Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey: Recent Episodes
Jason and Amanda Palmer
Foster care is truly an unparalleled experience. This is our journey as a foster and adoptive family that has seen and experienced a lot!
We want to share our joy and heartbreak with the world to inspire others to join in our mission of providing strength to the weakest among us. We are sharing our personal experiences as a foster and adoptive family and the stories that other brave souls are willing to generously share with us.
Our goal is to help potential foster families take that next step in the process and to encourage bio families to work with us towards the best possible resolution for every kid in care. There is no better place for any kid to be than in their home with a mom and dad that cares enough about them to stop any behavior that puts their kids at risk. If you are willing to work towards that goal, we would love to encourage you to do so in any way we can!
Come listen to our story and find your hope! You can find us at linktr.ee/fostercarenation
This is a unique one off episode. It is a conversation with 3 other dads and authors who wrote their story of grief in the book The Last Hug. You can purchase the book Here
Avni Panchal is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has her own private practice in the Bay Area. In addition to therapy services, she provides training to social workers in the field, teaches at San Francisco State University and is the Clinical Advisor for Kaya. She continues to facilitate dialogue circles on various topics in both the public and private sectors. Her mission is to de-stigmatize mental health and help people recognize their inner strength and practice self-love.
TikTok
Youtube
Website
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I have never told this story in public and I have not told everything that is here, probably ever. I have always felt a pulling to the children and families who are or have been involved in this system, or have suffered in the darkness of our world. I’m going to include a bio that is taken from the first chapter of my book. That first chapter is a letter to my reader and it is the heart of that letter. However, that bio in grounded much more in the recovery years, and I it is important when talking to foster families to talk about the tough stuff that comes first. I have a strong desire to tell the story of healing, but in order to appreciate being saved, it is necessary to recognize the conditions that precipitated the need for it. For these reasons, I have added a much more detailed account of my childhood for consideration.
I know the story that follows is overly dramatic and may at times seem sensational. However, it is important to offer the following disclaimer: as I will mention below, It has been clearly demonstrated first within my own meditation and consideration and later confirmed in my medical and psychological records that my early (Oregon and before) memories have been compromised by intentional manipulation, I also have been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. Consequently, my memory of this entire period and even presently has been greatly affected. I have recounted my history as I remember it and as I have pieced it together. It is impossible that any child’s memories not be influenced by the accounts of those around us. This is certainly true in my case. Furthermore, many of the people who surrounded me as I was growing up shared some common traits that make their influence wholly unreliable. However, I have done my very best to apply as much perspective and logic to these recollections as possible; to give an accurate accounting of events as they seem to have taken place. I have intentionally left out points that cannot be substantiated by multiple sources. And as this is a trait I had to devise and develop early just to gain the most basic concept of who I am or where I came from: I am confident that this is as accurate a narrative as I can offer at this time.
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Nikki Hertzler resides in northern Nevada. She and her husband have lived in several states before settling with their three children in Nevada. Nikki is an elementary teacher and as a speaker, she speaks on the importance of early childhood development as well as on foster care. Her family enjoys participating in their church ministries and being on outdoor adventures. A few years ago, with their biological children on the brink of leaving home, the Hertzlers felt God calling them to foster. Since then, they have been introducing their foster children to the fun of hiking, skiing, and Lake Tahoe.
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Dr. Christopher Scott Wyatt is an autistic self-advocate and father of two neurodiverse daughters. He earned a doctorate while researching online education for students with autism spectrum disorders. His experiences living with physical and neurological differences shape his parenting. Wyatt consults with schools, businesses, and non-profit organizations on issues of autism, Neurodiversity, and active inclusion. C. S. Wyatt, MFA, PhD autisticme@tameri.com Blog: https://www.tameri.com/autisticme/ Podcast: https://autisticme.libsyn.com/ https://www.facebook.com/autisticme/ https://twitter.com/autisticme Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey Find All Our Links Here
https://linktr.ee/fostercarenation
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Imagine the stage is set, the lights are dimmed, and the audience is waiting with bated breath. This is where my journey began - in the theater. I spent over two decades honing my craft, perfecting my skills, and pouring my heart and soul into every performance. But in 2005, I knew it was time to step away from the spotlight and serve something greater than myself. So I joined the US Army and dedicated myself to defending our country for the next 9 1/2 years.
When my military service ended in 2015, I thought my life was set on a different course. I returned to school to get a degree in Supply Chain Management, but fate had other plans. Life brought me back to my passion, but this time with a twist. I found inspiration in tabletop role-playing games, which reignited the fire in my soul.
As I built my portfolio and connected with clients from all over the world, I knew it was time to take my skills to the next level. That's when Beyond the Pen was born. This podcast is my way of bringing characters to life, one way or another. I'm a full-time voice actor, character development coach, and creator, and I'm on a mission to share my love of storytelling with as many people as possible.
So, here I am today, living proof that life is full of surprises. My journey has been a winding path, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Every step has led me to this moment, and I'm excited to see where it takes me next.
https://www.beyondthepenpodcast.com/
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Andrea has worked with clients across the globe who are seeking a deep recalibration from a state of trauma response to a state of self-love, creativity, wholeness, and flow.
Andrea has dedicated years training to become highly specialized and effective in artfully blending a mosaic of techniques from body movement, somatic release, integration, breathwork, psychedelic-assistance, and much more to provide gentle, yet life-changing bespoke intensives for clients who are ready for a big shift.
www.andreahanson.net
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Hannah is a passionate advocate for authentic happiness, and sustainable healthy relationships, starting with the one we have with ourselves. She is a Licensed Authentic Tantra Practitioner, Board Certified Clinical Sexologist, and Relationship & Life Coach specializing in helping individuals become their happiest selves through inner & outer work while learning to understand and relate to their partners & family in the best ways possible. She is a trauma-informed practitioner who works with techniques designed to get to the root of the issues. She incorporates astrology, human design, Tibetan Buddhist Tantra, along with other spiritual teachings to ensure the most holistic approach to creating a happy life for herself and her clients. Hannah is not afraid to speak her mind and shares openly about her unorthodox past, as a way to empower others to live a life authentic to THEM, heal from their past, and become educated on how they can avoid unnecessary trauma in the future.
