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When Our Adult Children Walk Away
My story. Reflecting my experiences, observations and perspective - in my words.
In the early spring of 2019, under the influence of her gatekeeper-partner, in the heart of the global pandemic. After several years of trying to sort through our differences, my (young) adult daughter made the heartbreaking choice to cut all communication with our family.
My name is Dr. Janet Steinkamp, and the reason for this podcast is simple. During the long, dark hours of my isolation and desperation, I decided to use my formal training and professional experience to help people struggling to understand how to strengthen their communication styles and interpersonal behavior to rebuild a fracturing relationship. I pivoted from decades of work in medical education and communication to work with families.
I now coach people, both parents and adult children, through the dark days, isolation, and pain of estrangement from their parent or adult child. We work to find hope and look toward the future, to grow despite and because of their estrangement, and find strategies that help them prepare to strengthen and rebuild their fractured relationship.
When you are ready to walk through the hot coals of self-reflection toward self-discovery - to prepare for repair - I'm here to walk alongside you.
I can't promise reconnection, I can and will help you find clarity, purpose and strength as you prepare for opportunities to establish respectful, trusting communication.
When Our Adult Children Walk Away
Latest Episodes
We Raised Them For A World We Couldn't See
The world our adult children grew up in is not the world we grew up in. The economy shifted. The technology shifted. The pace, the pressure, the rules for building a stable life, all of it moved while we weren’t looking. In this episode, Dr. Ja...
The Message Behind the Message (Audio Only) | After Hours Series
When a message arrives from an estranged adult child, the first read is rarely the real one. The words on the page are filtered through pain, through other voices, through timing, and through emotions that have been building for a long time. In...
Are We Really Listening? The Difference Between Hearing and Being Present (Audio Only)
Are we really listening — or just waiting for your turn to speak? There’s a difference between hearing and listening that most of us never stop to examine, and in estrangement, that difference can be the distance between repa...
After Hours from Virtual Office Hours on May 24th, 2026 - Why aren't' they responding? (Audio Only)
Are you an estranged parent who finds themselves asking the same question over and over... "Why isn’t my message landing the way I intend?" Or, "Why isn't (adult child) responding?"In this first After Hours Series episode, Dr. Janet Stei...
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Is Social Media Making Estrangement Worse? What the Research Actually Says
Welcome back to When Our Adult Children Walk Away, a podcast dedicated to one of the most painful, and one of the least talked-about, experiences a family can go through: estrangement. I'm Dr. Janet Steinkamp. No guilt. No shame. No blame. ...
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Lancaster, Pennsylvania