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The Empowered Advocate


May 20, 2019

Chad & Holly Cooke talk about their professional and personal experience with adoption. Holly has a masters in Marriage and Family Counseling, and Chad has his doctorate in counseling and is a licensed professional counselor in North Carolina. The Cookes adopted their first son from Ethiopia, had two biological sons, and are currently in the process of a domestic adoption. The Cookes share about the impact of adoption on the family.

 

0:30 - What are some of the differences between pursuing an international adoption vs. a domestic adoption?

1:35 - Chad and Holly share about how their second adoption has been an eight year process

2:48 - How involved have the boys been in this adoption process, and what are some ways that you have been preparing your family for a new brother or sister?

5:00 - What strategies do you have for adopting another child into the home when there are already children in the family?

7:41 - How has your extended family reacted to the adoption(s)? What advice would you give to people on how to prepare their families for the transition?

9:25 - What should people NOT say to someone who is in the process of adoption?

12:32 - Any last insights you’d give to those who are contemplating adoption?

13:45 - When adopting transracially, should you still celebrate/recognize that child’s culture/ethnicity, treat them as if they’ve always been a part of your family culture from birth, or is it a balance between the two?

 

Recommended Resources from Chad & Holly:

The Whole-Brain Child by Dr. Dan Siegel & Dr. Tina Payne Bryson

The Connected Child by Karen Purvis

Adopted for Life by Russell Moore

The Empowered Parent Podcast

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing Trauma by Bessel van derk Kolk M.D.