a big deal in the life of a child. 

In this episode Marcy gives her real and raw experience of being a foster parent. She breaks down the trials and triumphs to give us a look behind the curtain as a foster parent.

Marcy is a liscensed clinical therapist with focuses in animal-assisted therapy, play and art therapies, and attachment theory. Marcy has also completed her Stable Moments certification and is launching her program at her nonprofit Grey Muzzle Manor.

Grey Muzzle Manor Sanctuary, Inc. Website: www.greymuzzlemanor.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/greymuzzlemanorfarm

Instagram: @grey_muzzle_manor

For information on other mental health services: www.therapywithmarcy.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/therapywithmarcy

Instagram: @therapywithmarcy

Instagram: @Emmett_thewonderdog

This week Dr. Melissa Sadin joins us to talk about the role of school in the foster care crisis and how creating trauma informed schools is really the first step to ending the foster care crisis. She gives us the roadmap to becoming trauma senstive and why we need to be proactive and not trauma responsive.

Dr. Sadin has served as a special education teacher, a gifted education teacher, and a building administrator.  Most recently she served as a director of special education.  Dr. Sadin has been vice-president of her local School Board and is recognized as a Master School Board Member. She has conducted research on the perceptions of teachers working to create trauma-informed classrooms.  Dr. Sadin is a published author and has produced numerous webinars on children with attachment trauma in schools. Currently, Dr. Sadin works as an education consultant and developmental trauma expert providing professional development to school districts, municipal service providers and parents.  Nationally, Dr. Sadin is a highly sought after keynote speaker and conference presenter. Her Trauma Guide Series of books are available on her website, www.traumasensitive.com.

Make sure to follow her:
www.traumasensitive.com - 

https://www.attachmenttraumanetwork.org/conference/ - national conference

https://www.acesconnection.com/ - for ACEs and resilience surveys

Nsba4safeschools.org/safety-summit  - National School Boards upcoming conference

@melissasadin - twitter

https://www.facebook.com/Traumasensitive- Facebook

Beth joins us this week to talk about what ambiguous loss is, and how it impacts foster and adopted children and their families. We both discuss the role grief plays in being trauma informed, and how often we breeze right over what a child has lost and jump right into our trauma responses.
We also discuss lifebooks and how critical they are to helping a child keep a documented timelime of their story and all its complexity.

Beth has a M.A. in Counseling Psychology from Eastern University, where she gained a rich understanding of psychological theory and the techniques that are most effective for creating positive change in the lives of others. She provides mental health counseling to children, adolescents, adults and families and she has published the childrens book A Grandfamily for Sullivan. Check out Beths website and blog at bethtyson.com.

Join Beth's Facebook Group: Emotiminds

Instagram: Beth Tyson_Trauma Care

Twitter: @author_tyson

LinkedIn: Beth Tyson

Tori shares her experience in foster care as a former foster youth, foster care advocate, & foster mom and how that fuels her ife’s passion to raise up & nurture her own family, as well as advocate for the restoration of family. She shares her life vulnerably with hopes to let her Abba Father be known & loved through stories, to offer hope to the hurting, & to serve people from all kinds of backgrounds.

Tori Petersen is a national speaker, writer, and advocate for the preservation of family, foster care and adoption. She is also a wife to Jacob, a mom to two littles, and a foster mom to one. After growing up in the foster care system, having lived in twelve different homes, and being adopted as an adult, Tori knew her calling was to communicate The Gospel through the light of adoption and the stories God has granted her. Tori has founded a scholarship alongside her husband at Hillsdale College for former foster youth and vulnerable populations. She's presented policy to White House Policy Staffers and works with various nonprofits. You can follow her on Instagram at @torihopepetersen and her website torihopepetersen.com

Kristine joins us in part two this week to tell us how her time in foster care has allowed her to help foster and adoptive parents help children feel safe. Her story is that of true resilience as she shares how her experience drove her to get a Social Work degree, become a foster mom and start working with humans and horses at The Ranch of Hope Reins.

The Ranch of Hope Reins is where Stable Moments is holding their certification training in October.

Follow them on facebook.

Kristine joins us this week to tell us part one of her harrowing story about her childhood, her mom's suicide, entering foster care and eventually aging out of foster care. She shares what was helpful and what wasn't. Her story is that of true resilience as she shares how her experience drove her to get a Social Work degree, become a foster mom and start working with humans and horses at The Ranch of Hope Reins. 

The Ranch of Hope Reins is where Stable Moments is holding their certification training in October.

Follow them on facebook.