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 Nov 11, 2019
Monday Nov 11, 2019
Christians are uniquely equipped for the foster care mission field. Jesus charges us to love our neighbor. Children in crisis and struggling parents are our neighbors.
Whether we foster, adopt, or provide encouragement and support, as believers we are all called to care. On this week’s Orphans No More podcast we talk with foster mom, Evelyn Rice. Evelyn and her husband got involved in foster care with a plan to adopt one baby and then get out. That’s not what happened.
To hear Evelyn’s inspiring story check out our podcast here. Learn more about foster care and find a listing of local foster agencies click here.
Tuesday Nov 05, 2019
Tuesday Nov 05, 2019
Jesse is creating a culture of adoption in his church and compelling other pastors to do the same. Psalm 68:5-6 proclaims God is the father to the fatherless and He sets the lonely in families. It’s time for the body of Christ to wake up and be about the Father’s business.
Join us for the podcast and hear what Grace Community Church is doing for Orphan Sunday and beyond. You can also learn about how they are mobilizing the Church at everyfosterchild.com. Pastor Jesse is available to talk with pastors about standing for orphans and foster kids. Contact him at jbradley@graceinauburn.com.
Tuesday Oct 29, 2019
Tuesday Oct 29, 2019
Christian recording artist and Dove Award winner, Mark Schultz, is a passionate voice for the orphan. He’s written songs about adoption and even peddled a bike from Washington to Maine to raise awareness and funds to help vulnerable children. Mark uses his talents to advocate for the least of these. On November 10, 2019, he will be performing an Orphan Sunday concert in Lutz, FL.
Mark’s passion is rooted in his history. He was an orphan adopted at two weeks old. His story has come full circle as he’s now an adoptive dad. Mark and his wife, Kate, are parents of two biological boys and two adopted girls. One daughter adopted from China and one adopted through the same agency Mark was adopted through.
Our own Sandra Flach recently recorded an interview with Mark for our Orphans No More podcast. Listen in and hear Mark’s story and find out how you can be a voice for the orphan too. Start by praying for ONE Child in foster care today. Learn more about the One Child Campaign and Orphan Sunday here.
Thursday Oct 24, 2019
Thursday Oct 24, 2019
Brave souls who embark on the journey of foster care or adoption step into the adventure believing they have all the right tools for the job. It doesn’t take long for parents to find themselves in a world where their tools don’t fit - kinda like using American standard measurement tools for a job with metric system measurements. Traditional parenting tools that might work with biological children do not work on children with trauma backgrounds. Children who have spent any time in the U.S. foster care system or in an orphanage overseas have trauma in their history.
Adoptive mom, Kathleen Guire, knows good hearted, well intentioned foster and adoptive parents may also be ill-equipped for the most important job of their lives. Kathleen wrote the handbook, How to Have Peace When Your Kids are in Chaos - For Foster & Adoptive Parents as a resource for families struggling with the unique challenges involved in parenting kids from hard places. She has also created an online companion course with 7 video modules to train parents with the tools that actually fit the job.
Listen to our conversation with Kathleen Guire as we discuss why she wrote the book and how to use it on our Orphans No More podcast here. Kathleen also hosts The Whole House Podcast which can be found here. Below is a list of books written by Kathleen. All are found on Amazon.com, Barnes and Nobel, and wherever good books are sold.
How to Have Peace When Your Kids are in Chaos - For Foster & Adoptive Parents
A Positive Adoption Story
Five Things - For Adoptive & Foster Families
Defining Home
Monday Oct 14, 2019
Monday Oct 14, 2019
The Word of God makes it clear that believers are to care for the orphan, defend the fatherless, and meet the needs of the least, the lost, and the lonely. Justice For Orphans is all about advocating for Christians to adopt and/or foster vulnerable children. We have actually seen families respond to this call, but sadly only a small percentage (around 3%) actually bring children into their homes through adoption or foster care. This leaves us asking, what about the 97%? Are they off the hook? Nope! Nada! Not at all! Scripture makes it clear that we are all called to care - not just care about but to care for as in do something.
So what can you do? We offer some very easy but very specific steps in this week’s Orphans No More podcast with guest, Don Stoffel. Don is an Orphan Sunday Coordinator in Western NY and a Central Regional Director for Every Child Ministry. Join us as we discuss how vital it is for volunteers to wrap around families, how observing Orphan Sunday goes beyond just 1 day of the year, and how we can transform the foster care system here in New York through a *weekly prayer call. Listen in and be inspired to do something!
*To participate in the weekly prayer call for NY contact Don Stoffel at don@every-child.com.