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Michelle McGough is an adoptee and individual who survived the foster care system as an infant. After being placed with a family she endured constant abuse until she reached adulthood. Left with only the coping mechanisms she developed to survive, she entered the military followed by the private sector before working through the trauma. Once she got to the other side of healing she found new ways to live and thrive that enabled her to find purpose by helping others to heal and grow. Today you can find Michelle on Instagram as ThePracticalCatalyst and on her website: https://www.thepracticalcatalyst.com.
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I am a mom of 2 very different children – in regard to their biology, their needs, their attachment, their experiences. I have worked in the special education field for more than 2 decades intimately hearing, seeing, and feeling parents struggle to connect with their children who have developmental delays.
AngieGrandt@outlook.com
ConnectedParentsWithAngie
I am also a certified mindset coach, and have seen firsthand how, with the right tools and support, real connections are possible. My mission is to guide as many parents as possible toward building strong, connected relationships with their children. I have built a coaching program to provide a whole new level of support for growth that parents raising exceptional, emotionally intense children need. As an adoptive mom and former foster mom, speech pathologist, early interventionist, coach, and autism specialist, I have a wide range of insight to pull from. I’ve been through the trenches both personally and professionally of disability, trauma, behaviors, and loss of hope. I guide parents back to hope, growth, and building a stronger relationship than they ever thought possible.
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Zachary Daniel is a Midwest native. He comes to Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey to discuss how his adoption experience shaped himself and his family. He graduated with a degree in Nuclear Medicine but eventually founded his own investment firm Digital Edge Wealth Management. He draws his energy from family and friends. Zach recently authored his debut novel, Manifest Destiny.
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Karen Robinson, MSW, ACSW, LCSW
Trauma Recovery Expert
I'm a licensed therapist with 24 years of clinical experience specializing in trauma recovery, anxiety, and depression. I provide holistic care to create transformation and healing for trauma survivors.
https://www.Karenrobinson360.com
https://www.healthrivedream.com/
Heal Thrive Dream Podcast
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I’m a former politico-turned stay-at-home mom. I married my college sweetheart and a week later began working for an actor-turned-Governator.
After a few years, I put that life on hold to raise several amazing tiny people. I assumed stay-at-home mom life would prove easier than the fast pace and stress of the working world. Nope. But I wouldn’t trade the time spent loving and pouring into my precious humans for anything.
https://mollydefrank.com/
Digital Detox
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David Ambroz is a national poverty and child welfare expert and advocate. President Obama recognized him as an American Champion of Change. He currently serves as the Head of Community Engagement (West) for Amazon, coordinating with non-profits and community leaders for social good. Previously he led Corporate Social Responsibility for Walt Disney Television and served as the Los Angeles City Planning Commission's President and a California Child Welfare Councilmember. After growing up homeless and in foster care, he graduated from Vassar and later from UCLA School of Law (J.D.). He is a foster dad and lives in Los Angeles, CA.
A Place to call Home - the book
David's Website
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Darren W Carter and Theresa Carter join us in this episode to talk about their lives, struggles, and joys through the lens of being foster parents. They are both strong parents and business owners located in Cleveland, Ohio.
We talked all about bio kids, adopted kids, foster kids, and godchildren. We dove into tough questions about learning to guard your heart and working diligently to help bio parents get their lives on track so they can care for their own kids.
This is me Fiona Myles, born in the mid-60s. I’m married to the amazing Brian a gorgeous redhead. We have one daughter Georgie and a son Connor.
Manchester has been our home for the past 18 years, a fabulous metropolis full of energy and history.
I started writing and telling stories from a fairly young age. My Mum bought me a typewriter when I was eight or nine years old. I battered away at that little typewriter day in and day out. Life moved on and the typewriter was laid to rest.
Fast forward 45 years and the laptop becomes my new typewriter. My passion as an author and blogger was reignited with a strong desire to bring hope in an awful period of time called “Lockdown.” Visit the website HERE
Patty Waters enjoys bringing people, ideas, and inspiration together and hopes to form a dialogue that shares a unique perspective from an adopted teenager. Patty and her 3 siblings were adopted by the Waters family at the age of 13 and grew up in Austin, Texas. Patty and her siblings were in the foster care system for 5 years. She earned her Masters in Healthcare Administration and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Houston – Clear Lake and currently works as a Healthcare Management Recruiter. Patty has high hopes to encourage and empower current and former foster care youth to pursue their dreams by sharing her story and is grateful to have the opportunity to be a CASA volunteer.
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Carmen María is a stepmom of four, a biological mom of two, and a foster mom of a few children who she loves, sometimes at a distance. With her memoir, Fostering: A Memoir of Courage and Hope, she endeavors to bring awareness to the issues surrounding the foster care system and share her passion for protecting vulnerable youth.
Fostering: A Memoir of Courage and Hope Carmen Maria's Website
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Carmen María is a stepmom of four, a biological mom of two, and a foster mom of a few children who she loves, sometimes at a distance. With her memoir, Fostering: A Memoir of Courage and Hope, she endeavors to bring awareness to the issues surrounding the foster care system and share her passion for protecting vulnerable youth.
Fostering: A Memoir of Courage and Hope Carmen Maria's Website
Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey Find All Our Links Here
https://linktr.ee/fostercarenation
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Call the Voicemail Line
413-foster 3
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I help brain injury survivors find the tools and support they need to LIVE again. I have over 10 years of training and experience in brain injury therapy and neuropsychological testing. My superpower is curiosity, out-of-the-box thinking, and a huge heart for people who are trying to rebuild their lives after an accident or illness.
WEBSITE
PODCAST
Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey Find All Our Links Here
https://linktr.ee/fostercarenation
Merch!
http://tee.pub/lic/RwiARsuuDHs
Call the Voicemail Line
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Website
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Connect on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/fostercarenation/
I help brain injury survivors find the tools and support they need to LIVE again. I have over 10 years of training and experience in brain injury therapy and neuropsychological testing. My superpower is curiosity, out-of-the-box thinking, and a huge heart for people who are trying to rebuild their lives after an accident or illness.
