Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. I have been listening to your podcast and supporting your mission for several years. We adopted our daughter at birth through an open adoption. We began caring for her on day two; she is now 9 years old. She knows she is adopted and has seen photos of her biological parents. Her parents had problems with addiction and the law. We only tell her, “They were not able to care for you.” She has not yet asked questions about her biolog...
Mar 15, 2025•5 min•Season 19Ep. 21
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Are you considering adopting a sibling group? Join us for this interview with Deborah Bass Artis, MSW and Senior Program Director of Foster Care to Permanency with Children’s Home Society of NC. In this episode, we discuss: Why is it important to keep siblings together when placed for foster care or adoption? Advantages to adopting siblings. Special issues to consider Thinking About Adopting a Sibling Group? Things to Consider Fi...
Mar 12, 2025•50 min•Season 19Ep. 20
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: I have a daughter who has dealt with trauma from consistent experiences of neglect and abandonment. While our home is loving and supportive, she continues to exhibit a victim mentality and has a hard time taking responsibility for her actions. She's a sweet girl, but she makes comments to others that insinuate she is not having her most basic needs met, which is simply not the case. How can we help her, and how should w...
Mar 08, 2025•8 min•Season 19Ep. 19
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Are you really struggling with your adoption and feeling you've made a huge mistake? Listen to this interview with Lindsay Lanham, MSW. She works at Holt International and is the author of the online article “Predictors of Adoption Disruption and Dissolution: A Literature Review.” In this episode, we cover: Difference between an adoption disruption and adoption dissolution. What causes an adoption to fail? What causes parents to ...
Mar 05, 2025•45 min•Season 19Ep. 18
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: I've been an adoption social worker for almost seven years and just experienced my 2nd situation where the birth mother in a match had a stillbirth after selecting a family through our agency. Both situations were such a difficult loss for both parties. I'm curious if you've heard of others who experienced this unusually tragic type of loss during adoption. I'm not sure how common it is, especially given the rate of sti...
Mar 01, 2025•7 min•Season 19Ep. 17
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Are you thinking about adopting a baby? Are you worried about what risk factors exist that you should know about? Join us to talk about these issues with Dr. Lindsay Terrell, a pediatrician at Duke University Medical Center and an Assistant Professor in their Department of Pediatrics. And James Fletcher Thompson, a South Carolina attorney with extensive experience in adoption. In this episode, we discuss: Lack of prenatal care. W...
Feb 26, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Season 19Ep. 17
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: I've been listening to your podcast for a few years! Our 10-year-old kinship adopted daughter has lived with us since she was 2 months old. For a variety of reasons, there hasn't been any in-person visits or phone calls with her birth mom (my sister). Communication has been limited to holiday/birthday cards and gifts. My sister has schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. Because she has been stable on her medications and h...
Feb 22, 2025•11 min•Season 19Ep. 16
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. How do some kids survive a life of poverty, homelessness, abuse, and foster care and eventually thrive? We talk about courage & resilience with David Ambroz who is a national poverty and child welfare expert and advocate and the author of the memoir, A Place Called Home . He was recognized by President Obama as an American Champion of Change. Currently serving as the Head of Community Engagement (West) for Amazon, Ambroz prev...
Feb 19, 2025•53 min•Season 19Ep. 15
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: This was a question from someone in South Dakota. She says, "I haven't listened to all your back episodes, but can you address ICWA, the Indian Child Welfare Act, as it pertains to adoption? I live in a state where the majority of children in foster care are Native Americans, and ICWA, the Indian Child Welfare Act, is confusing and divisive. At the end of the day, I just want the children I care for to be safe. I unders...
Feb 15, 2025•5 min•Season 19Ep. 14
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Are you considering adopting a baby? To understand what is involved legally, listen to this podcast with James Fletcher Thompson, a South Carolina attorney with extensive experience in adoption. In this episode, we discuss: What are some of the differences in domestic infant adoption? Agency and independent (direct placement) adoptions. Relative adoptions. (grandparents, aunt/uncles, step-parent). Infants or young children adopte...
