Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption & Foster Care

We don’t just bring kids into our homes; we bring them into our marriage and relationships. And marriages or relationships are particularly challenged when we are parenting kids who have been exposed to trauma. We talk with Amy Garber, MSW and LICSW, the Manager of the Post Adoption Program with Wide Horizons for Children, a child welfare organization. We also talk with Anne Meijers, a licensed clinical social worker, specializing in adult and couples therapy. In this episode, we cover: Our goal should be for our marriage or relationships to be around long after the kids leave home. This takes being proactive because if we’re not careful our relationship becomes all about parenting or fostering. How can kids enhance a marriage or relationship? We know that kids who’ve experience trauma can be challenging to parent and can test a marriage or a relationship. Why are children adopted or fostered past infancy, children with prenatal exposure, and kids who have experienced trauma often harder to parent? CreatingaFamily.org has many courses on Trauma Informed Parenting. What are some of the stresses that relationships may face when fostering or adopting kids who’ve been exposed to trauma? Feeling isolated One parent wanting to adopt or foster more than the other Blame from the outside or between the parents Grief- that parenting is harder or less fun than you anticipated, etc. What are some situations that children who’ve experienced trauma can bring to the family and be particularly difficult for the marriage? Disagreement on how to handle behaviors Triangulation What are some signs that you are neglecting your marriage? How can trauma or neglect in the parent’s background impact the marriage once children arrive? How to handle extended family members (grandparents, etc.) that are negatively impacting your relationship? Tips for strengthening your relationship while parenting kids who’ve been exposed to trauma, including prenatal exposure. Special issues for single parents. We encourage single parents to establish a support network. How can challenging kids test this network? How can single parents find support? Tips for singles to strengthen their support network and relationships. 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 Creating a Family also has an active presence on many social media platforms. Please like or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram. Support the show (https://creatingafamily.org/donation/)