Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption, Foster & Kinship Care

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Keeping kids safe online takes more than setting screen-time limits or turning on parental controls. In this episode, digital safety expert Chris McKenna, founder of Protect Young Eyes and author of Five Habits of the Tech Ready Family, joins us to talk about raising kids who can navigate technology with greater safety, confidence, and judgment. 
We explore how children’s developing brains interact with persuasive technology, why parents should model healthy digital habits, how to build enough trust that kids will come to us when something goes wrong online, and how to use practical guardrails without making technology feel like a constant battle. For adoptive, foster, and kinship families, we also discuss how trauma, disrupted relationships, and a child’s need to maintain important connections can shape decisions about access, supervision, and digital independence.
Resources:
5 Habits of the Tech Ready Family
Protect Young Eyes - devices
Managing Technology & Screens
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 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

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks!
What do you do when you discover that important foster placement information was withheld before you accepted a child into your home—or even before adoption was finalized? 
In this Weekend Wisdom episode, we respond to an adoptive parent who learned that behaviors they had specifically said they could not manage had been documented in previous foster homes. We explore how to hold the agency accountable without placing that conflict on the child, use newly discovered records as a roadmap rather than a verdict, respond to challenging behaviors with safety and compassion, and help a child learn that they no longer have to hide their struggles in order to belong.
Resources:
Before You Say Yes: Questions to Ask About a Foster Placement
Strategies for Managing Your Child’s Melt-Downs, Tantrums, and Rages
Using Scripts to Build Trust with Foster & Adopted Kids
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 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

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks!
The transition from foster care to adoption can bring relief and security, but it can also stir anxiety, grief, uncertainty, and behaviors families may not expect. In this episode, adoptive dad Adrian Potter shares what his family learned while adopting three siblings who had spent years in foster care. We discuss building trust through predictability and routine, helping a parentified child return to the role of sibling, giving children voice in the adoption process, responding to mixed emotions and changing behaviors, maintaining important connections, and building the support system families need before and after finalization.
Resources:
Foster Care Adoption – resource page
Preparing Children Already in the Home for an Adoption
Equipping The Kids in Your Home to Welcome a New Child
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 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

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks!
Question: My niece has been living with her paternal grandparents for two years. She is now four and they have decided that it is getting too hard for them. We’ve agreed to take her in. She knows us, but we haven’t spent much time with her. What’s the best way to move her to our home that will cause the least psychological damage to her. She is very attached to her grandparents.
Resources:
Kinship Parenting Resources
Transitioning a Child to Your Home
Creating and Cultivating Attachment
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 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

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks!
With so many trauma-informed parenting approaches available, how do foster, adoptive, and kinship parents know which strategies will actually fit their child and family? In this episode, childhood trauma consultant Beth Tyson helps parents cut through the overwhelm and understand what to look for in a trauma-responsive parenting model. We explore why safety, trust, attachment, and connection should be at the foundation; how trauma can affect a child’s behavior, developmental age, sensory needs, and relationships; and why caregiver self-awareness matters just as much as understanding the child. You’ll also learn how to evaluate claims such as “evidence-based” and “brain-based,” recognize red flags in parenting programs, and decide when to adapt, combine, or move on from an approach that isn’t working.
Resources:
Helping Children Heal from Trauma
Parenting Children With Challenging Behavior
Therapy Resources for Adoptive, Foster, and Kinship Families
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 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