Andrew Lewis is a partner at KPMG and the founder of the KPMG National Foster Care and Adoption Network. He is both a foster parent and adoptive parent who serves on the boards of Comfort Cases and the Center for Adoption Support and Education (CASE).

Karen Phillips didn’t plan to become a child welfare changemaker—she simply said yes to becoming a foster parent. That yes set her on a path to help families in crisis long before the foster care system gets involved.

In this episode of The Forgotten Adoption Option Podcast, Karen shares how her lived experience fueled the creation of the 100 Families Initiative at Restore Hope Arkansas. Together with her team, she’s building tech-powered, community-based solutions that bring together nonprofits, agencies, and families to prevent foster care entry.

🎧 You’ll hear:

• How Karen’s journey into foster care turned into statewide impact

• What the 100 Families model looks like in action

• The surprising ways technology is bridging gaps across systems

• Why prevention is both possible and powerful

This is more than a story—it’s a blueprint for hope.

Eva Amador is a retired adoption attorney from Puerto Rico. She spent her the final years of her career navigating the legal process to help children find forever families.

Connie Going has spent over 25 years working in the child welfare system and is the adoptive parent of two teens including Davion and another young man - the boys became good friends and referred to themselves as brothers when living at the same group home.

Beverly Jenkins and I met as Invested Faith Fellows. She is the founder of the North County Innovation Center. During a meet up at her space, she shared she was an adoptive mom, too. She went on to share she adopted a teenager from her youth group. Listen to this episode to hear how their forever family came together.

Foster Care Adoption Awareness in the Classroom: Lessons from Two Educators

In this episode, I sit down with Jamie and Linda, two passionate elementary school teachers who have been instrumental in shaping and implementing the Foster Care Adoption Awareness Reading Program. Jamie, a kindergarten teacher, collaborated with me to develop the original lesson plan and co-taught the pilot session in her classroom in 2023. Linda, a 3rd-grade teacher, has been teaching the lesson annually since its launch—including when my daughter (Season 1 guest, Little Sister) was in her class!

Together, we discuss the impact of integrating foster care adoption awareness into early education, the real-world moments that sparked student conversations, and our experience co-presenting at the 2024 Conference on the Young Years for Missouri early childhood educators.

Tune in to hear how educators can bring foster care adoption awareness into their classrooms and why this lesson is a game-changer for shaping young minds.

🔗 Subscribe, share, and learn more about bringing this program to your school!

#FosterCareAdoption #EducationMatters #AdoptionAwareness #TeachersOfInstagram #EarlyChildhoodEducation #FosterCareAdvocate #LessonPlans #TeachingForChange

Amanda Denning is the Director of Extreme Recruitment for the Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition. Amanda is herself half adopted and, as of a few months ago, has become the kinship placement for her niece.

She has been working in child welfare for more than 10 years first as a recruiter and now as the director of a unique and intensive approach to finding permanent homes for children in foster care who are considered hard to place due to age, special needs, or length of time in care. This program is called Extreme Recruitment®.

Exciting News!
This podcast has been recognized among the Top 3 Best Adoptive Mom Podcasts and the Top 25 Best Adoption Podcasts by Feedspot! More people are discovering the reality of children waiting to be adopted through foster care, and together, we’re amplifying their voices.

Explore the rankings: ⁠Best Adoptive Mom Podcasts⁠, Best Adoption Podcasts

In addition to being the mother of 3 daughters, 1 through adoption, ⁠Katerina Canyon⁠ is an award-winning poet and author.

During our conversation, we revisit stories from past guests, including ⁠Ben & Emily⁠, who faced the unexpected challenge of their paperwork getting lost during the licensing process, and ⁠Thea & Amy⁠, who discuss how their ⁠Family-Match⁠ technology is changing the way waiting children are matched with adoptive families.