Should I Hide My Tattoos If I Want to Adopt? - Weekend Wisdom
Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption, Foster & Kinship Care
08/17/24
•2m
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Question: My husband and I want to adopt a baby. We are working with an adoption attorney, and we have to make a book about us and our lives to be shown to women and girls who are considering adoption for their baby. My husband has full-sleeve tattoos on both arms and on his neck. I am worried that it might be a turnoff for a girl choosing a family. Should we use pictures where his tattoos don’t show to up our chances?
Resources:
- Preparing an Adoptive Parent Profile (video)
- Creating Your Adoptive Parent Profile (article)
- How To Create a Compelling Adoption Profile (1 hr. CreatingaFamilyEd.org online course w/ certificate of completion available)
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
Maintaining Connection with an Angry Kid
August 14, 2024
•56m
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Does your child struggle with anger, and do you struggle with how to help them? Tune in to our discussion today with Jessica Sinarski, a certified adoption therapist and author of the picture books Riley the Brave and Your Magic Backpack series. She also serves on the editorial board for The Journal of Child and Adolescent Trauma.
In this episode, we cover:
- All kids get angry, in fact, all people get angry, so how do we know if our kid has bigger issues with anger management?
- Why do kids who have experienced trauma often struggle with anger?
- Does it matter the type of trauma: abuse, neglect, adoption?
- Does the prenatal environment that is not ideal (maternal stress, alcohol or drug exposure, poor nutrition) impact a child’s or youth’s emotional regulation?
- Why do kids seem to overreact—big feelings for what feels like a small issue?
- What are some typical triggers that elicit big responses?
- Steps for managing natural feelings of anger.
- Name with few words.
- Working our way back to calm. Co-regulate back to calm. Suggest a break, model deep breath, let’s stop and think, etc.
- Give a chance to re-do. Fixing the thing that they broke.
- Read books about regulating emotions.
- Lots of physical activity.
- Steps for maintaining connections with big angry feelings.
- Compassion for yourself. It feels hard because it is hard. They have a lot to be angry about.
- PACE-playful, acceptance, curious, empathy (from Daniel Hughes)
- What do you mean by upstairs and downstairs brains? (from Dan Seigel)
- How do we help our kids understand why they are reacting the way they do and how to handle their feelings better?
Resources:
- Brave Brains
- Hands Are Not for Hitting by Martine Agassi (ages 0-6)
- My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss (ages 0-6)
- Ravi’s Roar by Tom Percival
- Grumpy Monkey by Suzanne Lang
- Gorilla’s Muscles
- The Riley the Brave series (including Riley the Brave’s Big Feelings Activity Book)
- Hello, Anger (age 7-13)
- Samantha Snowden’s Anger Management Workbook for Kids (age 7-13)
- Your Amazing Brain: The Epic Illustrated Guide (age 8+)
- “Unpacking Anger” (blog post with additional recommended reading)
- “Climbing Out of Chronic Stress” (blog post with downloadable cheat sheet)
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
Raising a LGBTQ+ Child or Youth
August 21, 2024
•48m
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There is a huge need for foster and adoptive homes for LGBTQ+ youth in foster care. We interview Holly Harridan and Dr. Shelly Ronen. Holly is a Senior User Experience Researcher at Bloom Works and an applied Anthropologist with a background in queer and feminist studies. Dr. Shelly Ronen is a Senior User Experience Researcher at Bloom Works. She has a Ph.D. in Sociology and specializes in gender and sexuality.
In this episode, we cover:
- Terminology. LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA2S+, queer. What does each of the letters mean, and what is correct?
- What is the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity?
- What are some of the unique challenges faced by LGBTQIA+ youth in foster care?
- What does it mean to have an” affirming” home?
- Some foster and adoptive parents know in advance that the child that they are fostering or adopting identifies as LGBTQ+, but other times, it is something that they find out later. If they know in advance, what are some things they can do to prepare?
- Age-dependent- how to allow exploration without pigeonholing a child too soon?
- How should parents handle it if they suspect their child is queer, but their child or youth does not want to talk about it?
- Are the issues different depending on whether the youth or young adult is lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender?
- How can parents encourage healthy romantic relationships?
- What if you’ve been raised to believe that homosexuality is a sin?
- How do you think agencies should balance a commitment to kinship caregivers against a commitment to the safety and affirmation of LGBTQ+ children and youth?
- What is your response to people who say that since many foster parents are motivated by religious faith, requiring families to affirm LGBTQ+ children and youth would create a placement crisis?
- What resources can foster parents look to for guidance on being affirming of LGBTQ+ children and youth?
Our goal is to provide a nurturing and supportive environment where LGBTQIA+ foster youth can grow, thrive, and develop a strong sense of self-worth and belonging.
For a list of resources from this episode, visit our post on Creating a Family.
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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