My Husband Is 61 Years Old. Can We Adopt a Baby? - Weekend Wisdom
Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption, Foster & Kinship Care
09/07/24
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Question: My husband and I have been married two years. I'm 44 and he’s 61. Is there an age limit to be able to adopt a baby?
Resources:
- Domestic Infant Adoption (Resource page)
- Foster Care Adoption (Resource page)
- Adoption Options
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
Typical Behaviors of Children Adopted From Foster Care or Internationally
September 4, 2024
•47m
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What should you expect when adopting internationally or bringing a child into your home from foster care? Check out our discussion with Dr. Robin Gurwitch a licensed clinical psychologist with close to 30 years of experience in evidence-based treatments and the impact of trauma/disaster/terrorism on children. She is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center and the Director of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) and Child-Adult Relationship Enhancement (CARE) Training at the Center for Child & Family Health. She has been a National Child Traumatic Stress Network member since 2001.
In this episode, we cover:
- While there are some distinctions, children adopted from US foster care and children adopted internationally have much in common.
- We say that the vast majority of children adopted through foster care or internationally have special needs. In addition to the medical or physical needs we might see, there are also emotional and behavioral needs, and today, we will focus on those needs.
- What are some of the factors that influence the behaviors of children adopted from foster care or adopted abroad?
- Neglect (lack of stimulation)
- Abuse
- Maternal substance abuse and subsequent prenatal exposure to alcohol and drugs
- Multiple caregivers
- Institutionalization (multiple caregivers, neglect, removal from birth family)
- Does the length of time in the institution impact psychological and physical development?
- May have entered the institution after having lived in a family first.
- What different types of care are available, and how do these different types of care impact the child’s behavior and development?
- Lack of education
- Child leaving familiar ties and surroundings
- What are some expected or typical behaviors common in children who have experienced these?
- Attachment issues
- Food insecurity-how does that look
- Sleep issues
- Attention Issues
- Post-traumatic stress
- Impacts of prenatal substance abuse
- Specific Impact of Institutionalization
- Lack of understanding of the meaning of family
- Parentified children and not seeing adults as a source of meeting needs
- Impacts of neglect
- Impacts of abuse (often, we don’t have reports of abuse in the child’s file)
- How common is sexual abuse in foster care or children in orphanages or institutions abroad? What are the behaviors that might result from sexual abuse?
- Impact of the child leaving familiar ties and surroundings
- What type of parenting is effective at helping kids adjust?
- Setting reasonable expectations.
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
Intergenerational Trauma
September 11, 2024
•49m
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How can something that happened in past generations impact us now and affect the way we parent? Join our conversation with Beth Tyson, a childhood trauma consultant and former family-based trauma therapist. She is the author of the children’s books A Grandfamily for Sullivan and Sullivan Goes to See Mama.
In this episode, we cover:
- What is intergenerational trauma? In essence, intergenerational trauma is the passing of the emotional pain of one generation to another.
- What are some other names it goes by? (generational trauma, historical trauma, or multigenerational trauma)
- What types of events can cause intergenerational trauma? (personal and more widespread events)
- How can trauma that happened 100 years ago impact us now?
- What are the symptoms of intergenerational trauma that we might see in future generations?
- How to recognize behavior that is triggering intergenerational trauma?
- Researchers are also looking into the possible role of “epigenetic changes.”
- How do we know if what we are doing or how we are responding is the result of intergenerational trauma? Questions to ask ourselves about us or our relatives.
- ACEs Adverse Childhood Adversity study.
- How to heal from this type of trauma?
- Recognize that it exists.
- Basic background info can be used in understanding trauma.
- Become a detective of your past.
- What brings up big emotions in you from your child’s behavior?
- Apologize when we make mistakes. Acknowledge your mistake.
- Positive childhood experiences.
- Children need to be “claimed.” They need to belong and have one person who is committed to them.
- Traditions.
- Connecting to their history—cultural, religious, family.
- Put as many of their family connections in their life as is possible.
- Resiliency through moderate and predictable stressors. Ex. sports.
- Practical tips that can help you when you’re in the heat of the moment.
- Somatic stimulation.
- Recognize the arc of the behavior.
- Have mantras to help you cope. “My child is a good child who is having a hard time. I’m a good parent who is having a hard time.”
- For kinship families (although it can be applicable to all families), how do you deal with guilt that you potentially passed on your trauma to your child, and now the child you are raising is suffering as a result?
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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