The Forgotten Adoption Option Podcast: Recent Episodes
Marcy Bursac
Adoptive mom and author Marcy Bursac invites you to listen in on heartfelt conversations about foster care adoption - the most affordable way to adopt with a financial cost of $0-$2,500.
In Season 2’s monthly episodes, you’ll learn HOW to adopt children waiting in foster care. Grab a cup of tea and turn on Season 1 for personal stories of adoptive parents and adopted children.
To learn more about the foster care adoption process and get a copy of The Forgotten Adoption Option in paperback, ebook or audiobook, visit: forgottenadoptionoption.com.
Rebekah Weigel is a foster/adoptive parent, child advocate and national ambassador for CarePortal (a technology the supports children and families interacting with the foster system). She has a passion to see the faith community care for vulnerable children and families. She is an award-winning filmmaker and works in the entertainment industry as a writer and producer.Rebekah and her husband Joshua are at the helm of The Sound of Hope: Possum Trot as the producers, writers, and Josh’s feature debut as a director. Possum Trot was produced through their company, PEACETREE PRODUCTIONS, in association with Letitia Wright’s Threesixteen Entertainment. Peacetree Productions aims to create life-changing, spiritually significant entertainment by highlighting critical social issues and narratives, capturing the most compelling stories of our time. After Possum Trot, the highly anticipated feature length adaptation of THE BUTTERFLY CIRCUS is on deck for Peacetree Productions.THE SOUND OF HOPE: POSSUM TROT SYNOPSIS: The fight for kids begins July 4. Inspired by the powerful true story, Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot, follows Donna and Reverend Martin as they ignite a fire in the hearts of their rural church to embrace kids in the foster system that nobody else would take. By doing the impossible–adopting 77 children–this East Texas community proved that, with real, determined love, the battle for America’s most vulnerable can be won.
Jillana Goble is an advocate, author, and speaker as well as a mom and founder of Every Child.
Jamie and Linda are teachers at the same elementary school where my husband (Season 1 guest) - Nathan - teacher art. Jamie teaches kindergarten and was a collaborator as we were writing the lesson plan for the Foster Care Adoption Awareness Reading Program. She helped me pilot the program in her classroom where we co-taught the lesson together in 2023.Linda teaches 3rd grade and started teaching the lesson annually during the pilot year. My daughter (Season 1 guest) - who I call Little Sister - was one of Linda's students. Linda co-presented with me in 2024 at a conference for Missouri early childhood teachers called Conference on the Young Years.
Lisa Schelbe is the associate dean of academic affairs and an associate professor at Florida State University College of Social Work and a faculty affiliate at the Florida Institute for Child Welfare. She is the Director of the Child Well-Being Research Network. Additionally, she serves as co-Editor-in-Chief of the Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal.Her primary research interest focuses broadly on child welfare, child maltreatment prevention, and child well-being and she published a book called Some Type of Way: Aging out of Foster Care in 2023.
Crystal & Justin share what it's like to be a family that has adopted multiple children with unique, special needs. Pages 5-9 in this document are an example of a list of behaviors, conditions and medical needs you might be asked to consider when adopting through foster care.
Jodi founded Second Mothers, a community for women who are foster mothers, adoptive mothers, and/or step mothers.
Dr. Wynter is a Foster Youth Voice Whisperer, Child Welfare Strategist & Systems Thinker. She and I met after I published my first book "The Forgotten Adoption Option". A few local readers had told me barriers they were facing as they tried to get licensed to adopt through foster care. Dr. Wynter took me under her wing and pointed me to some existing legislature that I was able to share with my state - Missouri.
Gaelin Elmore is a professional speaker, a board member at the Association for Training on Trauma and Attachment in Children, and the director of coaching at The Forgotten Initiative. Dr. Wynter and Gaelin have recently debuted their book called "Follow the Love". It is about the importance of permanent connections for young people transitioning out of foster care.
Justine Froelker is an educator who uses storytelling, humor, and passion to help individuals to rise from difficulty, cope with emotions, and move forward in a healthy, authentic way.
Christopher and Ashley adopted a young boy through foster care and then later decided they no longer felt called to accept more children into their home.
Simon Benn resides in the United Kingdom and is the founder of Thriving Adoptees. He is an adoptee who helps other adoptees thrive. He also shows parents how to help their adopted children to thrive, too. He also shows parents how to help their adopted children to thrive, too.
