Host Sandra Flach is a mom of 8 children, 5 through adoption—one kinship and 4 international. Her youngest 2 are teens diagnosed with a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). With over 30 years of parenting experience and 20 plus years as an adoptive and kinship parent, she’s made mountains of mistakes and learned loads of lessons. She understands the difficult road of parenting children with trauma histories—and she is still in the trenches! The Adoption & Foster Care Journey is a podcast to encourage, educate, and equip you to care for children in crisis through adoption, foster care, and kinship care. We aim to support adoptive and foster families by sharing encouraging real-life stories and equipping them with modern-day research and parenting techniques.
Episodes
Monday Mar 08, 2021
Monday Mar 08, 2021
“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.”
Caregivers of individuals with a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder experience high levels of stress. Some of that stress is directly related with a lack of educated and informed systems and supports. However, parents of children with an FASD make fierce advocates.
On this week’s episode of Orphans No More, host Sandra Flach talks with adoptive dad, Joel Sheagren. A film director and producer by trade, Joel is passionate about bringing awareness to FASD. His current project, Embraced—Truth About Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders , is a documentary created to shed light on the subject.
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Monday Mar 01, 2021
Monday Mar 01, 2021
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39
Children suffering from childhood trauma experience big feelings. They need help learning how to appropriately express big emotions. Asking for help and trusting other people require a huge amount of courage. Kids healing from difficult life experiences need a safe space for conversations about complex thoughts and feelings. Riley the Brave creates that safe space.
Jessica Sinarski is the author of Riley the Brave—a book about a little bear with big feelings. On this week’s episode of our Orphans No More podcast, host Sandra Flach talks with Jessica about equipping parents and professionals to be healers for hurting children.
Listen in to their conversation as Jessica shares about Riley the Brave and other Brave Brains resources.
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Monday Feb 22, 2021
Monday Feb 22, 2021
“LORD, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them. You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, somber people can no longer terrify them.” Psalm 10:17-18
Eighty percent of the children diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome are in the foster care system. The average age that children with an FASD begin having trouble with the law is 12.8 years old. Fifty percent of individuals with an FASD have a history of confinement in a jail, prison, chemical health treatment facility, or psychiatric hospital.
According to Proof Alliance, FASD behaviors that contribute to these poor outcomes are confabulation, memory challenges, difficulty with impulse control, inability to understand consequences, difficulty connecting cause and effect, and vulnerability to peer pressure. Caregivers of individuals with an FASD are familiar with these behaviors. What can be done to help assure the success of our kids?
On this week’s episode of our Orphans No More podcast, host Sandra Flach talks with Albany County Court Judge Andra Ackerman about FASD and the criminal justice system. Over her career, Judge Ackerman has fiercely advocated for vulnerable children in the system. Born to an alcoholic mother, Andra spent time in the foster care system. Her experience fuels her passion for justice for vulnerable youth.
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Monday Feb 15, 2021
Monday Feb 15, 2021
“Whenever my busy thoughts were out of control, the soothing comfort of your presence calmed me down and overwhelmed me with delight.” Psalm 94:19
Remote learning has put an immense strain on families of school age children. Foster and adoptive parents are especially challenged. Imagine navigating the logistics of multiple children with special needs all needing to be online on different devices at the same time.
On this week’s episode of our Orphans No More podcast, host Sandra Flach talks with adoptive mom, Sherrie Wixtrom. Sherrie knows first hand about the challenges of parenting and educating children with trauma histories. She and her husband, Karl, are parents to eight adopted children. Six kids still live home ranging in ages from 14-22 years, five of whom have an FASD.
Listen in to their conversation as Sherrie shares advice and offers hope to help families struggling in this season.
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Monday Feb 08, 2021
Monday Feb 08, 2021
“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” 1 John 3:18
Fifty percent of newly certified foster parents resign from fostering after the first year. For many, caring for traumatized children is daunting, isolating, and heartbreaking. However, those who receive support from the community around them tend to thrive, as do the kids placed in their homes.
Foster Well is a Delaware based nonprofit working to connect the foster care community with those who want to love and support them. On this week’s Orphans No More podcast episode, we talk with Foster Well founder, Christine Robinson. Listen in as Christine shares practical ways volunteers can help a foster family to foster well.
