Who Should We Tell About a Match With an Expectant Mom? - Weekend Wisdom
Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption, Foster & Kinship Care
04/19/25
•7m
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Question: My husband and I started the adoption process a few months ago and we just matched with an expectant mom. We are obviously excited, but we also know that a lot can happen or change between now and her due date. My question is two fold. (1) Although a lot of people in our life know we are going through the adoption process, who should we tell beyond our immediate families? (2) I am a small business owner. Since we are adopting a baby from another state, I am expecting to be out for at least a couple of weeks and then back at work on a limited schedule as my husband and I share caretaking duties. Internally, my team is already aware and on board with when this will happen, and they will handle client requests on my behalf while I am out. But at what point is it appropriate to share with my clients that this change is taking place?
Resources:
- Failed Adoption Matches: How Common? How Costly? How to Survive
- Signs that an Expectant Woman May Change Her Mind about Placing Her Child for Adoption
- Tips for Coping When Your Domestic Infant Adoption is On Hold
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
Parenting Kids with Prenatal Exposure
April 16, 2025
•57m
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Do you suspect (or know) that your child was exposed to alcohol or drugs during pregnancy? We discuss tips for how to best work with these children with Dr. Robin Gurwitch, a professor at Duke University’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Center for Child and Family Health.
In this episode, we discuss:
- How does prenatal exposure to alcohol or drugs affect children at different ages?
- Oftentimes adoptive, foster and kinship families may not know specifically if their child was exposed in pregnancy to alcohol or drugs? How can a parent determine if their child was prenatally exposed?
- What are some of the more common signs, symptoms, and behaviors a parent might see at different ages?
- Birth to age five
- Elementary age
- Tweens and adolescence
- Young adults
- Parents, teachers, and other adults working with these children often don’t think about prenatal exposure because of the lag in time between the exposure and when the more disruptive symptoms appear. At what age do you see parents and kids beginning to struggle more?
- What are some of the common misdiagnoses that these children receive?
- How do the attention and focus issues common with kids who have been exposed to alcohol and drugs differ from ADHD? Is ADHD medication effective to improve attention in prenatally exposed kids?
- Is it common for children with prenatal exposure to be uneven in their abilities? For example, average to above average in verbal skills but substantially below average in other areas.
- What do we mean by “executive function” or “higher level thinking skills” and how does prenatal exposure to alcohol and drugs impact this?
- We hear from parents that one of the most frustrating symptoms is not being able to learn from their mistakes. Doing the same thing even though they have been told not to. Not learning from cause and effect. Is this common with kids who have been exposed to alcohol and drugs during gestation?
- What are some practical tips for working with kids with prenatal exposure to help them thrive at home and at school?
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 Kids for a Lifelong Parent/Child Bond
April 23, 2025
•57m
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Do you want to raise kids who you will like and want to hang out with as adults? Listen to this interview with Dr. Ginsburg, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and professor of pediatrics at U Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine. He is the author of Lighthouse Parenting: Raising Your Child With Loving Guidance for a Lifelong Bond, and the founder of the Center for Parent and Teen Communication.
In this episode, we discuss:
- Definition of Lighthouse Parenting (7 key elements):
- Stability
- Modeling & Knowing
- Communicating
- Protecting
- Resilience & Thriving
- Preparation
- Reliability
- Benefits of Lighthouse/Balanced Parenting
- Misunderstanding of attachment/trauma-sensitive parenting as permissive parenting.
- Self-care as the foundation of Lighthouse Parenting, “Stability: Finding Your Footing.” Why start there? Why is self-care critical to being a balanced parent?
- 6 key elements of self-care and examples of how each might look for parents and caregivers who feel they cannot prioritize self-care:
- Love and friendships
- Sleep
- Exercise/Movement
- Relaxation strategies
- Express emotions
- Recognize and reach for support
- Offer 1 or 2 practical tips for parenting with this lifelong bond in mind for parents with:
- Elementary-aged kids
- Tweens and teens
- Young adults (college or early career age)
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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