Calendar Conversations: A Guide for Adoptive Parents

In rural New England, we're taught that "April showers bring May flowers"—the idea that hardship eventually leads to joy. But for adopted and foster youth, the "showers" of grief, identity confusion, and ambiguous loss don't follow a simple weather pattern.
In this episode, April Dinwoodie explores why adopted children are often labeled as "dramatic" or "attention-seeking" when they are actually navigating profound emotional pain. April shares her own journey as a transracially adopted person and dives into the data from C.A.S.E. that highlights the unique mental health needs of the adoption community. 
Visit C.A.S.E to learn more https://adoptionsupport.org/stateofpractice/#survey-highlights

March is filled with symbols of luck—four-leaf clovers, leprechauns, and pots of gold. But for many adopted people, the idea of being "lucky" can feel far more complicated.
In this episode of Calendar Conversations with June in April, April Dinwoodie explores the powerful narratives that often surround adoption—especially the message that adopted children should feel "lucky." While often well-intended, this narrative can unintentionally silence the very real experiences of loss, grief, curiosity, and identity that many adopted people carry.
April shares research on openness in adoption, explains the concept of genetic bewilderment, and introduces the L.U.C.K.Y. framework—a practical guide to help parents navigate difficult moments with empathy, honesty, and connection.

February holds Valentine's Day and Black History Month — tenderness and truth, celebration and resistance.
In this powerful February episode of Calendar Conversations with June in April, April Dinwoodie explores the gap between loving and protecting transracially adopted children.
As a Black woman raised in a white adoptive family, April reflects on growing up deeply loved — and yet not always protected from racism in extended family spaces, schools, and the broader culture. She shares how children absorb what adults interrupt… and what they allow.
In a moment when racism is more explicit and family separation is visible in public life, transracially adopted children are navigating layers of identity, belonging, grief, and racialized harm — often without adults realizing what is landing in their bodies.
This episode invites white adoptive parents to examine:
Do you love Blackness beyond your child?

Have you confronted racism within your own family systems?

Have you built authentic relationships in communities that reflect your child's identity?

Have you chosen your child's dignity over your own comfort?

Because loving the child entrusted to you through adoption is not the same as being prepared to protect them.
This conversation is about activist love — love that interrupts harm, aligns publicly, builds community, and stands between a child and the world.
Transracially adopted children deserve more than affection.
They deserve protection.

Belonging is a fundamental human need, yet for adopted persons, it is often a persistent challenge. While not everyone can fully grasp the lived experience of navigating adoption, separation, and dual belonging, everyone understands the rhythm of the calendar. In this episode, April Dinwoodie (June in April) introduces the calendar as a universal, practical parenting tool for planning and ongoing practice. By "Mapping What Matters," families can move beyond the silence of grief and "color-blind" parenting and begin to name the realities of identity and origin. April shares how her own history—being named June by her parent of origin and April by her adoptive family—taught her that multiple truths can exist side-by-side on the same calendar. Learn how to use this shared rhythm to create a brighter path to belonging for the children entrusted to you.

In this episode of Calendar Conversations – A Guide for Adoptive Parents, host April Dinwoodie explores how adoptive families can rethink holiday traditions with intention and openness. Rather than following rituals simply because "we've always done it that way," April invites listeners to consider which traditions truly foster connection, honor a child's full identity, and create a sense of belonging.
From embracing meaningful new rituals to letting go of those that no longer fit, this episode encourages families to celebrate difference and build traditions that reflect their unique stories. April also offers reflection questions to help guide conversations at home as the year comes to a close.
A thoughtful, grounding way to close out the year—and to step into the next one with clarity and heart.