Claim OwnershipCreating a Family: Talk about Adoption, Foster & Kinship Care
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© 2025 Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption, Foster & Kinship Care
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Are you thinking about adopting or fostering a child? Confused about all the options and wondering where to begin? Or are you an adoptive or foster parent or kinship caregiver trying to be the best parent possible to this precious child? This is the podcast for you! Every week, we interview leading experts for an hour, discussing the topics you care about in deciding whether to adopt/foster or how to be a better parent. This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are the 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, and resource pages on all aspects of family building at our website, CreatingaFamily.org. We also have an active presence on many social media platforms. Please like or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter).
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Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. We're thrilled to introduce you to our new Executive Director, Linda Fiore. Listen to today's conversation about her journey to Creating a Family and where we're heading in this next chapter under her leadership. In this episode, we discuss: What first brought you into the world of adoption, foster care, and kinship care?When you started out, what was your “why”?What values or goals drove your work in those earliest years?What...
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: Help for a youth dealing with being bullied because they are in foster care? Resources: 5 Steps to Effectively Advocate for a Child Who is Being BulliedAre Transracial Adoptees More Likely to Be Bullied?Helping Our Kids Cope with Bullies at SchoolStopBullying.govSupport 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 st...
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Do you feel like raising a child with a history of trauma has stirred up your own traumatic past? If you wonder how to parent from a position of healing, listen to this conversation with Dr. Robyn Koslowitz. She is a psychologist, trauma expert, and author of the new book, Post-Traumatic Parenting: Break the Cycle, Become the Parent You Always Wanted to Be. In this episode, we discuss: You open your book by saying, ‘It’s not y...
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: I have been fostering our grandchild since March. It is now almost September. Both biological parents had drug addiction. Bio mom was on a trial home visit, but used this as the reason our grandchild is with us. After the trial home visit ended, bio mom was still getting supervised visits 2x a week. After every visit, the little one was dysregulated and started biting and hitting the daycare kiddos and the provider, ...
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Join us for a fun and inspiring conversation with Emily Cole, co-founder and co-owner of Banana Ball, the new sports phenomenon sweeping the country. We're talking with her about Bananas Foster, their non-profit that celebrates foster families all around the nation. In this episode, we talk about: Please tell us the story of how Bananas Foster got started.What was happening in your life that made you say, “We need to do someth...
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: Do you have trainings for children transitioning from foster care to adoption? Resources: Transitioning a Child to Your HomeWelcoming an Older Child to Your FamilyHelping Your Child Transition Smoothly from Foster Care to AdoptionUsing Lifebooks to Explain Complex Issues in Adoption to KidsBooks about being adopted from foster careSupport the show Please leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced by www.Cr...
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Do you sometimes feel that self-care is an impossible goal when you are parenting kids who have experienced trauma? There isn’t enough time in the day to do it all, much less take care of yourself. Or is there? Join us to talk about how to find time to take care of yourself. We will talk with Angelica Jones, MSW, Program Director of Intercountry Services and the Intensive Service Foster Care Recruiter and Trainer at Vista Del ...
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: We adopted our son at birth, and he is about to turn one already. I deeply care about his birth parents and have tried very hard to maintain a relationship with them. Even during many months of no contact, I think about them every day. Our only post-placement visit with them was at 2 1/2 months. They have no-showed for all the other visits they asked for, and have gone several months at a time without responding...
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Why do our kids melt down, act out, or regress during the holiday season? Listen to our conversation with Dr. David Adams to learn what is going on and what you can do about it to make this holiday season more enjoyable for you all. He is an adoptive and foster dad, a licensed psychologist, and a licensed professional counselor. He is the Founding Director and President of New Life Psychology Group in Laguna Hills, California,...
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: My adoptive child was contacted by the birth mother, never contacted us, it has caused chaos in our family. The parents that adopt kids are never considered after raising a child for over 20 years to give them back. Resources: Adoptive Mom Feels Left Out at Son’s Reunion with Birth MotherWhat You Need to Know about Open Adoption5 Tips for Navigating Sticky Situations with Birth ParentsAdvice to My Pre-Adoptive ...
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. How do you handle sleep struggles when raising a child who has been impacted by trauma, prenatal substance exposure, or other challenges? Listen to our conversation with Dr. Chris Winter, a sleep researcher and neurologist who has practiced sleep medicine and neurology since 2004. He is also the author of The Rested Child: Why Your Tired, Wired or Irritable Child May Have A Sleep Disorder--And How To Help, and hosts the podcas...
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: How should I deal with an adoptive child with a people-pleasing personality? I want to prevent the anxiety that comes with that, but I'm not sure how. Resources: 6 Tips for Creating AttachmentHow to Cultivate Resilience in Your Kids7 Character Traits Your Kids Need to ThriveSigns Your Child Might Be People Pleasing and How to HelpSupport the show Please leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced...
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. How do you manage daily expenses and budgeting when you are a foster or kinship caregiving family? We speak with Nicole Valenzuela, a foster parent and founder of Fostering Finances, to learn about simplified budgeting practices and healthy mindsets for managing money. In this episode, we discuss: What are the financial challenges that foster and kinship families commonly face?How do those challenges differ between kinship car...
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: My husband and I are considering whether we will open our special needs consideration to include children who are HIV+. We have already been approved to adopt from India, and as our home study update approaches, we are taking a good, hard look at the Special Needs list again. I was listening to your podcast episode on this topic from 2013 and wondered if this was worth an updated episode? Has much changed for familie...
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. What strategies can parents and caregivers implement in their homes to help reduce the risk that their children may be sexually abused? Learn practical parenting tools from this conversation with Dr. Eliana Gil, the founder of the Gil Institute for Trauma Recovery and Education. She specializes in the assessment and treatment of trauma in children, especially those who have been sexually abused. In this episode, we discuss: Wh...
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: My husband and I are in the process of adopting a waiting child internationally. This is our first adoption and we will soon be waiting to be matched with a child. I teach in higher education and my schedule is coordinated about nine months out. I am working with my supervisors to try and make sure my schedule for the next year is flexible to account for uncertain adoption timing. It has been so difficult to try and ...
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Resilience is more than just bouncing back from a challenge. Join us for a conversation about building resilience in ourselves and our kids, understanding coping tools, and caring well for ourselves while raising kids who may have significant gaps in their resilience. We talk with Kathleen Harnish McKune and her sister, Karen Dickson from Remarkably Resilient, Inc., a non-profit organization committed to partnering to empower ...
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: We are currently going through our home study to adopt from foster care, and I'm wondering if it is too early to look at photo listings? I have been looking at photo listings for a long time, but now, when I read the bios, it feels real, and I get slightly attached. I'm curious if you think this is setting myself up for disappointment. Resources: Adoptions in the US – Our Annual UpdateAdoption Comparison ChartsF...
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. What is human trafficking? Is your child at increased risk of being trafficked? Listen to this conversation with guests Dr. Yolanda Montgomery, a nurse, advocate, and the founder of Zoë Ministries, a nonprofit established in 2012 to combat human trafficking in Delaware and beyond, and Sara Poore, the Executive Director of the Delaware Anti-Trafficking Action Council (DATAC), leading statewide efforts to prevent human trafficki...
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: We very recently brought home our second child through domestic infant adoption. We feel very fortunate, and our son is developing well; we are also settling into the new routine. We matched with our Son's birth mother through a local agency, and unfortunately, she decided that she did not want to meet us. She gave no information about the biological father. We know she was caucasian, but honestly, i...
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