Thriving Adoptees - Let's Thrive

Here's a bit about Peter from his website.

Qualified as a Chartered Certified Accountant in 1999.

I qualified as an NLP Practitioner in 2012.

In 2017, I qualified as a Personal Performance coach with The Coaching Academy, obtaining a distinction (the highest grade available with Europe’s leading coach trainers).

I have studied many self development teachers including Stephen Covey.

I have also studied many spiritual teachers including Dr Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra, Gabby Bernstein and Michael Neill.

At present, I am studying Buddhist teachings, allowing me to introduce mindfulness and inside out change into coaching.

https://www.facebook.com/petersleighcoaching

https://www.linkedin.com/in/petersleigh/

https://twitter.com/petersleigh

https://www.businessandpersonalcoach.co.uk/

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Katie serves 10.18 Strategy from a wealth of experience gained from her career as an entrepreneur, business consultant, executive officer, and strategist over the last seventeen years. Before founding 10.18 Strategy, Katie was a business consultant for over ten years, serving both for-profit and non-profit leaders with innovative strategies that brought solutions to complex problems. Katie has served on the board of directors of multiple non-profit organizations bringing both national impact and international aid. As a foster/adopt parent and former court-appointed child advocate, her desire to impact the lives of vulnerable children is a deeply personal and heartfelt.

Connect with Katie here

 https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-fetzer/

Here's a bit about  10.18  from their website

 10.18’s vision is to bring awareness to child abuse and maltreatment while also empowering individuals to take actions as child-centered advocates. Our core mission is being a voice for the voiceless and protecting children that are put into dangerous situations. We are guided by faith and the belief that it is not about the mess and brokenness of the system, it is about the possibility of restoration.

Find out more here:

https://www.1018strategy.org/

https://www.facebook.com/1018strategy

https://www.instagram.com/1018strategy/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsrkx9BOkOc76c95MXrFk5Q

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Here's bit about Stef from his website

In 2013, my life had crashed around my ears.

After struggling with a lifetime of anxiety and depression, my marriage broke down and I was contemplating losing everything I loved and had worked so hard for so many years. I was at an all time low, I couldn't sleep, couldn't eat and could not find a way out of the black hole in front of me, I could not find any hope for the present or the future.

By chance, I came across a book - 'The Inside Out Revolution' by Michael Neill. 

The book was my introduction to 'The 3 Principles' a description of how the mind/ life works, and the true nature of every human being.

I didn't really understand the book on an intellectual level at first, but I knew there was truth there and something had touched me, deeply, profoundly inside.

And my life began to change. I began to feel a glimmer of hope again.

I continued to read other books, I contacted Michael and began to attend some of his programs. 

I began to feel different, lighter.

As a result of a simple insight at this time, the lifelong 'difficult' relationship with my Father (who I had become the carer of) changed almost overnight from immensely challenging to loving and joyful which remained until he died some months later.

I began to see how I had created so much limitation in my life, I saw (from a deep level of insight) how I had innocently believed this idea of myself as being 'not good enough', in relationships, my work and family life. I saw myself as being broken in some way.

And it stopped me from seeing the real me. 

It stopped me from seeing possibilities.

It stopped me from seeing the bigger game of life.

It stopped me from seeing my true potential.

It stopped me from seeing that I was (and was always) being guided.

​I began to show up in the world with this new understanding of who I was and what I could be capable of.

All of a sudden life got easier - relationships, work, family. Life became richer, deeper and more meaningful.

For the last eight years I have been so impacted, my life transformed so profoundly that I have been moved to share this understanding with anyone with ears to listen. From business leaders in China, Middle East, The US and Europe to Schools in the UK, Military veterans, Mental Health charities, and private individuals. I am so privileged to get to witness such deep transformation in other's lives as a result of this simple, kind, deep conversation.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefancybichowski/

https://www.facebook.com/stefancyb

https://www.yourdeepestpotential.com/

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Here's a bit about Clare from her website

"Hello my name is Clare.

For a long time, I wasn’t at ease with who I thought I was.

I felt anxious and worried that people would think I was stupid.

I worried about getting things wrong.

I held myself back in case I would mess things up. I felt stressed, ill at ease, apprehensive.

I didn’t like myself or how I was in the world.

I spent many many years reading, studying, attending courses, talking to people to try to find a way to feel better about myself and along the way earned many qualifications (BA Psych, MBA, NLP trainer, yoga teacher, master hypnotist…).

Then I came across an understanding that made it clear we are never what we think we are and the world is never what we believe it to be. That our true nature is awareness of that idea of self and other.