WEBSITE
PODCAST
Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey Find All Our Links Here
https://linktr.ee/fostercarenation
Merch!
http://tee.pub/lic/RwiARsuuDHs
Call the Voicemail Line
413-foster 3
(413) 367-8373
Foster Care 101
Free webinar with NO sales pitch!
Support Our Mission
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/fostercare
https://patreon.com/fostercarenation
Website
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Connect with us on our Facebook Page
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Kyle is a father of 6 kids through adoption and we dive into his story today.
Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey Find All Our Links Here
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Kyle is a father of 6 kids through adoption and we dive into his story today.
Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey Find All Our Links Here
https://linktr.ee/fostercarenation
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http://tee.pub/lic/RwiARsuuDHs
Call the Voicemail Line
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Dawn M. Barclay is an award-winning author who has spent a career working in different aspects of the travel industry. She started as an agent with her parents’ firms, Barclay Travel Ltd and Barclay International Group Short-Term Apartment Rentals, and then branched out into travel trade reporting with senior or contributing editor positions at Travel Agent Magazine, Travel Life, Travel Market Report, and most recently, Insider Travel Report. She is a mother of two and resides in New York’s scenic Hudson Valley. She also writes fiction as D.M. Barr and holds leadership roles in several writer organizations
Website
Book Link
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Dawn M. Barclay is an award-winning author who has spent a career working in different aspects of the travel industry. She started as an agent with her parents’ firms, Barclay Travel Ltd and Barclay International Group Short-Term Apartment Rentals, and then branched out into travel trade reporting with senior or contributing editor positions at Travel Agent Magazine, Travel Life, Travel Market Report, and most recently, Insider Travel Report. She is a mother of two and resides in New York’s scenic Hudson Valley. She also writes fiction as D.M. Barr and holds leadership roles in several writer organizations
Website
Book Link
Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey Find All Our Links Here
https://linktr.ee/fostercarenation
Merch!
http://tee.pub/lic/RwiARsuuDHs
Call the Voicemail Line
413-foster 3
(413) 367-8373
Foster Care 101
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Eileen Devine, LCSW lives in Portland, Oregon, and has over twenty years of clinical experience. She is also the mother of a teenager with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, a serious brain-based disability that has challenging behavioral symptoms. She believes that when we understand the way a child's brain works, we then understand the
meaning behind challenging behaviors and begin to see them as symptoms of a child’s differences. Eileen's goal is to not only support parents in feeling more competent and confident in connecting with their child by parenting from a brain-first perspective but
to also recognize their experience as the parent of a child with extraordinary needs and the impact this has on their sense of self and well-being. When these two sides of the coin can be equally addressed, there is less frustration and increased hope in this
unique parenting journey. Through this work with parents, Eileen has created The Resilience Room Membership Community and the Brain First Parenting Program, both designed to support parents in their unique parenting journey. In addition to her one-to-one and group work with parents, she also facilitates dozens of workshops and
trainings a year and is an instructor for the C.A.S.E. Institute’s Training for Adoption Competency Post-Masters Certification Program.
https://www.eileendevine.com/
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Eileen Devine, LCSW lives in Portland, Oregon, and has over twenty years of clinical experience. She is also the mother of a teenager with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, a serious brain-based disability that has challenging behavioral symptoms. She believes that when we understand the way a child's brain works, we then understand the
meaning behind challenging behaviors and begin to see them as symptoms of a child’s differences. Eileen's goal is to not only support parents in feeling more competent and confident in connecting with their child by parenting from a brain-first perspective but
to also recognize their experience as the parent of a child with extraordinary needs and the impact this has on their sense of self and well-being. When these two sides of the coin can be equally addressed, there is less frustration and increased hope in this
unique parenting journey. Through this work with parents, Eileen has created The Resilience Room Membership Community and the Brain First Parenting Program, both designed to support parents in their unique parenting journey. In addition to her one-to-one and group work with parents, she also facilitates dozens of workshops and
trainings a year and is an instructor for the C.A.S.E. Institute’s Training for Adoption Competency Post-Masters Certification Program.
https://www.eileendevine.com/
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Stephanie Olson is a speaker, an author, and the Chief Executive Officer of The Set Me Free Project, a prevention education organization on human trafficking, social media safety, and healthy relationships. Stephanie has a mission to share that each person has an intrinsic value that cannot be changed. Her work on teaching resilience in life and leadership has inspired people across the United States. In her conversational and humorous style, Stephanie will inspire and empower. Living with years of parent abandonment, eating disorders, alcoholism, and domestic and sexual violence, she overcame through determination, faith, and resilience. She turned her trauma into triumph. Now, a sought-after speaker, Stephanie runs a successful nonprofit organization and loves to speak to audiences of all kinds (faith-based and non) inspiring, encouraging, and bringing hope everywhere she speaks.
Website
https://www.setmefreeproject.net/
Podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/resilience-in-life-and-leadership/id1588808625
Books
https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Passing-What-Are-Waiting/dp/099145491X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=309YPDGD2O7I8&keywords=stephanie+olson&qid=1662929030&sprefix=stephanie+olson%2Caps%2C80&sr=8-1
Email:
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Stephanie Olson is a speaker, an author, and the Chief Executive Officer of The Set Me Free Project, a prevention education organization on human trafficking, social media safety, and healthy relationships. Stephanie has a mission to share that each person has an intrinsic value that cannot be changed. Her work on teaching resilience in life and leadership has inspired people across the United States. In her conversational and humorous style, Stephanie will inspire and empower. Living with years of parent abandonment, eating disorders, alcoholism, and domestic and sexual violence, she overcame through determination, faith, and resilience. She turned her trauma into triumph. Now, a sought-after speaker, Stephanie runs a successful nonprofit organization and loves to speak to audiences of all kinds (faith-based and non) inspiring, encouraging, and bringing hope everywhere she speaks.
