Adoption, Fostering & Tea: The New Family Social Podcast

74 - Fostering to Adopt a baby

Chris and his husband are fostering-to-adopt a baby despite not having intended to take that route.  Chris talks about why they were initially put off by the uncertainty foster-to-adopt brings.  He also talks about their plan to have ongoing direct contact with the child's birth family.

73 - Foster carer looking after four teens

Dave is a single carer and has been fostering teenagers since he started fostering during Covid.  He talks about creating a low-conflict home in which they can thrive.  He also talks about how he manages behaviour which some people find challenging.

72 - ”Tenacious little monsters!”

Arjay and Tom adopted two year old twin girls 12 weeks ago. The had previously volunteered at New Family Social's summer camp to get childcare experience. This year they'll return with their children who they met at an exchange day. The girls had been born prematurely and that means there's some uncertainly about their health and development. The new dads are thrilled with their family life.

71 - A contested adoption

It took two years for Neil and Stuart to go through the adoption assessment process, in part due concerns about their weight. They're now delighted to have their baby but the birth parents are contesting the adoption.

70 - Aaron and Adam return with good news!

Our guests from episode 59 - "Counting down to panel" link below.  Return to tell us about their successful approval panel and what day to day life it like while they're family finding.

 

https://newfamilysocial.podbean.com/e/59-insert-title/

69 - Adopting when you have depression

Walter has had episodes of depression since his late teens and thought it might be a barrier to adopting. He talks about how he was treated during assessment and how he copes with his mental health issues as a parent. He has been open with his adopted son about his depression and talks about how that openness has been positive for both of them.

68 - Unsure whether to adopt?

Cameron and his husband have been doing lot or research about adoption. They're wondering whether they know enough, whether the should move house first and when is the right time to start the process. Luckily, they're volunteering at summer camp so they can find out more.

67 - Adopting siblings alone is a privilege

Robert is a lone parent of siblings, aged five and seven, who he adopted 18 months ago. He talks about the enormous benefits of adopting his children at the same time as well as the practicalities of working full time when you have two kids. He also talks about raising children from a different ethnic background to him own.

 

"Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race" by Reni Eddo-Lodge

 

"White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism" by Robin DiAngelo

 

66 - Stuart and Simon return having adopted siblings.

Stuart and Simon adopted siblings in lockdown. They featured in an earlier episode of this podcast called "We've just adopted siblings" and now they're back to tell us about support services, school and how they celebrated the adoption with a sand ceremony.

65 - Fostering babies

Alex and Terry specialise in fostering babies and two of those babies joined us for the podcast! The couple discussed their journey to fostering, their first placement and the first baby who moved on from them to a permanent home. There's a desperate need for more foster carers and this episode might help you decide whether you could consider fostering.