Anthony Donovan is the Associate Dean of Students & Director of Residence Life at my alma mater, Belmont University.
Meet Gary Schneider Founder & CEO - Every Orphan’s Hope and Vision Catalyst & Founder - Orphan Sunday. Learn more about Gary's work and explore opportunities for child sponsorship at: everyorphan.org. If you're interested in learning more about Zambia signing the Hague Convention on Inter-Country Adoption, check out: travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/Intercountry-Adoption-News/adoption-notice-zambia-1oct2015.html
La' Toria Kern who serves as a foster parent for emergency situations in Las Vegas. She is also the founder and executive and artistic director as a nonprofit called FAMILYArts @ WHALER's Creation.
Angie Schaefer is the Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer at Safety National. Want to ask your employer to add or expand adoption benefits? Use the Adoption-Friendly Workplace Toolkit. Does your employer already have adoption benefits, invite them to participate in the Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces Survey.
Meet adoptive mom Kathy Searle. Kathy is also the vice president of Utah programs for Raise the Future.
Andrea Sanders has been the Commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services since November 2020. She says, "Every day I throw on my CAPE ([which is an acronym for her] core values of Compassion, Accountability, Professionalism, and Excellence) and I challenge my staff to do the same. Our work is too important to not give it our all each and every day. It is truly a new day at MDCPS, and I implore my fellow professionals and all Mississippians to lock arms with us to protect our children by investing in Mississippi families.
Meet Matthew Wollack, Vice President of Strategic Development at Wolverine Human Services and as President & CEO of eNoble.
Meet adoptive mom of a sibling pair - Kara. You'll learn about how she handled the adventure and uncertainties of the foster care system.
Meet Ryan Hanlon the President & CEO for the National Council For Adoption.Dive deeper into the research report Ryan discusses: adoptioncouncil.org/profilesNeed continuing education as an adoption professional, consider the NCFA Conference - adoptioncouncil.org/ncfa-conference.
Meet Thea Ramirez, the founder and Amy Simpson, the director of programs for Adoption-Share.
Meet Adam Gunn the co-founder of Seventh Avenue Creative and the incredibly talented illustrator of my new children's book Mallory Cheatham.
Rob experienced the foster care system as a child and then, as an adult, started a nonprofit called Comfort Cases which assembles care packs for children in foster care. To date, his organization has impacted over 185,000 children in the foster care system. Rob has adopted 5 children through the foster care system and is the author of his memoir called A Forever Family: Fostering One Child at a Time.
Meet Chef Kibby - biological, foster, and adoptive dad. During the pandemic he pivoted from a catering business to helping foster and adoptive parents connect with their children through the shared act of cooking and eating together.
Meet Shari Shink, child welfare advocate. She spent 33 years as a lawyer, founded the Rocky Mountain Children's Law Center (the first non-profit law firm for abused and neglected children), and most recently, founded Cobbled Streets, a nonprofit that goes 'upstream' to serve younger foster children, promoting their health, growth, and development and preventing them from emancipating from the foster care system to the streets and homelessness.
Meet Ancil Lea, adoptive dad & business owner, who peaked the hearts of almost 8 million adults through a simple LinkedIn post.
Meet Joy Gilraine, adoptive mom and parenting coach. In this episode, Joy shares practical ways for current and prospective adoptive families to own their foster care adoption fears and explore them without judgement.
Rita Soronen, President & CEO of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, returns to share about the rewards and impact of being an Adoption-Friendly Workplace.
Matthew Straeb co-founded the Heart Gallery of America. In this episode you'll learn HOW to see professional photographs and bios of children waiting to be adopted through foster care so that you can consider adopting these children and also share this resource with those you know who are interested in adoption.
Meet Liz Brooks Wilburn, Co-Director of Foster Parent College. Noticing the need for convenient high-quality training, Northwest Media Inc. created FosterParentCollege.com to provide online, on-demand, engaging training for current and future foster parents.
Lynn Stacy shares how she knew she was ready to adopt and what social service agencies are looking for in adoptive families.
Denise Goodman has cracked the code on recruiting foster and adoptive parents. Are you a future adoptive parent? Find out how to know.
Jennifer Jacobs & Jessica Stern developed a software platform that uses "family mapping" technology to find forever families for waiting children. Is your data up-to-date and in the right places? Get the scoop on how online data is used to map a child's family and friend tree and could lead to them finding a permanent family. Learn more about the tools Jennifer and Jessica are building to help children in foster care at: www.connectourkids.org
Travis and Anna adopted a daughter through foster care and then had biological children.
