Maintaining Your Marriage & Relationships When Adopting or Fostering
Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption, Foster & Kinship Care
01/15/21
•62m
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We don’t just bring kids into our homes; we bring them into our marriage and relationships. And marriages or relationships are particularly challenged when we are parenting kids who have been exposed to trauma. We talk with Amy Garber, MSW and LICSW, the Manager of the Post Adoption Program with Wide Horizons for Children, a child welfare organization. We also talk with Anne Meijers, a licensed clinical social worker, specializing in adult and couples therapy.
In this episode, we cover:
- Our goal should be for our marriage or relationships to be around long after the kids leave home. This takes being proactive because if we’re not careful our relationship becomes all about parenting or fostering.
- How can kids enhance a marriage or relationship?
- We know that kids who’ve experience trauma can be challenging to parent and can test a marriage or a relationship.
- Why are children adopted or fostered past infancy, children with prenatal exposure, and kids who have experienced trauma often harder to parent?
- CreatingaFamily.org has many courses on Trauma Informed Parenting.
- What are some of the stresses that relationships may face when fostering or adopting kids who’ve been exposed to trauma?
- Feeling isolated
- One parent wanting to adopt or foster more than the other
- Blame from the outside or between the parents
- Grief- that parenting is harder or less fun than you anticipated, etc.
- What are some situations that children who’ve experienced trauma can bring to the family and be particularly difficult for the marriage?
- Disagreement on how to handle behaviors
- Triangulation
- What are some signs that you are neglecting your marriage?
- How can trauma or neglect in the parent’s background impact the marriage once children arrive?
- How to handle extended family members (grandparents, etc.) that are negatively impacting your relationship?
- Tips for strengthening your relationship while parenting kids who’ve been exposed to trauma, including prenatal exposure.
- Special issues for single parents.
- We encourage single parents to establish a support network. How can challenging kids test this network?
- How can single parents find support?
- Tips for singles to strengthen their support network and relationships.
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
Creating a Family also has an active presence on many social media platforms. Please like or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram.
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
Transitioning Home as a Newly Adoptive Family
January 8, 2021
•69m
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What should you expect as you return home with a newly adopted baby or child? What are the common emotions? We talk with Laura Jean Beauvais, a licensed professional counselor and mother of two adult daughters through adoption. She has conducted domestic, foster, and international adoptions for more than 25 years.
In this episode, we cover:
Adopting a Newborn
- What are some common emotions when adopting a newborn?
- What are some common stresses when adopting a newborn?
- How may the revocation period affect the transition to new adoptive parenting?
- Expectations of extended family during this transition period.
- How do the stresses of newly adopted families differ from a family that gives birth to their child?
- How does the pre-adoption process affect this transition to new parenthood?
- What are some feelings that come up about birth parents after the baby comes home?
- Realities of open adoptions
- Handling grief of birth family
- Feeling like the presence of a birth mom makes the adoptive mom less of a “real” mom
- The balance of power shifting from the expectant/birth mom to the adoptive mom
- How much of your child’s “story” should you share?
- How can infertility struggles impact the transition period?
Adopting a Child Past Infancy
- What are some common emotions when adopting a child from foster care or through international adoption?
- What are some common stresses when adopting a child past infancy?
- The challenge of setting realistic expectations.
- How to help your child and you settle in to becoming a new family.
Post Adoption Depression
- What is post-adoption depression?
- What are the symptoms?
- How common is post-adoption depression?
- Can fathers also have post-adoption depression?
- Who is at risk for post-adoption depression? Are there ways to predict which people are more prone to post-adoption depression?
- How can post-adoption depression impact parenting?
- What are some steps to take to prevent post-adoption depression?
- What should you do if you think you are suffering from post-adoption depression?
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
Evaluating Risk Factors in Foster Care
January 22, 2021
•64m
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We talk about evaluating the risk factors for foster care with Dr. Kimara Gustafson, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota with appointments at both their Adoption Medicine Clinic and Pediatric Emergency Department.
In this episode, we cover:
- The common risk factor that foster parents and those wanting to adopt from foster care need to be aware of include physical, emotional, developmental, educational, and behavioral problems rooted in childhood adversity and trauma.
- What types of trauma are foster kids exposed to? Neglect, abuse, prenatal exposure, multiple caregivers, not having a reliable caregiver, constant stress
- What percentage of children in foster care have been exposed to drugs or alcohol prenatally?
- Impact of trauma on physical health.
- Foster parents often have little information about prior health history.
- Overmedication of foster children and youth.
- Research has found that the average number of psychiatric diagnoses and psychotropic medications prescribed were significantly greater for youth and children in foster care. o Children in foster care are likely to be kept on them longer than other Medicaid-enrolled children who are not in foster care.
- What are psychotropic drugs and why are so many foster children on them?
- Who has authority to make health care decisions for foster children and youth?
- Impact of trauma on mental health.
- hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsivity.
- What types of behaviors are common as a result of trauma?
- Sleep issues common to children in foster care.
- Food issues common to children in foster care. Creating a Family course: Practical Solutions to Typical Food Issues
- Impact of trauma on a foster child’s education.
- Children in foster care need educational advocates.
- Risk factors to consider for children already in the home. Creating a Family course: The Impact of Fostering on Children Already in the Home
- Children can heal and foster parents can and do make a difference!
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
Creating a Family also has an active presence on many social media platforms. Please like or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram.
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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