Help, I Don't Think I Can Continue With This Adoption!
Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption, Foster & Kinship Care
03/05/25
•44m
About
Comments
Transcript
Featured In
Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks!
Are you really struggling with your adoption and feeling you've made a huge mistake? Listen to this interview with Lindsay Lanham, MSW. She works at Holt International and is the author of the online article “Predictors of Adoption Disruption and Dissolution: A Literature Review.”
In this episode, we cover:
- Difference between an adoption disruption and adoption dissolution.
- What causes an adoption to fail? What causes parents to say: “Help, I don’t think I can continue this adoption?”
- Child-related factors:
- Child’s age
- Child’s behavior
- Aggression or children who sexually act out
- Are sibling placements more stable?
- Adoptive parent-related factors:
- Demographic characteristics? (age, marital status, parenting experience, income, race)
- Parental expectations
- Parenting style
- Relationship prior to the adoptive placement
- Characteristics of parents in successful adoptions
- Adoption professional-related factors:
- Identify problems quickly and provide support
- How to address children who have experienced sexual abuse. “It is recommended that social workers universally prepare families for behaviors associated with sexual abuse trauma and the possible impact of sexual abuse. Adoptive families should have the language necessary to speak about child sexual abuse and know how to access supportive resources in their community, such as child advocacy centers, prior to placement.”
- What should parents do when they realize that the adoption isn’t going as they had hoped/planned?
- Identify the problem quickly and get support.
- Reset expectations
- Self-care
- Get help
- What should parents do if they are reaching the point where they want to dissolve an adoption?
Resource: Predictors of Adoption Disruption and Dissolution: A Literature Review
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 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/blog posts
- Resource pages on all aspects of family building
Previous Episode
Coping with Stillbirth After Adoption Match - Weekend Wisdom
March 1, 2025
•7m
Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks!
Question: I've been an adoption social worker for almost seven years and just experienced my 2nd situation where the birth mother in a match had a stillbirth after selecting a family through our agency. Both situations were such a difficult loss for both parties. I'm curious if you've heard of others who experienced this unusually tragic type of loss during adoption. I'm not sure how common it is, especially given the rate of stillbirths is 1 in 175 births in the U.S. How can adoption professionals (on the adoptive parent AND birth parent side) best walk through such a situation with their clients?
Resources:
- Creating a Family Online Support Group
- How can you deal with your feelings of grief after a stillbirth? (March of Dimes)
- Stillbirth: Surviving Emotionally (American Pregnancy Association)
- Find a Local Chapter - The Compassionate Friends
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 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/blog posts
- Resource pages on all aspects of family building
Next Episode
Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks!
Question: I have a daughter who has dealt with trauma from consistent experiences of neglect and abandonment. While our home is loving and supportive, she continues to exhibit a victim mentality and has a hard time taking responsibility for her actions. She's a sweet girl, but she makes comments to others that insinuate she is not having her most basic needs met, which is simply not the case. How can we help her, and how should we be responding to her self-victimization?
Resources:
- Creating a Family Online Facebook Support Group
- Helping a Child Heal from Trauma
- Self-Care for Foster Parents
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 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/blog posts
- Resource pages on all aspects of family building
If you like this episode you’ll love
Promoted