Is It Harder for Singles to Adopt? - Weekend Wisdom
Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption, Foster & Kinship Care
04/12/25
•4m
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Question: Hello, I am a single parent by choice and a hopeful adoptive parent. I've been working with an agency and waiting to be matched for a domestic infant adoption since this summer, and I haven't had much luck. I'm starting to wonder if expectant parents think single parents are not a good choice for their baby. In my profile book, I emphasize my financial stability and support of a network of family and friends, but is that enough? In your experience, do single parents have a harder time being matched? What are the things I should consider as a single parent when trying to match with an expectant parent?
Resources:
- Adopting as a Single Parent
- Understanding the Birth Parent's Experience
- Self-Care for Parents & Caregivers
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
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Are you considering adopting or fostering a child who was exposed prenatally to opioids or opioid-use treatment medication, such as Buprenorphine, methadone, and Suboxone? Are you a grandparent or aunt raising a child who was exposed? Join our discussion with Dr. Jennifer McAllister, the Medical Director of the NOWS Follow-Up Clinic at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and the Medical Director of the University of Cincinnati Newborn Nursery.
In this episode, we discuss:
- Terminology: What is the difference between opiates and opioids?
- What are the most common opioids being abused?
- What are the common treatment medications/drugs given to those with opioid use disorder? What are the brand names for these medications?
- How do these medications work?
- Are substance-use medications safe to use during pregnancy?
- What are the short- and long-term impacts on infants exposed to opioids?
- What are the short- and long-term impacts of infants exposed to opioid-use medications in pregnancy? Do the impacts differ?
- Does the dosage of opioid-use medications change the impact they have on the baby?
- What are the short- and long-term impacts of infants exposed to fentanyl in pregnancy?
- Is there a safer time for a fetus to be exposed to opioids or opioid-use medications in utero?
- Is it true that if the child is not born experiencing signs of withdrawal or with drugs in their system, the prognosis is better? Or conversely, if the child is born dependent and has to go through withdrawals, they will suffer more impact from in-utero drug exposure?
- How dangerous is drug dependency and withdrawal for the infant?
- How are Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) and Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome (NOWS) treated in babies?
- If a mom is taking opioid-use medications during her pregnancy, is it recommended that she breastfeed the infant to help with withdrawal?
- How long does withdrawal in an infant born dependent last?
- How do you foster attachment while the baby is experiencing withdrawal?
- You often hear that “early intervention is key” and that a baby’s brain can be rewired during the first couple of years with the right treatments or therapy. What exactly does that therapy entail? What strategies should you be using at home with your child with a diagnosis of prenatal drug exposure?
- When a child has drug exposure and trauma, is it possible to tell the difference in what is causing specific problems, and is the treatment different depending on the cause?
- Are children who are exposed prenatally to any drug, but specifically to opioids, at a greater risk for substance abuse disorder as teens and adults if they were adopted and not raised in an environment that exposed them to drug use?
- What are the most common blood-borne diseases that women who have IV drug use?
- What is the risk to a baby whose mother has HIV or Hepatitis C?
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
Parenting Kids with Prenatal Exposure
April 16, 2025
•57m
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Do you suspect (or know) that your child was exposed to alcohol or drugs during pregnancy? We discuss tips for how to best work with these children with Dr. Robin Gurwitch, a professor at Duke University’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Center for Child and Family Health.
In this episode, we discuss:
- How does prenatal exposure to alcohol or drugs affect children at different ages?
- Oftentimes adoptive, foster and kinship families may not know specifically if their child was exposed in pregnancy to alcohol or drugs? How can a parent determine if their child was prenatally exposed?
- What are some of the more common signs, symptoms, and behaviors a parent might see at different ages?
- Birth to age five
- Elementary age
- Tweens and adolescence
- Young adults
- Parents, teachers, and other adults working with these children often don’t think about prenatal exposure because of the lag in time between the exposure and when the more disruptive symptoms appear. At what age do you see parents and kids beginning to struggle more?
- What are some of the common misdiagnoses that these children receive?
- How do the attention and focus issues common with kids who have been exposed to alcohol and drugs differ from ADHD? Is ADHD medication effective to improve attention in prenatally exposed kids?
- Is it common for children with prenatal exposure to be uneven in their abilities? For example, average to above average in verbal skills but substantially below average in other areas.
- What do we mean by “executive function” or “higher level thinking skills” and how does prenatal exposure to alcohol and drugs impact this?
- We hear from parents that one of the most frustrating symptoms is not being able to learn from their mistakes. Doing the same thing even though they have been told not to. Not learning from cause and effect. Is this common with kids who have been exposed to alcohol and drugs during gestation?
- What are some practical tips for working with kids with prenatal exposure to help them thrive at home and at school?
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
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