Website
https://www.setmefreeproject.net/
Podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/resilience-in-life-and-leadership/id1588808625
Books
https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Passing-What-Are-Waiting/dp/099145491X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=309YPDGD2O7I8&keywords=stephanie+olson&qid=1662929030&sprefix=stephanie+olson%2Caps%2C80&sr=8-1
Email:
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Carlos Laack is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the State of California. Mr. Laack
provides psychotherapy specializing in anxiety, depression, travel mental health, and trauma. He has a
master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from National University and has been practicing for more
than ten years. Mr. Laack has personal experience with mental health as he is diagnosed with bipolar
disorder. In spite of that, he has achieved success in being a psychotherapist and is expanding his private
practice to help others with generalized anxiety, bipolar disorder, and travel-related mental health
issues.
https://psychforachange.com/
info@psychforachange.com/
310-896-8078
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Carlos Laack is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the State of California. Mr. Laack
provides psychotherapy specializing in anxiety, depression, travel mental health, and trauma. He has a
master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from National University and has been practicing for more
than ten years. Mr. Laack has personal experience with mental health as he is diagnosed with bipolar
disorder. In spite of that, he has achieved success in being a psychotherapist and is expanding his private
practice to help others with generalized anxiety, bipolar disorder, and travel-related mental health
issues.
https://psychforachange.com/
info@psychforachange.com/
310-896-8078
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I am Peter Mutabazi.
And this is my story.
As a child in Uganda, I grew up with shelter, food and clothing scarcity. But more than that, I grew up with safety scarcity. I feared for my life from a father who threatened me, and frequently called me “garbage” and “useless.” Parents are supposed to protect their children. When my father didn’t, I ran away from home to live on the streets in Kampala.
Four years of doing whatever I needed to survive, a young couple:
… saw me
… heard me
… told me I wasn’t alone
… and showed me that I mattered.
They sent me to school. They put a roof over my head. They clothed me. And fed me three meals a day. And allowed me to be a child. So I could grow up to do the same for others.
I decided to do for other children what this one couple did for me.
WEBSITE
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I am Peter Mutabazi.
And this is my story.
As a child in Uganda, I grew up with shelter, food and clothing scarcity. But more than that, I grew up with safety scarcity. I feared for my life from a father who threatened me, and frequently called me “garbage” and “useless.” Parents are supposed to protect their children. When my father didn’t, I ran away from home to live on the streets in Kampala.
Four years of doing whatever I needed to survive, a young couple:
… saw me
… heard me
… told me I wasn’t alone
… and showed me that I mattered.
They sent me to school. They put a roof over my head. They clothed me. And fed me three meals a day. And allowed me to be a child. So I could grow up to do the same for others.
I decided to do for other children what this one couple did for me.
WEBSITE
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Tess Scott is a bio-mom, foster mom, and an adoptive mom. You can check out her book and website below!
Tess' book
https://tessscott.com/
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You can find CJ's Youtube channel here
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At the age of 3, Ed Hajim is kidnapped by his father, driven cross-country, and told his mother is dead. He presses his face against the car window, watches the miles pass and wonders where life will take him.
Where you’d least expect.
In a memoir filled with human drama, wisdom and timeless life lessons, ON THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED: An Unlikely Journey from the Orphanage to the Boardroom (Skyhorse; March 2, 2021) tells the improbable story of how Hajim bounced from foster homes to orphanages, in a daily struggle to survive, to living the American dream as an accomplished Wall Street executive and model family man with great moral fiber and the means to give back to a world that seemed intent on rejecting him.
It’s a powerful story touched with family trauma, deprivation, and adversity balanced by a life of hard work and philanthropy.
“While his childhood travails of loneliness, isolation, and poverty would have broken most people, Ed channeled his survival instincts and conquered his inner demons to become a loving family man and a beloved leader of people,” says Raj Echambadi, Dunton family dean at D'Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University.
Hajim served as a senior executive at such firms as E.F. Hutton, Lehman Brothers, Furman Selz and other financial institutions, regularly transforming fledgling operations into profitable growth machines. His life accomplishments were rightfully acknowledged in 2015 with the Horatio Alger Award, given to Americans who exemplify the values of initiative, leadership, and commitment to excellence and who have succeeded despite personal adversity.
On the Road Less Traveled is packed with anecdotes of how Hajim used his ingenuity to achieve his goals and also provides insight into what he learned from some of his life’s defining moments:
- “My childhood disadvantages became advantages in later life.”
- “By living in 15 to 20 different locations, I learned how to adjust to different circumstances, became good at it, and almost looked forward to it; I was not afraid to change.”
- “Tough situations, hostile and abusive, taught me how to appreciate good times and handle difficult situations with less anxiety.”
- “My lack of a present family forced me to seek out external mentors and better understand the need for partners/people who cared.”
- “By being alone, I developed self reliance and was not afraid to be self-directed.”
- “Being very poor produced a drive for financial independence and appreciation for money.”
- “Not having control produced a strong drive to seek freedom as a goal.”
- “Later in life I realized that my childhood seemed to give me a foundation for recognizing the need for balance between self, family, work and community.”
Throughout his career, Hajim was guided by his instincts to know when a situation had run its course. “Sometimes it’s better to sever ties and leave on your own, even if the next step is unknown,” he writes. “That’s often the road less traveled, but it’s so worth the journey.”
The “unknown” also played a major part in Ed’s personal life, when a long-kept secret he couldn’t possibly have imagined was revealed.
Joel Seligman, president emeritus of the University of Rochester,says,“Ed Hajim’s On the Road Less Traveled does full justice to a remarkable life lived by a remarkable man. You will learn much about why one man who began with nothing achieved so much and did so much for so many.”
ED HAJIM, the son of a Syrian immigrant, is a seasoned Wall Street executive with more than 50 years of investment experience. He has held senior management positions with the Capital Group, E.F. Hutton, and Lehman Brothers before becoming chairman and CEO of Furman Selz. Hajim has been the co-chairman of ING Barings, Americas Region; chairman and CEO of ING Aeltus Group and ING Furman Selz Asset Management; and chairman and CEO of MLH Capital. He is now chairman of High Vista, a Boston-based money management company. In 2008, after 20 years as a trustee of the University of Rochester, Hajim began an eight-year tenure as chairman of the university’s board. Upon assuming that office he gave the school $30 million—the largest single donation in its history—to support scholarships and endow the Edmund A. Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Through the Hajim Family Foundation, he has made generous donations to organizations that promote education, health care, arts, culture, and conservation. In 2015, he received the Horatio Alger Award, given to Americans who exemplify the values of initiative, leadership, and commitment to excellence and who have succeeded despite personal adversities.
