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

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What do you do when you discover that important foster placement information was withheld before you accepted a child into your home—or even before adoption was finalized? 

In this Weekend Wisdom episode, we respond to an adoptive parent who learned that behaviors they had specifically said they could not manage had been documented in previous foster homes. We explore how to hold the agency a...

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The transition from foster care to adoption can bring relief and security, but it can also stir anxiety, grief, uncertainty, and behaviors families may not expect. In this episode, adoptive dad Adrian Potter shares what his family learned while adopting three siblings who had spent years in foster care. We discuss building trust through predictability and routine, helping a parentified child return to ...

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Question: My niece has been living with her paternal grandparents for two years. She is now four and they have decided that it is getting too hard for them. We’ve agreed to take her in. She knows us, but we haven’t spent much time with her. What’s the best way to move her to our home that will cause the least psychological damage to her. She is very attached to her grandparents.

Resour...

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With so many trauma-informed parenting approaches available, how do foster, adoptive, and kinship parents know which strategies will actually fit their child and family? In this episode, childhood trauma consultant Beth Tyson helps parents cut through the overwhelm and understand what to look for in a trauma-responsive parenting model. We explore why safety, trust, attachment, and connection should be ...

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What should you do when a birth mother doesn’t want contact in open adoption, but other birth family members still want a relationship with your child? In this Weekend Wisdom episode, we answer one adoptive parent’s question about how to support a child who wants to see his birth mother while continuing a meaningful relationship with his birth grandmother. We discuss how to talk honestly wi...

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How can parents support transracial adoption identity and belonging as children grow and begin defining who they are for themselves? In this panel conversation, three young adults with lived experience in adoption and foster care share how family, race, culture, community, trauma, and relationships shaped their developing identities and sense of belonging. They discuss the difference between having a p...

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When should a parent consider residential treatment for an adopted teen who has been struggling for years? One listener shared that after trying therapy, different supports, and everything they knew to help their child heal, simply hearing the words “residential treatment” felt like a parental failure. 

In this Weekend Wisdom episode, we explore how to move beyond the question, “A...

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How can parents protect kids from sexual exploitation without teaching them to fear the world around them? For adoptive, foster, and kinship families, this question can feel especially important when raising children who have experienced trauma, abuse, neglect, disrupted attachment, or other challenges that may affect trust, boundaries, and their need for connection. In this episode, child safety advoc...

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Are you considering whether your family is ready to foster or adopt a sibling group? Keeping siblings together can preserve important family relationships, shared history, and connection, but parenting multiple children who have experienced trauma also requires careful preparation. 

In this Weekend Wisdom episode, we explore the questions prospective foster and adoptive parents should ask before sa...

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If you want to adopt a relative from another country, the process involves much more than simply proving your family connection. International relative adoption—sometimes called international kinship adoption—must meet U.S. immigration requirements as well as the adoption laws of the child’s country. 

In this episode, we talk with Debbie Price, BSW, Executive Director of Children&...

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Question: I recently received an autism diagnosis in my mid-30s. I have relatively low support needs and am working with my therapist to identify the best ways to manage my energy. I think I could still be a good foster parent, but will it be an issue for an agency?

Resources:

• Adult Autism Diagnosis Tool Kit – from Autism Speaks
• Autistic Self Advocacy Network
• So You Want to Be a Foster Parent

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What does healthy openness in adoption really look like—and how can adoptive parents maintain meaningful birth family connections over time? In this episode, we talk with adoptive mom Annie Iverson about practical strategies for open adoption, including staying consistent when life gets busy, setting healthy boundaries, keeping your child’s needs at the center, and adjusting openness as chi...

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Parenting kids exposed to trauma is hard. Sometimes, it is very hard, but these families can thrive. In an interview with Creating a Family, Dr. Ross Greene, a Harvard Psychology professor, stressed that it was crucial for parents of children exposed to trauma to realize that kids want to do well, and if they are struggling, it is likely because they are lacking a specific skill needed to succeed.

Resou...

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Children in foster care can experience far more than a change in placement. They may lose caregivers, siblings, schools, routines, communities, caseworkers, therapists, and other trusted relationships—sometimes again and again. What does that repeated instability mean for a child’s behavior, sense of safety, and ability to trust?

In this episode, we talk with Rita Soronen, President and CEO ...

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Bedtime can be especially challenging for children who have experienced trauma, loss, or disrupted attachment—and even harder when parents disagree about how to respond. In this episode of Weekend Wisdom from Creating a Family, we share practical ways to approach bedtime as a team, divide the parenting load more fairly, support your child’s need for connection and regulation, and protect yo...

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How can play help children heal, regulate big emotions, and strengthen attachment? We talk with Georgie Wisen-Vincent about ways that adoptive, foster, and kinship caregivers can use playfulness to build connection, support emotional growth, and help children impacted by trauma thrive. She is a nationally recognized play therapy expert, co-author of the new book , The Way of Play, and the Founder/Direc...

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Question: I've been looking into a lot of resources and communities for foster parents, and it seems like many of them, especially in my area, approach fostering from a Christian perspective. I was raised Christian but am no longer comfortable in Christian spaces. How do I find community? 

Resources:

1. Laura the Foster Parent Partner 
2. Annie E. Casey Foundation
3. AdoptUSKids
4. Dave Thomas Foundation ...

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What are trauma-responsive practices, and how can they impact your child’s behavior, emotional well-being, and success in school? In this episode, we speak with Dr. Brandy-Lea McCombs, founder of STL234 Outreaches and a frequent speaker on reviving resilience in children, drawing from her professional research and her personal journey as an adoptive parent.

Learn practical trauma-responsive practi...

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Question: Our adopted son is almost 4 months old and perfectly healthy. He eats well, sleeps well, and seems to be hitting his milestones just fine. We know that he was exposed to cocaine during pregnancy, but he was born only three weeks early, which is still full-term. He had a healthy birth weight, he was not suffering from withdrawal in the hospital, and he has checked out as perfectly healthy at a...