This content was originally published by Creating a Family, the national infertility education and support nonprofit. Writer Gina Shaw shared her experience with open adoption and what life is like for her family. The original post was published on The Well by Northwell. adoption is part of her story On my 13-year-old daughter’s dresser sits a photograph
Tips for Building Resilience in Our Children
This content was originally published by Creating a Family, the national infertility education and support nonprofit. Foster and adopted children who have experienced trauma quite often need our help to learn resilience in the face of current and future life experiences. Heather Forkey, MD of the Foster Children Evaluation Services (FaCES) and the Child Protection
23 Crucial Questions to Ask at Foster Care Placement Meetings
This content was originally published by Creating a Family, the national infertility education and support nonprofit. As a foster parent or adoptive parent, you need as much information as possible upfront — before you accept the placement to help you decide on whether you are a good match for this child and will be able
How to Make a Behavior Chart With Your Child
This content was originally published by Creating a Family, the national infertility education and support nonprofit. The key to successfully implementing behavior charts is to help your child “own” the process. It’s much more likely that he will stick with the plan for lasting change if that plan comes from self-motivation, rather than parent-direction. He
Schooling Our Kids During the COVID-19 Quarantine
This content was originally published by Creating a Family, the national infertility education and support nonprofit. “We are all on edge these days.” It’s a comment I’ve heard (and said) frequently these last two weeks, mainly related to the worry we parents carry for our families during the coronavirus shutdown. More specifically, though, many of
Tips to Prepare Children for the Adoption of a Sibling
This content was originally published by Creating a Family, the national infertility education and support nonprofit. April 10th is National Siblings Day. In honor of the joy and friendship that sibling relationships add to our lives, we thought we would take a break from all the talk about coronavirus to talk about how to prepare
Helping Our Kids Cope with Anxiety About COVID-19
This content was originally published by Creating a Family, the national infertility education and support nonprofit. These are some strange and stressful days we’re facing, aren’t they? Many of us who are parenting adopted or foster kids may be feeling additional stress over how to support our kids during these uncertain days. Our kids might
Adoption Tax Credit 2019 Guide
This content was originally published by Creating a Family, the national infertility education and support nonprofit. As we put the old year to rest and begin the new, our thoughts turn to taxes. And if you have adopted recently your thoughts should be turning to how to maximize the Adoption Tax Credit 2019. The Adoption
Who Holds the Power in Adoption: Birth Parents or Adoptive Parents?
This content was originally published by Creating a Family, the national infertility education and support nonprofit. The relationship between adoptive parents and birth parents is complicated for a number of reasons, not the least of which is power or lack thereof. Before the adoption adoptive parents often feel like the expectant parents “hold all the
Help! My Newly Placed Child is Regressing on Sleep
This content was originally published by Creating a Family, the national infertility education and support nonprofit. Developmental regression (going back to a younger way of behaving) is very common in newly placed foster or adopted children. Still, parents often worry that they are creating bad habits if they “give in” to these regressions. And no
