Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption & Foster Care - Taking Care of Yourself When Parenting Harder to Parent Kids

Taking Care of Yourself When Parenting Harder to Parent Kids

05/14/21 • 38 min

Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption & Foster Care

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.

Do you sometimes feel that self-care is an impossible goal when you are parenting kids who have experienced trauma. There isn't enough time in the day to do it all, much less take care of yourself. Or is there? Join us to talk about how to find time to take care of yourself. We will talk with Angelica Jones, MSW, Program Director of Intercountry Services and the Intensive Service Foster Care Recruiter and Trainer at Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services.
In this episode, we cover:

· “Selfcare” or “take care of yourself” are overused but still vitally important terms for foster, adoptive, and kinship parents.

· Why do all parents but especially parents of kids who’ve experienced trauma need to practice self-care?

· What is secondary trauma?

· Why are kids who’ve experience neglect, abuse and other childhood traumas harder to parent?

· The busyness of foster and adoptive parenting.

· What are some of the barriers to taking care of ourselves as adoptive, foster or kinship parents?

· The importance of respite care and the barriers to parents using it.

· Practical ideas for providing self-care.

· Think small when thinking self-care.

· Ask for help and accept it when offered. If someone offers to help, say “yes” and suggest something specific. Ex. A meal on Wednesday night. Babysitting or taking a child to the movies once a month.

· Parent Support groups

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

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

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.

· “Selfcare” or “take care of yourself” are overused but still vitally important terms for foster, adoptive, and kinship parents.

· Why do all parents but especially parents of kids who’ve experienced trauma need to practice self-care?

· What is secondary trauma?

· Why are kids who’ve experience neglect, abuse and other childhood traumas harder to parent?

· The busyness of foster and adoptive parenting.

· What are some of the barriers to taking care of ourselves as adoptive, foster or kinship parents?

· The importance of respite care and the barriers to parents using it.

· Practical ideas for providing self-care.

· Think small when thinking self-care.

· Parent Support groups

Support the show

Weekly podcasts
Weekly articles/blog posts
Resource pages on all aspects of family building

Previous Episode

Impact of OTC Drugs on Fertility

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.

Do you worry that the over the counter medications you take for a headache or allergies could impact your fertility? What about CBD or melatonin? We talk with Dr. Kathleen Tucker, a scientific director for various IVF labs; and with K.E. Tucker Consulting, and Dr. Angie Beltos, CEO and Chief Medical Officer of Vios Fertility Institute.
In this episode, we include:

Research has found three reasons why the impact of OTC medication on fertility has become an increasing issue.
- We are taking more medications now that people in the past.
- People are waiting longer to start a family and age is associated with greater medication use.
- People are experiencing more chronic disease at earlier ages.
Taken together, these factors have increased the number of prescribed and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs being taken by women and men attempting to get pregnant with or without fertility treatment.
As always, talk to your doctor about any concerns you have regarding both prescription and non-prescription medications.
Impact of OTC drugs on fertility - female and male fertility.
- Impact on natural conception.
- Impact when taken during fertility treatment.
- Impact on pregnancy.
Impact of NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) on fertility.
- Aspirin (brand names include Bayer, Bufferin, Ecotrin, St. Joseph)
- Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin)
- Excedrin (acetaminophen, aspirin and caffeine)
- Naproxen (Aleve, Anaprox DS, Naprosyn)
- Celecoxib (Celebrex)-prescription only
- Acetaminophen (Tylenol)
Antacids-histamine blockers and proton pump inhibitors
Antihistamines B-both types? 1st generation, 2nd generation
Sleep aids
CBD
Other common over-the-counter (OTC) medications
Skin and hair care products
Herbal supplements?
As always, talk to your doctor about any concerns you have regarding both prescription and non-prescription.

Support the show

Weekly podcasts
Weekly articles/blog posts
Resource pages on all aspects of family building

Next Episode

Blending Children by Birth and Adoption

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.

Have you ever considered adopting after you had children by birth? Or thought about trying to get pregnant after you adopted? Is it a good idea to combine kids by birth and adoption. In this episode, we talk with Rebecca Ricardo, an LCSW who has worked in the field of adoption since 1991. She currently serves as the Executive Director for a licensed, child-placing agency that provides both placement and support services. She is an adoptee and a birth mom. The son she placed for adoption was raised as the only adopted child between two children born to his adoptive parents.
In this episode, we cover:

• What are the typical reasons why families have both adopted and non-adopted kids?

• What does the research show on how children and families adjust when there are children by both adoption and infertility?

• Do parents have a tendency to favor their biological children? Kin Selection Theory based on evolutionary psychology.

• Does it matter if the adopted child is adopted after the family has had bio kids, or if the adopted child comes first (most often because the parents were infertile) and they went back into treatment after they adopted to try for a biological child? What different factors come into play?

• Favoritism by grandparents or extended family. How to handle?

• The tendency of parents of families that combine biological and adopted kids to downplay genetics, birth stories, etc.

• How to handle conflicts with children or extended family members when children require a different type of parenting because one child has experienced trauma?

• How to handle conflicts when one child requires more of the parent’s time than another child?

• Tips for parents who are combining kids by birth and adoption. How can social workers help families that are considering this?

Weekly podcasts
Weekly articles/blog posts
Resource pages on all aspects of family building

Support the show

Weekly podcasts
Weekly articles/blog posts
Resource pages on all aspects of family building

Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption & Foster Care - Taking Care of Yourself When Parenting Harder to Parent Kids

Transcript

Please pardon the errors. This is an automatic transcription.
0:00
Welcome everyone to Creating a Family Talk about Foster Care and Adoption. I am Dawn Davenport and I am the host of this show as well as the director of the nonprofit creating a family. We provide as a nonprofit, lots of resources for you that are free and on our site. So pop over there and check it out at creating a family.org. Today we're going to be talking about taking care of ourselves or self care for those who are