You can find his book HERE
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I am just like many other people. Just like you perhaps? I had a childhood with plenty of trauma and dysfunction. I had PTSD into my 30s, the result of two alcoholic parents. I became a software engineer because it was so comforting to know that logic could work in part of my life, even though it never seemed to work in my chaotic life as a child. In my 30s and 40s I was afforded the luxury of being a stay-at-home mom to my two boys. Realizing how traumatized I still was when my boys were young, I set out to become the calm mom I wanted to be. I changed. Things changed. Life changed. I had no idea where I was heading, I just continued to do “my release work” which is what I called it. Nothing felt better, so why not?
And here I am years later, the calm mom I wanted to be (well, most of the time), with powerful brainwaves (see below), with others feeling calm around me, with seemingly magical events happening daily, and with the ability to sense and release tension deep within my body.
My goal is to reach those people who really want inner change, and inner peace, and those who have the desire and will to do the inner work. There are many who do not want to look inside, but if you are someone who does, who really wants change, then it is my pleasure to show you the path.
Her Website
Her Book
Ann on Youtube
Ann on FaceBook
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Original source of the story:
https://www.barrentoblessed.com
Facebook Page
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Anna Maria DiDio, MSW is an adoptive mother and was inspired to write her memoir, Love at the Border, An Adoption Adventure after her own family journey to Mexico. Now her L.I.F.E. Adventures* children’s books feature stories about adoption, foster care, stepchildren, and all blended families from the point of view of the child. Anna Maria hopes that her books encourage open and honest exploration of what children are thinking and feeling within their own unique families. Anna Maria has a BA in Psychology from Villanova University and an MSW in Family Specialization from the University of Pennsylvania. For over twenty years, Anna Maria DiDio has devoted her time and talents to many non-profit organizations focusing on women, girls, and families globally. She is currently President of Women International Leaders (WIL) of Greater Philadelphia, which provides microfinance loans and empowerment grants to women in under-resourced countries. Anna Maria is at her most creative when she is traveling and experiencing new people, places, and things to eat and then writing about it!
She can be found at home in Philadelphia walking everywhere, swimming laps, reading biographies, or baking chocolate chip cookies. Anna Maria's books can be found on Amazon; travel writing and other essays on The Bean's Talk – her Medium publication. More information can be found on her website AMDiDio.com.
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ReGina Smithwick was born in Harlem, NY, raised in Mount Vernon, NY, and Teaneck, NJ. She now resides in Winterville, NC with her three children.
She is the founder of ReGina Smithwick Enterprises LLC, providing Certified Life Coaching. She is also the creator and producer of Let's Talk 1943. In addition, she is a Motivational Speaker and Author of Adoption: The Unknown Blessing. She also publishes many self-help journals, available for purchase on Amazon. Regina attended Virginia State University and received her Master of Science degree in Organizational Leadership from National University. She is also a proud member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated.
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Marcy is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor and Certified Trauma and Resilience Practitioner, speaker, Story Coach, and the best-selling author of books for adults and for children. She does her best writing on retreats with a nearby hot tub, in any castle, or within view of the sea.
Over the last twenty years, Marcy has worked with children, adults, families, and couples through private practices, group homes, foster family agencies, community-based services, wrap-around programs, workshops, trainings, and speaking at conferences. In addition, Marcy has fostered multiple children, in addition to adopting two and birthing two.
Marcy is the best selling, award-winning author of Reclaiming Hope: Overcoming the Challenges of Parenting Foster and Adopted Children, Parenting Children of Trauma: The Foster-Adoption Guide to Understanding Attachment Disorder, Speranza’s Sweater, and many more. Watch her TEDx talks and learn more about her work, writing, and other resources at www.marcypusey.com and www.miramarepontepress.com. Join her free Facebook community called Reclaiming Hope: You are More Than Your Trauma.
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Eeka McLeod’sjourney to building her family began when she made the decision to pursue her dream of adopting a child. After becoming a licensed foster parent while in graduate school, she started welcoming children into her home. Throughout her time fostering, Eeka cared for 18 children and eventually adopted three with disabilities: Eli, Evan and Ella.
The self-described “family of misfits'' has made a name for themselves on social media during the pandemic with unapologetically real, hilarious content that showcases the triumphs and challenges of their daily life. Their devoted fanbase includes 126 million likes and 2.5 million followers on TikTok, over 108,000 followers on Instagram, as well as over 164 million views and over 241,000 subscribers on YouTube.Eeka is passionate about using the family’s platform to advocate for acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community and people with disabilities. Six year-old Evan, who is queer, has become a social media star in her own right thanks to her love of wearing long dresses and colorful hairstyles. Her story has garnered coverage from well-known media outlets including the Today Show, CBS News and Out Magazine to name a few.
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Jillana Goble is a speaker, author, and advocate. She holds a master’s degree in teaching. Together with her husband, Luke, she parents five children ranging in age from preteen to young adult. Jillana is the founder of an unprecedented initiative that has turned into a statewide movement called Every Child Oregon. In 2019, she published No Sugar-Coating, a book with practical suggestions and insight for prospective foster parents. She’s passionate about getting the faith community—as well as the community at large—to link arms with the state’s overburdened child welfare system to uplift vulnerable children in foster care and those who serve them.
Jillana Goble's Website
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Carrie Bock, LPC-MHSP of By The Well Counseling is a Christian Licensed Professional Counselor who specializes in helping clients with anxiety and OCD overcome wounding childhood experiences via online counseling across Tennessee. Carrie is the host of the Hope for Anxiety and OCD podcast which is a welcome place for struggling Christians to reduce shame, increase hope, and develop healthier connections with God and others. Website
Podcast
Isaiah 1 17 house
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Kim Peacock is the author of Victorious Heart, which details her handling of grief over the
loss of her 17-year-old daughter. It also provides insightful advice for those seeking to
support and help those who grieve. She has raised six children, residing with her second
husband in a log house in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. Several years ago, they relocated from
the desert of Southern California. She is the CFO of Peacock Engineering, a cemetery
construction company that specializes in cemetery improvement and expansion.