Host Sandra Flach also shares two more Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder facts from FAFASD.org. FASD discussion bookends the guest interview. So be sure to listen to the end.
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Monday Feb 01, 2021
Monday Feb 01, 2021
“Hear my cry, O God; Attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to you. When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” Psalm 61:1-2
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a common topic on this blog and our Orphans No More Podcast. That’s because 80% of children with FAS are in foster or adoptive care. We believe caregivers of individuals with diagnosed or suspected FASD must be equipped and encouraged for this often overwhelming journey.
This week on our podcast we talk with adoptive mom and host of the FASD Hope podcast, Natalie Vecchione. Listen in as Natalie brings 19 years of lived experience parenting a son with an FASD. She offers her top five best parenting pointers:
| FASD presents differently in every individual
| All of our kids have gifts
| Change your perspective to grace-based parenting
| Accommodate
| Don’t lose hope
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Monday Jan 25, 2021
Monday Jan 25, 2021
“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8
Cindy La Joy is an adoptive mom of five internationally adopted kids who are now all young adults. Along her adoptive parent journey, Cindy discovered her children had special needs which included dysgraphia, dyscalculia, auditory processing, FASD, information processing, executive function disorder, and giftedness. She realized early on that homeschooling would be the best fit for her family.
Cindy combined the wisdom and experience she gained along the way and created Blue Collar Homeschool as a resource for homeschooling families. Foster and adoptive parents are often frustrated by traditional curriculum and educational methods that just don’t work with struggling learners. The Blue Collar Homeschool website and Facebook group is a valued resource for these families.
This week, host Sandra Flach, talks with Cindy La Joy on our Orphans No More podcast. Listen in as they discuss adoption, homeschooling, and FASD.
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Monday Jan 18, 2021
Monday Jan 18, 2021
“…but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure.” 2 Corinthians 4:7
Prenatal alcohol exposure can cause fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). FASD refers to a range of conditions including birth defects, brain injury, and physical, behavioral, and intellectual disabilities. These conditions are lifelong and irreversible.
One in twenty children in the United States has an FASD. Eighty percent of the children with an FASD are in the foster care system. And 75% of children in foster care have a family history of alcoholism. Because of the above mentioned statistics, we at Justice For Orphans believe it is imperative to bring awareness of FASD to foster and adoptive families.
JFO co-founder and host of our Orphans No More podcast, Sandra Flach, has been on a mission to educate families, professionals, and educators about FASD. Sandra is mom of eight children, five through adoption, and two diagnosed with an FASD.
She understands the daily challenges caregivers face, but also believes God has hidden treasure in each child. On this week’s podcast, Sandra shares four encouraging FASD Facts from the FAFASD.org website focusing on the strengths of individuals with an FASD.
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Monday Jan 11, 2021
Monday Jan 11, 2021
“With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith.” 2 Thessalonians 1:11
According to the scriptures, all believers are called to care for orphans and the vulnerable among us. While not every family is called to foster or adopt, those that do step out in faith find that God equips them for the journey—even if it feels more like on-the-job training.
Most parents raising children with trauma histories would agree, it’s the hardest work they’ve ever had to do but also the most rewarding. Adoptive mom and veteran homeschooler, Linda Nasman, agrees. Linda and her husband have raised four biological sons before adopting three children from Ukraine.
Linda shares her story of adoption and raising and homeschooling children with FASD, on this week’s episode of our Orphans No More podcast. Tune in and hear Linda share how she’s learned to walk by faith and parent with patience.
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Adoption in the Rearview Mirror - book
Monday Jan 04, 2021
Monday Jan 04, 2021
“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Psalm 139:16
January is Sanctity of Human Life Month. We believe that adoption and the sanctity of life are deeply woven biblical principles. In honor of both life and adoption, we are featuring adoptive parents, Pastor Rick and Heather Hanna, on our first January 2021 episode of our Orphans No More podcast.
The Hanna’s have three grown biological children, three children adopted internationally, and one medically fragile daughter adopted domestically. Listen in as they share about the sanctity of human life, adoption, and homeschooling their large family.
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