Feb 12, 2025•54 min•Season 19Ep. 13
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: My husband and I have two adopted twin boys who are 8 months old, and we've had them since birth. We've been on the fence for years about a big move outside of the country, but we're currently leaning towards leaving. My husband and, by extension, our kids have dual nationality with the country we'd go to. Thankfully, I'm also allowed to tag along. We currently live near a large family and support network from both side...
Feb 08, 2025•6 min•Season 19Ep. 12
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Are you considering adopting a child over the age of 5? Join our discussion with Dr. Stephanie Bosco-Ruggiero. She has a PhD in Social Work from Fordham University and is co-author of the book Adopting Older Children: A Practical Guide to Adopting and Parenting Children Over Age Four. In this episode, we talk about: The greatest need in both foster care adoption and international adoption is to adopt kids 5 and older. Adolescents...
Feb 05, 2025•53 min•Season 19Ep. 11
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: My father-in-law was just diagnosed with terminal cancer and given a maximum of 6 months left to live. We learned this right before our home study for older child/foster care adoption was finalized. Do you have any advice for what we should do with our adoption process moving forward? I am worried if we match before my husband is done grieving, we could add additional trauma to the child, but there is no set timeline fo...
Feb 01, 2025•3 min•Season 19Ep. 10
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Are you considering adopting or fostering a child with Down Syndrome? Join our conversation with Dr. Sara Williams, a developmental-behavioral pediatrician at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. She provides developmental evaluations and follow-up care for children with a variety of neurodevelopmental disabilities, including in the Thomas Center for Down Syndrome. In this episode, we discuss: What is Down syndrome? How...
Jan 29, 2025•46 min•Season 19Ep. 9
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: My 4-year-old foster son moved in 9 months ago. He will likely remain with me permanently, and the application is in progress. I was his 5th foster home when he moved in. There was neglect at his birth parents and abuse in a previous foster home. Last weekend he was being babysat by my sister and brother-in-law. They went to the basement to show him a toy, and he saw a large dog cage they were planning to sell online. H...
Jan 25, 2025•9 min•Season 19Ep. 8
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Join our panel of four former foster youth to learn what they wished foster parents and others knew about being in foster care. In this episode, we discuss: Tell us the story of your involvement with foster care and the child welfare system. What was something that your foster parent(s) did that helped you cope? What did your foster parents do that made things harder for you? What are some of the myths that you hear about kids in...
Jan 22, 2025•45 min•Season 19Ep. 7
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: First, I wanted to thank you for your incredible podcast. I’m not a parent (I only recently graduated from college), but I have volunteered in group homes for foster care children for the past couple of years. Your podcast has not only helped me to work more effectively with the kids I see but has also given me insight into what I want to do in my career. I hope to research and work with families involved with the foste...
Jan 18, 2025•4 min•Season 19Ep. 6
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. If you are adopting or have adopted within the last several years you should join our conversation today about claiming the Adoption Tax Credit for 2024. Our guests will be Becky Wilmoth, an Enrolled Agent and Adoption Tax Credit Specialist with Bill’s Tax Service; and Josh Kroll, the Adoption Subsidy Resource Center coordinator at Families Rising. In this episode, we cover: What is the Adoption Tax Credit for adoption being clai...
Jan 15, 2025•50 min•Season 19Ep. 5
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: My husband and I adopted our now seven-year-old son from South Africa two years ago. He is the best. We cannot believe how lucky we are to have this joyful little boy in our family, and we owe much of our success to what we've learned from your show and resources, so thank you. Although our son feels pretty easy compared to some of the challenges we hear about, he still requires a lot. A lot of time, patience, energy, s...