Sandra is the author of Orphans No More, co-founder and president of Justice for Orphans, and mom of 8 total children, 5 of which are adopted. Dive deeper into fetal alcohol spectrum disorder using Sandra's resources at: www.justicefororphansny.org/new-resources.
Ben and Emily are in the process of getting licensed to adopt through foster care! Get a peek into what the process is like.
My husband and I answer your questions about the foster care adoption process from readers of my book The Forgotten Adoption Option and The Forgotten Adoption Option Community on Facebook.
Melody speaks of her personal journey navigating life from the inside of foster care. She was in foster care for 8 years but never adopted.
Pam and her husband raised 5 biological children and then adopted a sibling group of 7 additional children.
CJ is the author of "Obliterating the Odds". She was in foster care and was never adopted although she lived in 35 homes before age 17. Listen to hear her journey of going from tragedy to triumph.
Amber is in Texas and is the adoptive mom of a sibling pair. She also gifts my book The Forgotten Adoption Option to potential adoptive families in her area. Get ideas and insights about foster care adoption in this episode.
By celebrating current and retired foster parents and spreading awareness about the need for more foster families, Marcy and Sherry hope to inspire prospective foster parents to take the next steps in caring for children in need. Sherry Hursey (Lilly) is an award-winning actress, vocalist, writer and producer whose face and voice are very familiar to television, radio and film audiences worldwide.
Most recognized as Ilene from the hit series HOME IMPROVEMENT and Kirsten Dunst’s mother in the Universal blockbuster BRING IT ON, Sherry has an extensive list of credits from stage to screen. Spreading her wings and following the call of her spirit, Sherry wrote, produced and starred in the uplifting musical pilot LILLY’S LIGHT, which aired on PBS and was the winner of the KIDS FIRST BEST AWARD! Following this, she founded Lilly’s Fostering Hearts (lillysfosteringhearts.org), a non-profit org advocating for displaced and foster youth. This led her to producing PSAs and interstitials for public TV. Sherry is now the co-owner of Turning On the Light Entertainment (TOtLEntertainment.com), for which her and her husband Rick Cowling’s hearts and talents are being fully expressed by producing inspiring and uplifting, positive music and media.
“Lilly’s Light: The Movie” is currently available for purchase or rental on platforms like Amazon, iTunes, and YouTube.
Download the free “Lilly’s Light: The Movie” Activity Kit
Watch the "Lilly's Light: The Movie" trailer
Nathan shares about his experience being family to teens and young adults. He has been a foster parent for 16 years.
For Natalie and her husband, adoption was their Plan A. She shares lessons learned and emotions experienced.
Meet Robin & Dave. A couple who has opened their homes, changed family trees, and started a nonprofit to teach other families how to do that same.
Alice is a decade-long foster and adoptive mom. Listen as she shares insights on parenting children as a single mom.
Adoption impacts immediate and extended family. I'm excited to introduce you to my dad who shares his experience with my family's foster care adoption journey.
Learn about the opportunity to adopt and advocate for children through the foster care system from Rita Soronen, President & CEO of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.
Hunter shares his personal story of being in foster care for 6 years and then being adopted by a family that spent many of those years with him.
Jane is a caring coworker who adopted a son when he was 6-years-old. She didn’t feel finished parenting after raising three biological children. Hear how “love can be a noun, a verb, and a decision” when it comes to foster care adoption.
"It is the best thing and the hardest thing she's ever done." Robin of Exodus Fitness Retreats shares how she went from "mentor" to "mother" overnight.
This episode is about a 3 month-old baby girl who met her forever family on Christmas Eve. Adoptive Mom, Jennifer Elwood is the Author of Counting Up to Christmas: 24 Gifts from the Gospel of Luke. Her book is available in full-color paperback and Kindle formats. We met through the FlourishWriters Community. To learn more on becoming a Respite Provider Google "foster carerespite provider + [your city & state]". For example, here is information on becoming a Foster Care Respite Provider in Missouri. I found this information by Googling "foster care respite provider st louis missouri".
This has the feeling of a private conversation in our home. Learn from an adoptive dad who went from zero to two kids overnight. Learn common reservations for pursuing adoption and get a peek inside the real-life journey of the foster care adoption process.