This realisation was pure freedom. There was nothing to fix. Not with myself and not with the world. And the crazy thing is the more clearly we see this, the more we meet reality as it appears. With freedom and peace we are immersed in our life and work.

Each of us is already what we are searching for. It is that simple."

https://claredimond.com/

https://www.facebook.com/claredimondreal/

https://twitter.com/Claredimond

https://www.instagram.com/clare_v_dimond/

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Founder of the Plus One Adoption Foundation, Inc., Michele Katz builds connections with charitable services in the space of adoption and fundraising, to help families come together and stay together. The organization’s goal to provide the resources in order to help place 2.5M children into loving families stems from the 2.5 million children lost in the Holocaust and the Jewish credence of mending a broken world—when you save a child, you save the world.

Just as sure as she was that she would one day have children, she knew early on that she would adopt. Michele adopted not one, but two children from Colombia into her family, thus making her a mother of four. Going through the adoption process without a guide can seem long, lonely, difficult and frustrating. But having access to a community of adoptive families and adoption experts helped navigate some of the harder points in this journey; Michele was able to expand her family, and she’s now found a calling to help others do the same.

Michele knows, firsthand, the obstacles of adoption. But more importantly, she knows the joy that’s on the other side. She’s able to share guidance and resources to help others in their own family expansions. While many get tripped up on some of the legalese and the overall uncertainty, Michele provides a solid understanding and process to help ease concerns and steer prospective families on their path. She is creating a network for families to grow and places for kids to thrive—shifting the mindset around adoption by educating parents, and teaching kids how to attach to loving families. 

A capeless hero, Michele is normalizing adoption by clearing misconceptions and answering the unknowns. She reminds prospective parents that you never know what you’re getting with children—there will always be surprises, whether adopted or biological—and that it takes a village to raise a family. By working with family-first game-changers and continuously fundraising, Michele is building a rolodex of resources in the adoption world, sharing them and offering her education to families and children prior, during and after papers are signed—giving special consideration towards post-placement care.

Through the Plus One℠ foundation, Michele is bringing together experts and guides to help her cultivate a community—building a support system that drives change in the world of adoption. 

Pushing adoption into the mainstream, Michele is here to let you know that nothing should get in the way of starting or expanding your family.

The Plus One Adoption Foundation, Inc. is Chicagoland’s newest adoption foundation, committed to shifting the mindset of adoption from a last option to a choice.

This charitable foundation has a database of credible adoption related resources. We can discuss at no charge what might be the next step in your adoption journey and refer consultants, agencies, attorneys and/or post-placement therapists that fit your current vision. The Plus One℠ foundation is an informational resource and we want to assist you with the fees associated with your adoption--including post placement expenses. In that vein, we are actively raising money for individuals to assist with adoption and post placement expenses.

The Plus One℠ foundation promotes research, education and public awareness surrounding the adoption of children.

Working to fill the knowledge gap, the Plus One℠ foundation is contributing to the world by highlighting adoption as a viable option to add "plus one" to your family.

We know the adoption process can be a big, scary, emotional journey. We are your resource center, which is why we strive to provide the best information to help those purposefully reshaping their families. 

The Plus One℠ foundation is here to be your resource, when adoption is your family plan.

www.plusoneadoption.org

https://www.instagram.com/plusoneadoption/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/plus-one-adoption-foundation-inc/

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Michele Kriegman is a storyteller by nature but she was missing her own backstory well into adulthood. Finding her birth-father helped complete it. During this session of the U.S. Supreme Court the focus of many of her public talks will be the Indian Child Welfare Act, a new battlefield in the culture wars, which played a pivotal role in her own story.

She worked for many years in U.S. and Japanese journalism, including ABC News, iVillage.com, Lilith, Maine Public Radio, Nippon TV's morning show, parenting magazines, Tokyo Broadcasting, and TV Asahi. More recent journalism has been for cybersecurity publications such as Info Security Professional.

Michele Kriegman is an adoptee who searched successfully for her birth-father in New York before the state opened its records. She reclaimed her birth-name, Suzanne Gilbert, to write the novel, Tapioca Fire, that is the prequel to The Birth-Fathers’ Club. She teaches writing workshops for adoptees and donor-conceived people finding their #ownvoices. She speaks on panels for social workers, adoptive families, and intentional parents about heritage equality. Her approach, though well-researched, isn’t academic or clinical; she’s been an in-the-trenches adoptive stepmom too.

