When Your Extended Family Isn't Into Your Adoption Education Journey - Weekend Wisdom
Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption, Foster & Kinship Care
08/16/25
•8m
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Question: Hi, my husband, biological daughter and I are in the process of infant adoption. We have passed our home study and have made our profile book. We are at the point where we are viewing expectant moms' profiles. My husband‘s family is very excited and ready for this new chapter in our lives, but my family, however, seems unsure. It’s been hard to communicate with my parents about adoption, and it seems like when they are ready to talk about adoption it’s when I am not in the room and they are alone with my husband. I have sent them a book called “In On It: What Adoptive Parents Want You to Know About Adoption,” but they don’t seem to want to read the book or communicate with me about it. So my question is, should I continue to foster conversations around adoption while we wait to be matched, or since it seems kind of triggering or taboo for them, should I back away and just focus on my immediate family and our journey together? My intent was to offer them support with all of the learning and education that I have gone through during this pre-adoption process, but I’m wondering if I should let them move at their own speed regarding this adoption.
Resources
- Winning Over Reluctant Extended Family in Adoption
- My Parents Disapprove of Open Adoption – Weekend Wisdom
- How to Get Grandparents on Board with Your Adoption Plans
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
Helping Our Kids Cope with Bullies at School
August 13, 2025
•51m
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Most children will experience bullying at some point. What can parents do to help protect their children and to help their children cope if they are bullied? Host Dawn Davenport, Executive Director of Creating a Family, the national infertility & adoption education and support nonprofit, interviews Brooke Randolph, LMHC, a child and family therapist and author of The Bully Book: A Workbook for Kids Coping with Bullies; and Debora Gish, LCSW, with Adoption Connection with 20 experience working with kids and families.
In this episode, we discuss:
- What is bullying?
- Distinction between bullying and typical childhood cliquish behavior or “mean girl” behavior or kidding around behavior of middle school boys.
- How to help kids not be over-sensitive to teasing or taunting. For example, a first grader having a hard time distinguishing between name-calling meant to bully and the kind of taunts that are part and parcel with schoolyard games like tag (e.g., he went to the teacher over “na na na na na na, you can’t get me”).
- What children are at greater risk for bullying?
- Why do children bully?
- Cyberbullying
- Bullying on the school bus.
- How effective are the classic things we tell kids about how to handle bullies?
- Effective tips for helping kids handle bullying.
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
Understanding the Hague Treaty on Intercountry Adoption
August 20, 2025
•53m
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Are you considering adopting internationally? You need to listen to this interview about the laws and processes that you will be required to follow. We'll be talking with Kelly Dempsey, a partner with Fox Rothschild, who specializes in adoption and assisted reproduction. She is a fellow in the Academy of Adoption & Assisted Reproduction Attorneys and an adoptive parent through both international and domestic adoptions.
In this episode, we discuss:
- Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption
- Purpose
- Key Elements of the Hague Treaty:
- Central Authority
- Determining the child’s eligibility for intercountry adoption
- Accredited or Approved Adoption Agencies
- Transparency
- Key Elements of the Hague Treaty:
- Purpose
- The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA)
- INA 101(b)(1)(F) I-600 “Orphan Route”
- Child must qualify as an orphan under US definition
- Only one parent – incapable of providing support
- Deadlines: I600A before child’s 16th birthday -- only have 180 days to file the I-600, after USCIS approves the I-600
- INA 101(b)(1)(G) I-800 “Convention Route”
- Work with CA Art 12, Art 16
- Eligibility decided by CA COO, but if consulate does an I-604 investigation that disqualifies child, then case will be denied
- Deadlines: Must file I-800A before age 16 and within 180 days of the approval of the I-800A, must file the I-800 (even w/o Art 16)
- Children adopted from other countries must first obtain a U.S. visa before they can travel or move to the United States. Visas are issued at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in the foreign country where a child resides. Since a child being adopted abroad by a U.S. citizen parent(s) will usually be brought to live in the United States, that child will need an immigrant visa.
- INA 101(b)(1)(F) I-600 “Orphan Route”
- International Accreditation Act
- Process When Adopting from a Hague Country.
- Process When Adopting from a Non-Hague countries.
- Must qualify as orphans as defined by the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) before they can be considered for U.S. permanent residence or citizenship.
- Get more information at the State Department - Adoption Process/Non-Hague Visa Process.
- More information on the Hague Convention and other applicable Federal regulations
- US State Department - International Adoption
- US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
- US Department of State has a section on their website on “Understanding the Hague Convention”
- US Department of State has a section on their website on “Immigrant Visa Process”
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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