Preventing Sexual Abuse
Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption, Foster & Kinship Care
10/22/25
•61m
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What strategies can parents and caregivers implement in their homes to help reduce the risk that their children may be sexually abused? Learn practical parenting tools from this conversation with Dr. Eliana Gil, the founder of the Gil Institute for Trauma Recovery and Education. She specializes in the assessment and treatment of trauma in children, especially those who have been sexually abused.
In this episode, we discuss:
- Why should adoptive and foster parents and relative caregivers learn about the risks for sexual abuse of children in our community and how to prevent it?
- How can parents or caregivers tell the difference between normal childhood curiosity and behaviors that may signal a problem?
- What are some warning signs that might give parents or caregivers a clue to dig deeper into problematic behaviors they observe?
- If a child is showing some of these concerning behaviors, what are some practical and supportive ways caregivers can respond?
- Why is it preventative for parents and caregivers to use correct anatomical terms with kids?
- Can you offer a few practical suggestions for parents and caregivers to get more comfortable with correct terminology, if they find this an obstacle to equipping and educating their kids?
- What signs should parents and caregivers be on the lookout for – things that may suggest a child has been abused?
- 5 categories: fear/anxiety, depression, sexual acting out, attachment
- Emphasize that no single sign proves abuse but patterns and context matter.
- If a caregiver suspects abuse, what steps should they take?
- What is the parents’ or caregiver’s role once they have reported to the proper authorities?
- What are some everyday preventative practices families can put in place to keep kids safe while also allowing them to grow in healthy ways?
- Protective, not paranoid
- Open communication in the home
- Supervision by safe adults
- Safe boundaries in the home
- Teaching consent and respect
- Modeling healthy relationships
- Any last words of advice for adoptive parents, foster parents, or relative caregivers about protecting their kids from sexual abuse?
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
Navigating Time Off from Work to Bond with a Newly Adopted Child
October 18, 2025
•16m
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Question: My husband and I are in the process of adopting a waiting child internationally. This is our first adoption and we will soon be waiting to be matched with a child. I teach in higher education and my schedule is coordinated about nine months out. I am working with my supervisors to try and make sure my schedule for the next year is flexible to account for uncertain adoption timing. It has been so difficult to try and navigate this with my job, especially because my institution has very limited options for paid parental leave.
I'm wondering if you have any insight into how to discuss a few of my questions with my employer:
- How to manage unpredictable adoption timelines that may require mid-semester leave on minimal notice,
- Explaining the necessity of time off work to bond with our new child, without the physical recovery needs that traditional birth includes, and
- That while teaching online is an option, balancing teaching online with international travel and a critical bonding period is very daunting.
If you have any insight into how to discuss these topics with my employer, or any additional details I should be considering, I would love to hear your thoughts. I should say that my supervisors are very supportive and excited for my family, and they are open to creative solutions. These are just uncharted waters at my institution. I love listening to your podcast every week and my husband and I have learned so much from you all while we've been on our adoption journey!
Resources:
- How Can I Get Paid Leave for My Adoption?
- The Movement Project: Relationship & Parental Recognition: State Family Leave Laws
- Center for Parental Leave Leadership
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
Should We Expand Our Special Needs Checklist to Include HIV? - Weekend Wisdom
October 25, 2025
•12m
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Question: My husband and I are considering whether we will open our special needs consideration to include children who are HIV+. We have already been approved to adopt from India, and as our home study update approaches, we are taking a good, hard look at the Special Needs list again. I was listening to your podcast episode on this topic from 2013 and wondered if this was worth an updated episode? Has much changed for families living with HIV?
Resources:
- Factors to Consider When Adopting from India
- Country Comparison Charts
- Common Special Needs in International Adoption
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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