Through her blog, Wild Victorious Heart, and her book and speaking Kim acts as a grief
mentor to others in need. Her blended family includes a step-daughter, a daughter with
her current husband, and three adopted children. She also has several grandchildren.
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John and Shannon Sorenson faced infertility and became foster parents. After a long journey, they became adoptive parents to a sibling group of brothers and ended up having a biological son. Then the real test came when they faced down the teen years while dealing with a childhood cancer diagnosis.
This is their non-profit: Gabe's Giving Tree
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Dr. Hailey Arnold is a chiropractor and functional medicine practitioner; however, she is best described as an entrepreneur. Constantly finding solutions to problems, Dr. Arnold spends her days formulating nutritional products and genetic tests for children of all ages. She is married to Dr. Megan. They are both doctors and moms of two toddlers and a beagle. Being moms who are in the foster to adopt world, it was quite a shock! Their two kiddos, who Megan swears are part tornado and part snuggle bug.
Personally, Megan has tried to conceive and was unsuccessful. She has seen the nutrition issues and heartache that result from that process. Hailey is a two-time uterine cancer survivor and has been rebuilt, so to speak, in her remission.
All of these personal experiences contribute to her story and aid in propelling them forward in pursuit of not only personal health but also the health of children and growing families.
She is an active clinician, educator, public speaker, and published author. With a passion for neurosensory differences and autoimmunity, Dr. Arnold has created multiple businesses that allow children to get healthy naturally. She believes long-term health truly starts in childhood, and she seeks to educate children (and their parents) in ways that help them make the best decisions about wellness.
This is her website: https://nutritots.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nutritotsusa
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nutritotsusa/
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Veronica earned her Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling She is an independently licensed therapist in three states, including Utah, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. She has been an active member in the adoption and counseling field, working with adults and youth with a specialty in grief, trauma, and behavior challenges. She is an adoptive mother who has experienced first hand the challenges that youth can struggle with and has a personal investment in healing. She is the Clinical Director and program creator for Wildflower Mountain Ranch, a treatment program for early adolescent girls. New author of "Missing Pieces Matter :Understanding Comparative Grief & Trauma, How It Hurts & How to Heal" set for release in Spring 2022 and host of new podcast "The Complicated Adult" podcast unpacking why we do the things we do AND the skills to manage this human roller coaster. www.veronicabratcher.com LinkedIn Facebook Psychology Today Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey Find All Our Links Here https://linktr.ee/fostercarenation
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Rita Soronen is the President & CEO of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, which has just commissioned a Harris poll to survey Americans about their attitude towards adoption.
While more than half of adults in the U.S. (67%) agree that every child is adoptable, many remain wary of adopting teenagers.
In fact, only 3% of respondents considered adopting a teenager as their first choice and 30% felt that teens who were not adopted by the time they turned 18 would be just fine on their own. This opinion was reflected at the start of the pandemic when only a few states implemented policies to prevent youth from aging out of the system during the pandemic leaving them to fend for themselves.
Youth who age out of the foster care system without being adopted – around 20,000 a year – are at higher risk for negative outcomes like homelessness, unemployment, early parenthood or incarceration.
The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption is unique in that it specializes in foster care adoption and provides support for trained adoption professionals dedicated to finding homes for kids who have been in care the longest and are most at risk of aging out.
Here is the complete 2022 U.S. Survey Findings.
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“Morgan Wolf is Miss Oklahoma for America Strong. Morgan works in veterinary medicine specializing in animal rehab. Going through foster care herself, her mission is to be an advocate for all adoptees and those going through foster care. She was blessed to compete on a national stage in Miss for America Strong in Las Vegas against all 49 states. Morgan has had the opportunity to be a special guest for the grand opening of Tulsa Girls Home, a home for teen girls that have gone through foster care. Sharing her story of success at public schools and being a special guest for events to help spread awareness including, cancer research, autism awareness, controlling the population of stray cats in the Tulsa area, joining a Children’s Hospital parade, and being present for military veteran’s parade. Morgan’s favorite hobby is being cast as Princess Jasmine and Wonder Woman under Storybook Princesses. Doing charity work, birthday parties, and multiple meet and greets. Her favorite quote is, “You have been assigned this mountain to show others it can be moved”
Morgan found out that she was adopted at the age of 23. After diving into a search for her bio family she was able to connect with her bio siblings. Here is her story...
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This is me Fiona Myles, born in the mid 60s. I'm married to the amazing Brian a gorgeous red head. We have one daughter Georgie and a son Connor.
Manchester has been our home for the past 18 years, a fabulous metropolis full of energy and history.
I started writing and telling stories from a fairly young age. My Mum bought me a typewriter when I was eight or nine years old. I battered away at that little typewriter day in and day out. Life moved on and the typewriter was laid to rest.
Fast forward 45 years and the laptop becomes my new typewriter. My passion as an author and blogger was reignited with a strong desire to bring hope in an awful period of time called "Lockdown." Visit the website HERE Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey Find All Our Links Here
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Mr. Jay is a M.A.T. & Ministry Certified, Professional Relationship Coach, Certified Betrayal Trauma Practitioner, Certified Special Education Teacher, Author, Air Force/Army Veteran, Inspirational/Public Speaker, Activist, Wedding Officiant, Adoptive Parent.
He is also a certified Betrayal Trauma Practitioner. Betrayal Trauma is trauma suffered when a person (on whom you thought you could rely, and deeply trust) breaks or violates that trust. This could be a parent/ spouse/ boss/ sibling/ neighbor/ friend etc. and could be emotional, financial, physical, spiritual, personal, etc. Betrayal trauma is unlike other betrayals due to the fact that it is very personalized/intentional in nature.
Find his coaching services HERE
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Tina is the first-born child of Italian immigrants. Her home growing up was busy, loud, and had the best meals known to mankind. Though Italian was her first language, Tina became an A+ student all through grammar, high school and eventually continued her education at Ryerson in Toronto. She moved west then spent the bulk of her young life in Banff where she became a mom, raised her child, and worked for 30 years. After living for a few years with the 'empty nest' Tina met her future husband and moved to Edmonton. Though not the biological grandfather of Tina's newborn grandchild, her husband bonded with the baby in his own way. Whereas Tina and her daughter experienced an emotional roller coaster of trauma and joy when dealing with MCFD (ministry of child & family development) it was her husband who was the rock throughout it all and made the decision to return to BC to face the social workers in court.
