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 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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Links mentioned in this episode:
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.
Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and share it on your social media.
Links mentioned in this episode:
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.
Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and share it on your social media.
Links mentioned in this episode:
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.
Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and share it on your social media.
Links mentioned in this episode:
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.
Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and share it on your social media.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Monday Dec 28, 2020
Monday Dec 28, 2020
“On coming to the house, they (the Magi) saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” Matthew 2:11
After the birth of Christ, the Wise Men presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Gold represented royalty, frankincense signified Jesus’s role as High Priest, and myrrh—used for embalming, was a prophetic gift for it was used to anoint the body of Jesus after his death on the cross.
As we enter 2021, what can we take away from these three gifts to re-gift back to Jesus? We can bring Him our worship, our focus, and our relationships—beginning with our relationship with Him.
The gifts the Wise Men presented to Christ were rare, valuable, and intentionally chosen. This week, on our Orphans No More podcast, host Sandra Flach challenges listeners to be intentional about investing in our most precious treasures—our relationship with Jesus and with others. These are the greatest gifts we can present to our King.
Monday Dec 21, 2020
Monday Dec 21, 2020
“This is real love—not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 1 John 4:9
On Christmas, God sent his Son, born in a manger, as the greatest gift of all. The gift of Christ is the greatest demonstration of love to each of us.
The fourth episode in our Orphans No More Podcast Advent series focuses on love, not romantic love, all warm and fuzzy because we feel it from our fingers to our toes. But Real love. Love expressed when we don’t feel like demonstrating it. Love when we’re weary from sibling squabbles, meltdowns, sensory issues, and virtual school and therapies…but we show up anyway.
This is the sacrificial love God sent as the greatest gift ever given. We received this love when we received Christ. And if you’ve received Christ, you have the power to love like God—sacrificially, when you’re not loved back and when you don’t feel like it. This is the love that transforms lives, homes, and the world.
This week, as we celebrate the arrival of the Gift—we pray you will receive it, put it on, wear it, and wrap it around everyone you know. We pray you and your family enjoy a very Merry Christmas.
Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and share it on your social media.
Links mentioned in this episode:
How to Have Peace When Your Kids are in Chaos - book
25 Days of Thriving Through Christmas-An Advent Devotional for Foster & Adoptive Parents
Monday Dec 14, 2020
Monday Dec 14, 2020
“I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!” Luke 2:10-11
Where do you get your news from? Throughout 2020, between Covid-19 and the election—merely turning on the TV news could send us into despair. But the shepherds received news that will bring great joy to all people—the Savior, the Messiah had arrived!
The third episode in our Orphans No More Podcast Advent series focuses on how we can experience this good news of great joy—even during this crazy-Covid-Christmas season.
In episode #251, host Sandra Flach, unpacks the theme of joy woven throughout Luke 2. Discover how you can experience the joy of the Lord throughout the holiday season and into 2021.
Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and share it on your social media.
Links mentioned in this episode:
How to Have Peace When Your Kids are in Chaos - book
25 Days of Thriving Through Christmas-An Advent Devotional for Foster & Adoptive Parents
Dwelling Places—Words to Live By, by Lucinda Secrest McDowell
Monday Dec 07, 2020
Monday Dec 07, 2020
“For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And He will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace…”
Isaiah 9:6
The second episode in our Orphans No More Podcast Advent series focuses on how we can experience peace during this crazy-Covid-Christmas season.
Advent means “the arrival.” By now, we’re all anxious to say good-bye to 2020 and hello 2021—hoping the new year will bring peace, joy, and love.
In episode #250, host Sandra Flach, dives into the first chapter of Luke to discover where true peace comes from. We can all learn a little something from a teenage girl who experienced an unplanned pregnancy two-thousand years ago.
Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and share it on your social media.
Links mentioned in this episode:
How to Have Peace When Your Kids are in Chaos - book
25 Days of Thriving Through Christmas-An Advent Devotional for Foster & Adoptive Parents
Dwelling Places—Words to Live By, by Lucinda Secrest McDowell
Empowered Parent Podcast/One Big Happy Home Podcast
Sunday Nov 29, 2020
Sunday Nov 29, 2020
“The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine…For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And He will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace…” Isaiah 9:2, 6
Christmas trees are up, homes are decorated, and Christmas music is streaming—all before Thanksgiving. It appears everyone is in need of the joy and hope Christmas brings.
For the month of December, we’re offering a 4-part Orphans No More podcast series inspired by the season of Advent. Advent means the arrival. Most of us are anxious for the departure of 2020 and the arrival of 2021. But first we have to navigate this crazy Covid Christmas season. To guide you on your journey, we offer our Advent series focused on hope, peace, joy, and love—specifically for foster and adoptive parents.
The first Advent episode focuses on the thrill of hope.
Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and share it on your social media.
Links mentioned in this episode: