After many years of putting the spotlight on others within the world of adoption and foster care, I am beginning to speak personally on select topics. I pull from my own experience as well as research and information I have gleaned from speaking to many people with unique worldviews and innovative ideas to make these systems better for everyone involved. Please fill out the form below if you would like me to address your group, or be on your podcast.
Current Speaking Topics
Talking to Your Child About Adoption
This talk centers on the importance of taking the time and energy to communicate with our children about how adoption or foster care figures into their lives. I speak about each age category from young children to teens. Starting with background about what they are facing at each stage I offer ideas about creative ways to communicate with our children about this important topic and some issues you may face along the way.
Adoption History, Modern Consequences: Adoption Paperwork
This talk is one of four topics in the Adoption History, Modern Consequences Series. I begin with a story about how keeping paper records about adoptions may have evolved in America. Then I lay out the current state of birth documents in this country. I detail amended birth certificates, original birth certificates, why adoptees may need this inromation and how state laws affect access. Finally I will get into some of the ideas that have surfaced to make access to information better going forward and open discussion on creative solutions for the future.
Self-Care for Adoptive and Foster Parents
As a veteran foster and adoptive parent I know how easily caring for ourselves can fall by the wayside. Self-care isn’t just a luxury. Foster parent retention is a problem for many cities across the country. Support for parents raising children who have been affected by foster care or adoption is inconsistent and often not enough. This talk tunes in to where parents are and helps them find ways they can improve their wellbeing and patience so they can be there when the children in their lives need them the most.
Previous Podcast/Speaking Appearances
I was invited to be on the Fit for Joy Podcast to speak about adoption, foster care, and the coaching I was hoping to do with those who had been touched by those systems.
This was a wonderful conversation I had with Patricia Knight Meyer. We discussed the importance of communication not only of adoptive parents to their children, but also between adult adoptees and adoptive parents, who would love to learn from their experience.
On the Family Twist podcast, I enjoyed chatting with hosts Corey and Kendall. We talked about the importance of open communication between adoptive parents and thier children. I also spoke about the ethnicity secret my father kept from me until I was in college.
