On today’s episode, I’ll be chatting with Superman himself, Kayden’s former social worker, who is my personal hero and is the entire reason I’m still going as a foster parent, Norman! We’re going to keep his last name and any details of cases private, but today, we’ll discuss what it’s like to be a social worker, how we as foster parents and a community can help encourage our social workers, and more!

Update: Norman sadly passed away in 2023. My book, Called to Foster? An Honest Guide to Getting Started is dedicated to him.

This week Robert P.K. Mooney, a former foster youth turned success, addresses how to overcome the odds for youth who age of foster care! His incredible book, A Foster Kid’s Road to Success is available at https://amzn.to/4f1qdvm

Rita Soronen returns from the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, along with a panel of recruiters from their Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program to learn more about how their signature adoption program works. Rita and Jen will be joined by:

Shantell Lewis -a Wendy’s wonderful kids adoption recruiter from New York City.

Tasha Rihm- a Wendy’s wonderful kids adoption recruiter from Indianapolis.

And Chelsey Winegar -Wendy’s wonderful kids supervisor overseeing recruiters in Utah.

On today’s podcast, we talk to Jason Johnson, author of ReFraming Foster Care (for families and support groups), Everyone Can Do Something (for church and ministry leaders), ALL IN Orphan Care (small group based study for those considering), Effectively Engaging Churches (for organizational leaders and advocates) and regularly blogs at Jason Johnson | Blog.

Find Jason on Instagram @JasonJohnson

Care Portal Director, Film Producer, and foster and adoptive mom, Rebekah Weigel comes on to chat about how we can all rise up to meet the needs of our community and children in foster care. Plus, a brief introduction about Olive Crest’s Safe Families Program.

CarePortal.org

Dr. John DeGarmo is back and we’re discussing how to save a child’s life by stopping premature reunification. Putting a child’s safety and mental health over a timeline.

In the summer of 2020, after taping this episode, Dr. DeGarmo and I lobbied Congress about this issue and while we had wonderful bi-partisan support, we quickly realized that legislation wasn’t the best way to accomplish our goal of fixing the system and went on to co-author our book, Called to Foster? An Honest Guide to Getting Started to help recruit more quality foster parents.

On this week’s episode, I’m joined by foster mom extraordinaire, Beth Schneider who proves you can be single and foster well!

https://schneiderladies.com/

In this powerful episode, I’m joined for the first time by my now co-author, Dr. John DeGarmo—one of the leading voices in foster care, adoption, and child advocacy.

Together, we unpack the reality of foster parent burnout, the staggering turnover rates, and the critical gaps in the system that demand national attention.

https://www.drjohndegarmofostercare.com/