An instinctual pull as old as time - a grandmother wanting to hold her newborn grandchild - pulls readers into an unbelievable ordeal. Author Tina Fumo travels to a small BC town and finds herself in the most stressful situation of her life. The 'authorities' have apprehended her two week old grandbaby and what she and her family go through to get their baby back will absolutely shock you. Her book, Fancy Prison, will surely make you cry. Maybe even laugh. But make no mistake, what you find out, in the end, will make you shake your head and wonder if this is even Canada anymore?
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Theresa Carpenter is an active-duty Navy Commander where she has served for the past 25 years. Her passions include helping military women succeed and the professional development of the craft of public relations. As an introspective writer, she muses about the human experience for her blog, Theresa’s Tapestries. Tapping into her love of storytelling through the visual medium, she runs a YouTube channel with her husband where they share their experiences with saving money, DIY projects, traveling, and enjoying time together. Her latest endeavor launched last April is her podcast S.O.S (Stories of Service), which features ordinary people from all walks of life who show up in service to their communities. She is also the best-selling co-author of Complicated Alliances, which tells the stories and struggles of women who serve in the military and those married to one who serves. She lives in Norfolk, Virginia with her husband Harry and their Boxer dog Jayda, who also has her own social media presence on Instagram. Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey Find All Our Links Here
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Find them on the web
Justin's Podcast: Rose from Concrete
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Chaney Fletcher's Bio:
Hey there I'm Chaney Fletcher I'm 28 years old, married and I have five biological and two bonus children, one who is an angel. I have lost both of my parents, my father at 12 from brain cancer and my mother at 24 from her alcoholism. I entered foster care at 16 and aged out at 18. My journey hasn't been easy but because of a small seed of hope, I found EMDR therapy. I have worked on healing my trauma and now I can live in the present and enjoy creating my happiness and chasing my dreams. Now I focus on sharing my story of how childhood trauma can affect you even as an adult but that it's also possible to heal and have a life after. It's led me to start my business Fostering New Hope LLC to help others overcome whatever they are facing and create their own happiness as well through Life Empowerment Coaching and writing books.
You can find her book Surviving to Thriving on amazon
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Shannon is a former therapist turned COO, as well as an amateur podcaster. Her career started in child welfare and made a series of twists and turns leading her to where she is today running clinical trials.
Growing up, Shannon always wanted to “help other kids”. As a five year old, she wanted to be a “pediatric surgeon”, but quickly realized she was not good at neither science nor math. Entering college at the University of Georgia, Shannon set out to be a teacher, but was told the “kids would beat her up”, so she finished with a degree in Educational Psychology and went on to pursue a Master’s degree in Counseling.
In 1998, Shannon took her first job at a large group home where she changed job titles 5 times in just as many years. Post group home life, Shannon began to work in the addictions field where she work at local, state and Federal levels making her way to The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Desiring to return home to North Carolina, Shannon left DC in 2014 and has since experienced new found friendships, job loss, a total left turn in her career path, moved too many times, a global pandemic, and started her own podcast, launching February 5, called 126 Days: Stories on Life & Work.
She is the human to a dog named Edie and aunt to two nieces. Her favorite food is cheese and her favorite color is green.
Find Shannon:
IG: @126dayspod
Email: 126DaysInfo@gmail.com
You can find Shannon's podcast page on Instagram.
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Jill has over 30 years of experience as a minister. She has served as both
lead pastor and staff pastor over the years as well as been a part of
planting three churches. She now works with the Evangelical Covenant
Church.
As a business consultant and leadership coach, Jill has worked
extensively in the areas of leadership development and strategic
planning.
Jill has first-hand knowledge of issues concerning mental health as she
has struggled with mental illness for the majority of her life. She has
Complex PTSD, depression, anxiety, and dissociative disorder.
A published author and editor, Jill is now a full-time blogger, journalist,
and podcaster. She is working and writing to break the stigmas around
mental illness and open conversation about mental health in the Church.
Her podcast is Post Traumatic Faith.
You can find out what she is all about at www.jillriley.com
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Ever wonder about college money for kids who have been in care, are currently in care, or your adopted kids? Brad Baldridge specializes in just this sort of thing!!
You can find all about him on his website tamingthehighcostofcollege.com Brad's podcast blog and email can also be found there. Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey Find All Our Links Here
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Anastasia Lee volunteers with FundFC.
Check out their website to see how you can help!
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Lindsey and her husband decided at a young age that they felt called to serve as foster parents. She tells of their journey working with older youth in the foster care system.
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Lily's story has foster care and adoption at the beginning, middle, and in her future. She is on the board for The Mockingbird Society. Check them out if you are interested in youth advocacy. Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey Find All Our Links Here
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Sandra’s life journey is the result of her brother’s mental health issues that ended in his suicide at the age of eighteen. Sandra was determined to find solutions for other families that her family could not find, and she succeeded! She moves forward with determination and focuses to bring her parenting program to national awareness as she reminds herself and others who are struggling that, “It doesn’t have to be this way.” The Pillars for Success reflects her lifelong search for answers, healing, and balance in relationships that can prevent never-ending challenges and repeated crises that are traumatic for everyone. Sandi on the web: https://www.pillarsforsuccess.com/ People can contact me via email at: info@pillarsforsuccess.com Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey Find All Our Links Here https://linktr.ee/fostercarenation Merch!
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Michael hosts the Think Unbroken Podcast. His life led him through trauma and a truly unique path through the world of foster care!
His story can help all of us begin to see our world through the lens of healing wounds.
https://www.ThinkUnbrokenPodcast.com
You can find him everywhere online @michaelunbroken
Michael was born to a hyper-abusive drug addict mother who cut his finger off at 4 years old, a step-father you pray you never have, and a racist grandmother that pushed him into an identity crisis. By the time he was 9, his family was in poverty and often homeless all while being a member of the Mormon Church. At twelve, he was adopted by his grandmother and quickly turned to drugs and alcohol to survive the continuing abuse. Despite multiple learning disabilities and not graduating high school on time, Michael found success in Corporate America in his early twenties. However, success only made things worse. Michael found himself morbidly obese, high and drunk daily, and ultimately self-sabotaging everything around him. It was not until finding his inner power through his Mirror Moment and choosing to do whatever it took to work through childhood trauma that his life really began.
