
How To Overcome The Pain Of Perfection.
We all dream of the ideal life, and the perfect picture, when it comes to our family. But what happens when that’s not the life we’re living? How do you respond?
We all dream of the ideal life, and the perfect picture, when it comes to our family. But what happens when that’s not the life we’re living? How do you respond?
In 2004 our lives, and parenting, changed forever when we realized we were parenting a child with special needs. To say it’s been a journey is an understatement. Part of the challenge has come from our encounter with professionals who fail to understand, or know how to handle, the special needs our children have.
With several options available, when it comes to adoption, one of the biggest today is private domestic adoption. In today’s episode we’re sharing the inside scoop on the process. Fourteen years ago we began the adoption process for the first time. To say that we had no idea what we were doing is an understatement. We were clueless. We had more questions than answers. In fact, last year we wrote an entire book about the process that we wish we would have had back when we started. It’s easy to get lost in the process.
Over the last few years we’ve written several posts geared toward helping case managers and workers understand the perspectives of foster parents. The content gave thousands of people in the trenches a voice. But in the process, we had many case managers reach out and share insightful information that would help foster parents on the journey.
The adoption journey is filled with joy, excitement, and it’s fair-share of trials. How do you navigate the obstacles, and even the myths, that are guaranteed to arise? In today’s episode, we’re sharing the audio recording from a recent interview that Mike did on The Prepped and Polished Podcast with Alexis Avila. Alexis is an accomplished educator, and leading voice in equipping students to succeed in standardized testing. Alexis interviewed Mike and how this blog came to be, and how to navigate the obstacles and big myths surrounding the adoption journey.
There are classes, books, seminars, magazine articles, therapists, and websites, all at our finger tips for just about any struggle we have on the adoptive, foster and special needs journey. Most of them can help us heal from just about any wound we’ve sustained. But nothing is as healing as hearing the words, You Are Not Alone.
Fear is a natural part of the adoption journey. Sometimes, it can be all-consuming and you lose sleep. How do you escape worry and fear, and find a place of rest?
It’s a question we receive several times a week from people all over the country. “How do I love a child who keeps pushing me away, and could care less about me or my family?” We, along with our co-host Nicole Goerges, are right in the middle of this trench.
In the 9 years that we served as foster parents, we met very few case workers who were active foster parents. We always found this odd, especially since we were relying on them to give us guidance and support on the difficult road of foster care.
Parenting children with FASD is an uphill battle. This is especially true when it comes to discipline. How do you balance necessary consequences with a child who’s brain lacks the executive functioning to understand?