NFL Running Back Ricky Watters: How Adoption Shaped My Life
Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption, Foster & Kinship Care
04/29/26
•44m
About
Comments
Transcript
Featured In
Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks!
Join us for this interview with former NFL Running Back and Super Bowl Champion Ricky Watters. He is an adoptee, an adoptive dad, and author of a new children’s book on adoption, A Gift Called Shane.
In this episode, we discuss:
- How old were you when you learned you were adopted and how did you find out?
- When you discovered you were adopted, you mentioned in your NFL movie that it put a big chip on your shoulder. How has that chip served you well as an adoptive dad?
- How has it been a detriment?
- Why did you decide to adopt?
- Why did you decide to adopt internationally?
- Did your experience with finding out late that you were adopted affect the way you discussed adoption with your son?
- Do you see any signs of a similar “chip” in your son that you had when you found out you were adopted? How do you help him navigate it for his own success?
- How did you prepare your biological son for the adoption of his brother?
- How do you support your adopted son in his questions about identity, birth family, etc.?
- Are you in reunion with your biological family?
- How has your adoptive family handled your reunion with your birth family?
- How excited were you for fellow hometown boy Shady McCoy to get into the Eagles Hall of Fame?
- What was your experience with playing at Notre Dame?
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
What Do Kids Need From Therapy? - Weekend Wisdom
April 25
•18m
Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks!
Question: I’m an intern therapist working with kids involved in DHS and the foster system. Could you guys talk about what a kid in the system needs from therapy? Or like what helped them, what didn’t, what they needed in that space that their therapist didn’t provide?
Resources:
- Trauma-Informed Therapy: Finding the Right Fit for Your Family
- Therapists: Parents Should Be With Their Kids for Adoptive or Foster Therapy Sessions
- Finding an Adoption Competent Therapist
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: How do I delicately share information about my child’s birth parent with my child, when we know their biological parent has a long history of arrest? They are not a safe adult for my child to maintain a relationship with. Our family is struggling with how to balance the message that the adoption plan was made out of love for the child and not wanting to cast a negative message about the child’s birth parent, even though we know there is a history of some very violent acts. We want this child to know and understand why the birth parent is not part of their life.
Resources:
- Talking with Young Children about Adoption and Birth Parents
- Using Lifebooks to Explain Complex Issues in Adoption to Kids
- Building the Framework for Adopted & Foster Children to Process the Hard Parts of Their Stories
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