Adoption, Fostering & Tea: The New Family Social Podcast

Yannick returns to the podcast now his son has been with him for a year.  He talks about how assertive he and his husband were with all the agencies involved in their child's adoption.  They pushed back against a checklist approach and advocated for their child's individual needs.

Yannick's previous podcast

Molly and Zoe return to the podcast after they changed adoption agency during assessment.  They talk about a very bumpy family finding process and the children they're going to be matched with tomorrow.  

Changing agency and volunteering at summer camp Molly and Zoe's previous episode

Jake's daughters have different birth families to each other but both children have face-to-face contact with their birth parents.  Jake talks about how they prepared for this as a family and the challenges and benefits of this fairly uncommon arrangement.  He explains how the meetings can be emotionally charged, sometimes awkward but still beneficial for everyone.

Stuart and Bradley return to the podcast to tell us how the first year has been with their son.  They talk about attachment, nursery, bonding over time and how thrilled they are to be his parents.

Seren is an asexual, single adopter.  She has Complex PTSD due to her abusive childhood.  After years of mental health problems, she reached the end of her NHS therapy and tried to take her own life.  She was able to access more therapy which is how she realised what happiness could feel like and how she knew she wanted to adopt.  Initially, her agency didn't think she was ready but she wasn't deterred and eventually began the journey which led her to adopter a brother and sister.  She talks about how parenting her children has made her "the happiest and most fulfilled I've ever been" and how she manages triggers and challenges.

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