Most recently, a DNA test kit that came as a Chrismukkah present, revealed a sister! Their shared birth-father, and his complex effort at redemption later in life, inspired the story in one of the novellas.

Connect with her at

https://www.facebook.com/michele.kriegman

https://twitter.com/ReunionLand

1) Rock Memoir:

Book 1 of The Birth-Fathers' Club Series

From Amazon UK/Ireland: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Michele-Kriegman/e/B09HSPD895

From Amazon US: https://amzn.to/3olbMpP

From Amazon Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/Michele-Kriegman/e/B09HSPD895

From Amazon Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/Michele-Kriegman/e/B09HSPD895

From Independent Bookshop US: https://bookshop.org/a/78945/9781737947707

2) From a Desert City by the Sea:

Book 2 of the Birth-Fathers' Club Series

From Amazon UK/Ireland: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Michele-Kriegman/e/B09HSPD895

From Amazon US: https://amzn.to/3Hk6vHJ

From Amazon Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/Michele-Kriegman/e/B09HSPD895

From Amazon Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/Michele-Kriegman/e/B09HSPD895

From Independent Bookshop US: https://bookshop.org/a/78945/9781737947714
 

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Here's a little about Kristine's organisation from her website:

Hawaii International Child (HIC) (founding name, Hawaii International Child Placement and Family Services, Inc.), was established in 1975 by members of Hawai'i’s adoption community. HIC’s founding members came from a background of personal connection to international adoption. Some had parents who’d been adopted, others had adopted children themselves, or were raised with siblings who’d been adopted. 

In its early years, HIC worked directly with Holt Children’s Services International, bringing nearly 2,000 orphaned children from Korea to American families. In 1991 HIC moved from the Big Island of Hawai'i, to Honolulu on the island of Oahu, to better serve a larger adoptive parent population. HIC has actively sought to maintain its reputation as a friendly and client-focused agency. Our staff is united in our love of children, our respect for adoptive parents, and our enjoyment of the important work we are lucky to be able to do.

From 1975 to 2020, HIC helped more than 3,000 children find their forever families. We ran adoption programs in China, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the Ukraine, Taiwan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Africa, Thailand, Vietnam and the Republic of Georgia. We worked in cooperation with other agencies and parties, to place children from Cambodia, the Philippines, Peru, Guatemala, Mexico and Japan. We served as a contract agency with the State of Hawai'i Department of Human Services to place children from foster care into permanent homes in Hawai'i. We worked with adoption attorneys in private adoptions and facilitate private domestic adoptions. We worked to place children from mainland state foster programs into permanent homes in Hawai'i.

In an effort to work more closely with our families in Hawai'i, in 2020, HIC grew into A Family Tree. As AFT, we continue to offer the full range of adoption services, domestic child placement, home studies, parent training, (birth) parent support. As also opened our PonoRoots Counseling Center, support families, couples, children and individuals. 

As a 501(c)3 non-profit agency, AFT is governed by the AFT Board of Directors and is licensed by the State of Hawai'i. 

https://www.afamilytree.org/

https://www.instagram.com/afamilytreehi/

https://www.facebook.com/afamilytreehi

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristine-altwies-888b305/

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Astrid founded Adoption Mosaic. Here's a bit about her from their website:

Astrid has a degree in sociology with an emphasis in adoption. For twenty plus years, she has traveled the country to lead youth groups, present workshops on transracial parenting, talking with children about adoption and various other workshops focusing on adoption. Prior to creating Adoption Mosaic, Astrid worked in both the private and public sectors of various adoption organizations such the Oregon Post Adoption Resource Center (ORPARC), Holt International, Rocky Mountain Adoption Exchange, to name just a few.

Astrid co-authored Adoption in the Movies, which takes the reader on a guided tour of 27 movies and documentaries that are ‘dripping with adoption’ asking questions that encourage the viewer to engage in ongoing dialogue and discussion. She also developed an innovative, evidence-based, 27-minute training DVD titled, Adoptive Parent Training: Developing Communication Skills. The training demonstrates how adoptive parents can communicate openly and honestly with family, friends and especially children.

Astrid is a former member of the board of directors of the North American Council on Adoptable Children, the author of many articles on the subject of adoption and contributed a chapter to the book Parents As Adoptees.

Astrid’s personal experiences as an adoptee, a woman of color, and growing up in a white family and community, fuel her professional path to helping others.

Astrid is aware of the benefits of post-adoption services for individuals and their families and seeks to bring these services to the adoption community.

Her life-long interest in adoption is rooted in her own adoption at the age of four from Colombia (along with her older sister). Astrid has been in reunion with her birth family in Colombia since December 2012. Read The Oregonian article on Astrid!

When Astrid is not working she loves to spend time with family and friends and enjoys the adventures of life as the mama of an amazing teenage daughter.

Adoption Mosaic provides a platform for compassionate, informed education, training and resources to the adoption constellation/community. In one way or another, we all have adoption in our lives. And regardless of what role we play or the resources we’ve been give, each of us deserves a healthy lifelong adoption experience.

Here at Adoption Mosaic we focus on families and individuals by supporting them in making the most educated, informed and unbiased decision when it comes to their adoption needs. We provide space where the adoption constellation/community feel valued, heard, understood and accepted as a full member of society, family and community.

Find out more at:

https://adoptionmosaic.com/

https://www.instagram.com/adoptionmosaic/

https://www.facebook.com/AdoptionMosaic/

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Nicole Ward Moore is a Board Certified Adoption Attorney and Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Mediator who manages and operates the Orlando office. Nicole has been practicing with the firm since opening the Orlando office in 2005. Nicole practices exclusively in the area of adoption law throughout the State of Florida and in conjunction with out-of-state placements. Nicole also represents adoptive parents in adoption finalizations and represents several adoption agencies in private adoption placements. Nicole is also a member of the prestigious Academy of Adoption and Reproduction Attorneys, the Florida Adoption Council, the Orange County Bar Association, and the Florida Bar.

Nicole handles domestic adoptions, DCF Interventions, relative adoptions, stepparent adoptions, adult adoptions and recertifications of foreign adoptions. Nicole often speaks publicly on the subject of adoption and appeared on the O’Reilly Factor in 2007. In 2008, Nicole accepted an adjunct professorship teaching adoption law at Barry Law School in Orlando, Florida.

Nicole graduated with high honors from the University of Florida in 2001 with a B.S. degree in Journalism and Communications. Nicole then received her J.D. degree in 2004 from the University of Florida, College of Law, where she graduated with honors. Prior to opening the Orlando office, Nicole worked for the Department of Children and Families as a Juvenile Dependency Attorney, prosecuting parents that abused and neglected their children.

As the Host of Moore to Love: An Adoption Podcast, Nicole interviews adoptive parents, birth mothers, and adoption experts that reveal the raw truth about love, law, and the learning process that comes with adoption. 

Find out more at:

https://www.heartofadoptions.com/adoption-podcast/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-moore-04520114/

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Stephanie K. Sterling, MSW, LCSW is the Director of Family Services at Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Baton Rouge.  Stephanie received her MSW degree from Tulane University in 1996. She holds a 90-hour post graduate certification in Adoption and Foster Care Competence.  Stephanie has experience with inpatient, outpatient, and primary care behavioral health as well as pregnancy counseling.  She serves on the Governor’s Children’s Cabinet Advisory Board, the Children’s Code Adoption Subcommittee, the Louisiana Safe Haven Consortium, and is the Vice Chair of the Catholic Charities USA Child, Youth and Family Services Steering Committee.  Stephanie has successfully written and managed multiple grants from various funding sources. She has presented at local, statewide, and national conferences on Clinical Adoption Practice, Self-Care, and Disaster Behavioral Health.

Paula C. Davis, LCSW – BACS is a Field Education Liaison and an Instructor with the LSU School of Social Work. She has more than 20 years of both domestic and international adoption experience working with all members of the adoption triad. Prior to working full-time at LSU, Paula was the Clinical Director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Baton Rouge and has dedicated her career to serving children who have special needs, are older, and more difficult to place. Currently, at Catholic Charities, she provides post-adoption support and counseling, including search and reunion work. Paula serves on the Louisiana Children’s Code and was instrumental in increasing protections and transparency for adoption practice in Louisiana. Paula provides counseling and support for families post-adoption, is a TBRI (Trust Based Relational Intervention) practitioner and is a TAC (Training for Adoption Competence) Trainer providing Adoption Competent Education to licensed Mental Health Professionals throughout the state. Paula has presented on Adoption at local, state, and national conferences and received the Angel in Adoption Award in 2019 from the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute.

Catholic Charities provides domestic and intercountry adoption services to children and families, placing children from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds with their forever families.

Adoption Services Provided

• Individual Consultation
• Individual and Group Training
• Parent Preparation and Education
• Pre & Post Adoption Support and Training
• Home Study Services
• Post-Legal & Intermediary Services

https://www.adoptccdiobr.org/

https://www.instagram.com/adoptbatonrouge/

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.