Wednesday Oct 09, 2019
Wednesday Oct 09, 2019
When Tina and Randy Kacirek traveled to Ukraine in 2004 to adopt their daughter Grace, they had no idea how it would change their lives. Out of fear they said “yes” to the screeching, sickly 15 month old and brought her home. Through Grace the Kacirek’s eyes were opened to the horrific plight of special needs children in overseas orphanages.
Tina could no longer sleep at night knowing that children with special needs who did not get adopted ended up in adult mental institutions even though they were just school aged. The Kacirek’s put their faith into action and adopted 4 more special needs children from Eastern Europe. Along the way they established Grace Haven Families, a ministry that creates healing environments and support for orphans and adoptive families. Children who have been institutionalized have very unique needs and their families need support on their parenting journey, Grace Haven provides that community.
Tina Kacirek is one of the 28 featured authors in the book Hope For the Adoption Journey by Katherine Piper. Her story is featured in Chapter 2 and is entitled “Grace Found.” You can also listen to our conversation with Tina on our Orphans No More podcast right on this website by clicking here.
Monday Sep 30, 2019
Monday Sep 30, 2019
You see a photo of a child needing a family. You decide to pray for that child. You realize that God is asking, “Why not YOUR family?” So you step out in faith and bring the child home. After all, you have access to resources and a network of friends and family that will help you help this child with special needs. Just when you had it all figured out, this journey turns out to be harder than you ever thought it would be. Your family and marriage struggle, your adopted child struggles, your village struggles as it isn’t quite prepared for an internationally adopted child with trauma. What do you do when the struggle is real? According to adoptive mom, Lisa Strutz, you “guzzle God’s grace from a garden hose.”
While still very much on this roller coaster adoption journey, Lisa shares her story of struggle and healing in this week’s episode of our Orphans No More podcast. Lisa authored Chapter 9 “Healing Rain” of the book Hope for the Adoption Journey which was co-written by 27 other adoptive and foster moms also sharing their beauty from ashes adoption stories. Join us as we chat with Lisa about trusting God in the struggle as He pours healing rain into us like we pour into our kids.
Tuesday Sep 24, 2019
Tuesday Sep 24, 2019
Foster parents know what other foster parents need. Foster parents need help. While James 1:27 compels us to care for orphans and widows, only about 3% of Christian families actually welcome children into their homes through foster care or adoption. So, what does that mean for the 97% who don’t? They get to hold up the weary arms of families who are on this ministry-mission field by fostering them with blessings.
Dutchess County foster mom, Angela Paganelli, along with her church, the Evangelical Free Church of Clinton Corners in NY, established a ministry called - Foster Blessings. The members of this small congregation in the Hudson Valley are making and delivering homemade meals to foster families when they welcome a new foster placement into their homes.
Learn how Angela and her church are fostering hope in the lives of children and families in their community by listening to our conversation on our Orphans No More podcast. You can find out more about Fostering Blessings on their Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/FosterBlessingsMealsMinistry/
Monday Sep 16, 2019
Monday Sep 16, 2019
An unborn baby’s exposure to alcohol in the womb is the leading cause of intellectual and developmental disabilities in the U.S. The disabilities caused by such exposure fall under the umbrella of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). While it can be assumed when adopting internationally, especially from Eastern Europe, that a child could most likely have FASD what may be surprising is that 70% of children in the U.S. foster care system have FASD.
September is FASD Awareness Month and the topic of the 9/16/19 Orphans No More podcast with guest, Natalie Vecchione. Natalie and her husband are adoptive parents of 2 children, one diagnosed with FASD. She is also a board member and social media coordinator for NCFASD, a North Caroline based nonprofit creating FASD informed communities.
In addition to this informative podcast episode, below please find several links to more resources pertaining to FASD:
Trying Differently Rather Than Harder - Book
Thursday Sep 12, 2019
Thursday Sep 12, 2019
What do you do when you are on the mission field in Brazil with a 3 year old and a 10 month old? You adopt of course! That’s what Ashely Whittemore and her husband, Richard did.
Here in the U.S. adoptive parents have access to a plethora of resources to guide us along the journey of parenting children with trauma histories. But living in the Amazon is much different than having access to Amazon - you can’t just order help online and have it delivered to your jungle doorstep. Ashley and her family felt isolated and alone at the beginning of their adoption journey which took them along the path of the beautiful and the ugly.
Ashely Whittemore is one of 28 adoptive mom’s who share their story in the book, Hope For the Adoption Journey, by Katherine Piper. She penned chapter 6, The Beautiful Ugly.