Episode 265: Walking Through the Heartache of "Blocked Care" (w/ Eric & Diana Powell)
The Forgotten Podcast
The Forgotten Initiative
4.9 • 532 Ratings
🗓️ 17 March 2025
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Like so many families, Eric and Diana Powell entered into adoption with the best intentions. After their first international adoption from Thailand, they quickly started the paperwork for their second, knowing that the process is often long and fraught with delays.
What they couldn’t know is that the next few years of their adoption journey would include physical aggression, episodes of emotional dysregulation, marriage tension, a phenomenon known as “blocked care”, and an overwhelming sense of isolation. During this challenging period, they often didn’t know where to turn next or what to do to help their family heal and connect.
Blocked care is a response that can occur when a person rejects your attempts to provide for them, no matter how loving or compassionate those attempts may be. Over time, this pattern can lead to feelings of rejection, hostility, anxiety, and even compassion fatigue in the caregiver.
Eric and Diana’s story has been one of incredible challenges, but it is also one of tremendous growth. Today, the Powells are passionate about being a listening ear for others on their fostering or adoption journey.
In this episode, they explain how they learned what blocked care is and how to navigate it, the importance of finding a supportive community as a foster or adoptive parent, where to find hope when reality doesn’t match your expectations, and much more.
Find resources mentioned and more in the show notes for this episode: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/eric-diana-powell-265/
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Sharing the stories of the foster care community, this is The Forgotten podcast. |
| 0:08.4 | I didn't want to pray for her. You know, spiritually, I was like, God, I have asked you |
| 0:14.1 | to deal with this for months, and it's only getting worse. You say you love me. This doesn't |
| 0:20.4 | feel like you love me right now. I know that you love her. Can say you love me. This doesn't feel like you love me right now. |
| 0:22.4 | I know that you love her. |
| 0:24.4 | Can't you help her out? |
| 0:25.9 | You know? |
| 0:26.8 | And so it was just dark when he's quiet for a while. |
| 0:29.6 | It was hard. |
| 0:31.9 | Hey, it's Jamie Cabe. |
| 0:33.9 | Welcome to the Forgotten podcast, |
| 0:36.0 | where we are highlighting the stories of the people of foster care. |
| 0:40.1 | We want to bring you hope and encouragement in your journey and help you support the foster care community where you live. |
| 0:46.8 | This podcast is a resource of the Forgotten Initiative. |
| 0:51.1 | Learn more about our work across America and how you can get involved by visiting |
| 0:55.8 | the forgotteninitiative.org. And please consider joining with us on mission with a gift of any |
| 1:03.0 | amount. You can do this by texting the word forgotten to 44321. Okay, it's time. Let's do this. |
| 1:17.4 | Eric and Diana Powell are a two-time internationally adoptive family with a heart for supporting other adoptive parents. |
| 1:30.2 | They are the proud parents of a nine-year-old son and a 19-year-old daughter, both born in Thailand |
| 1:35.8 | and brought into their family through adoption. Their journey has been one of incredible |
| 1:40.9 | challenge and growth, including navigating difficult behaviors, trauma, |
| 1:45.8 | and moments of deep uncertainty. After years of struggle, they found healing and community through |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Forgotten Initiative, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Forgotten Initiative and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.