Jan 11, 2025•6 min•Season 19Ep. 4
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Are you considering adopting a child this year? We've got answers to all (or most) of your questions. Join our discussion with Teresa Bernu, the Executive Director at Adoption Center of Illinois. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and has worked extensively in the areas of domestic infant adoption, foster care, and guardianship. We will also talk with Steve Valdez, the Chief Operating Officer at Hand in Hand International A...
Jan 08, 2025•51 min•Season 19Ep. 3
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: My husband and I are licensed to foster/adopt, but there have been no placements yet. We initially thought our age preference was 2-6 year olds, but as we have gotten more information/education we think we may be a good home for teenagers. We have no children (adopted/fostered/biological) between us but this also means we have no one else in the home at this time. We are still interested in fostering (and adopting shoul...
Jan 04, 2025•5 min•Season 19Ep. 2
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Join our discussion with an adult adoptee about her search for her birth family and her identity. We will talk with Julie Ryan McGue, a domestic adoptee and an identical twin. She is the author of Twice a Daughter, which explores her coming to terms with her adoption and her search for her birth parents, and Twice the Family , which explores more of her relationship with her adoptive family. In this episode, we cover: Tell us you...
Jan 01, 2025•45 min•Season 19Ep. 1
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: How do you speak to family members about open adoption? My entire family supports my intention to adopt as a single parent and has been very excited and generous as I have been working towards becoming a parent. My siblings were both adopted and there is a history of adoption in my family, mostly closed adoptions like my brother and sister. I would say my parents were ahead of their time in how they spoke openly about a...
Dec 28, 2024•6 min•Season 18Ep. 102
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. We talk today with Sarah Naish, the CEO of the Center of Excellence in Child Trauma and founder of the National Association of Therapeutic Parents. She is the author of The A-Z of Therapeutic Parenting and The A-Z of Survival Strategies for Therapeutic Parents . She is the adoptive mom to a sibling group of 5 who are now adults and she has fostered over 40 kids. In this episode, we discuss: Why are some kids harder to parent and ...
Dec 25, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 18Ep. 101
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: How can I support siblings who have been separated by foster care or adoption? How can I help them build long-term secure attachments? Resources: Sibling Relationships (Resource page) Working as Part of the Foster Care Team (Resource page) Creating a Family Online Facebook Group Support the show Please leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org . We are a national non-profit with th...
Dec 21, 2024•6 min•Season 18Ep. 100
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Children who have been sexually abused can heal. Join our conversation with Dr. Eliana Gil to learn how. Dr. Gil is the founder of the Gil Institute for Trauma Recovery. She specializes in the assessment and treatment of trauma in children, especially those who have been sexually abused. She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, a Registered Play Therapist Supervisor, and a Registered Art Therapist. In this episode, we cov...
Dec 18, 2024•55 min•Season 18Ep. 99
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: For someone who is looking to become a foster parent should they go with a public or a private foster care agency? Which is best? Resources: Choosing a Foster Care Agency Becoming a Foster Parent Working as a Part of the Foster Care Team Support the show 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 adopti...
Dec 14, 2024•4 min•Season 18Ep. 98
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Do you struggle with getting your child to sleep? Join our conversation with Macall Gordon and Kim West, co-authors of the book, Why Won’t You Sleep?!: A Game-Changing Approach for Exhausted Parents of Nonstop, Super Alert, Big Feeling Kids. In this episode, we cover: This is not a newborn sleep training book. This is for those exhausted parents of kids from about age 1-6 who have tried it all and their child still won’t fall asl...
Dec 11, 2024•53 min•Season 18Ep. 97
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. Question: I'm interested in adopting an older teenager (16 or 17). An agency worker shared that many older teens don't want to be adopted, and just want to age out of foster care. Is this true, and if so, is adopting an older teen a reasonable goal? Resources: Foster Care Adoption (Resource page) Adoptee & Former Foster Youth Voices Foster Care (Suggested Books) Support the show Please leave us a rating or review. This podcas...
Dec 07, 2024•3 min•Season 18Ep. 96
Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom. 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 ch...
Dec 04, 2024•46 min•Season 18Ep. 95