Michael Anthony is the author of the best-selling book Think Unbroken and is a coach, mentor, and educator for adult survivors of child abuse. Michaels spends his time helping other survivors get out of "The Vortex" to become the hero of their own story and take their life back. Michael hosts the Think Unbroken podcast, teaches at Think Unbroken Academy and is on a mission to create change in the world.
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Parenting and educating children is one of the greatest experiences in life, but it comes with plenty of emotionally draining challenges. Join behavioral health specialist Lauren Spigelmyer each week as she discusses strategies and tips for how to hack your brain, build and strengthen relationships, and teach people how to recognize and neutralize their emotional states. If you aren’t happy with a child’s behavior, are feeling stressed out, or just want to learn more about emotions and the brain.
Over the past 10 years, I've helped SOOOO many people learn about the brain and how it impacts learning and emotional well-being, which in turn changes behavior. With my master's degree in education, professorship at University of Pennsylvania and running The Behavior Hub, I thrive on building brain and research-based, child-driven trainings and courses with the whole child in mind. Being an adventurer, I love to find nontraditional solutions and make sure that boundaries are pushed. You won't get anything ordinary from me! Links: @thebehaviorhub https://www.thebehaviorhub.com/ Discovery call: https://www.thebehaviorhub.com/courses Courses: https://www.thebehaviorhub.com/courses Podcast: https://www.thebehaviorhub.com/press Blog: https://www.thebehaviorhub.com/blog Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey Find All Our Links Here
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"The Bond" is a powerful memoir that chronicles the strength of the relationships formed among a collection of unrelated siblings who forged a remarkable, separate, and permanent family within a foster home.
Kirkus.com calls it: "A poignant, infuriating, informative, and ultimately triumphant account of an unusual clan."
BookLife.com wrote: "Grotticelli's unsparing honesty about his birth and foster families will make readers wince and keep them marveling at the indomitability of these children. That the foster siblings were able to forge familial bonds with each other is extraordinary."
OnlineBookClub.com said: "This is a book about real people, real lives and real feelings. It is the story of their triumph over adversity and their struggle to find the kind of family love that many of us take for granted."
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Shannon Ketchum is a wife of 18 years, fur mom, foster mom sister and introvert! She has been dealing with infertility for 18 years due to endometriosis, hypothyroidism, PCOS and a pelvic spasm condition. She's the founder of Embrace Bravery, a support ministry for women with infertility, a blogger, author and speaker. And the most recent part of her journey is of her stepping into foster parenting almost 2 years ago. Her desire is to support others dealing with infertility and those in their foster parenting journey know that they aren't alone, but have someone in their corner.
Her BOOK is right here.
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Jennifer tells her story of writing a book all about her adoptive daughter's story and Jennifer's journey to her. You can find her online at
https://journeytomydaughter.com/
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I am an international adoptee from Colombia who was adopted at 9 months with Ataxic Cerebral Palsy. My story is one of perseverance and the power of adoption to not only change lives but also highlights some of the traumas/struggles inherent in being an adoptee even when things go “right” as it were. I would like to speak on the work adoptive or foster parents should do to ensure they’re balancing their needs/wants/comfort with the perspectives of an adult adoptee reflecting on their experience growing up unaware of their adoption until they were in adolescence. Lastly, I’d like to share about my work in ed-tech & publishing for kids through the lens of these experiences and especially how they resonate for those who are also transracial (raised a different culture/ethnicity than their own.)
Jonathan's Little Red Fashion website
Or find him on Instagram
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Cheryl Williams was born in Chicago, Illinois, but currently resides in Austin, Texas. She obtained a degree in early childhood education and has over 20 years of experience working with non-profit organizations before building Fundamentals for Foster Care. She has previously been a part of the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA). Cheryl has also worked with care communities that provide practical support for those with terminal illnesses. She has also participated in Restoration Blessings, an organization that gives practical aid for single mothers in Pflugerville, Texas.
Her website is www.fundfc.org
You can find her on FaceBook as well
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Natasha (a foster mom) and Rachel (a mentor to kids in care) are co-hosts of the Just As Special podcast which is the place to learn about foster care from diverse perspectives. Each episode, sisters Natasha and Rachel bring you a deeply personal interview with a former kid in care, foster care professional or non-traditional foster family so we can all learn how to give kids in care a better tomorrow.
Just As Special also offers foster parent training, a statewide database of foster care resources, and other foster care tips for parents, volunteers, and those looking to get involved.
You can find them us on all social media platforms @JustAsSpecial.
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I decided to talk to my son this week about his feelings on Foster Care and Adoption since he is a subject matter expert (even though he is only 8).
He is brutally honest sometimes and even though I don't always like the "brutal" part of his honesty, I am proud that he feels free to tell me what he really thinks!
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In the foster care system, the bio dad is often the forgotten parent. In our experience bio dads have had the highest rate of reunification. How can we support bio dads through this difficult process?
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My website is www.journeytomydaughter.com. I can be found on all social media by searching Jennifer Rose Asher. I am listed under this name on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, and I think I am the only one with this name.
You can also get to my website with the address www.jenniferroseasher.com.
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An up-and-coming content creator, marketer, playwright/screenwriter, and columnist who is a fast learner, comfortable working with an array of different personalities, and passionate about advocacy through storytelling (check out my portfolio: www.HerOddSelf.com) Featured in 89.3 KPCC, PBS SoCal, Education Week, Los Angeles Female Playwright Initiative (LAFPI), and the Santa Monica Daily Press (SMDP), and Good News Radio Magazine. Not only am I an award-winning playwright via my one-woman show that I wrote, produced, and performed in during the Hollywood Fringe Festival about my life before, during, and after foster care entitled "SugarFree: Foster Care Cognitive Dissonance". I am also a former foster youth passionate about writing and storytelling for social change who is inspiring people to "Thrive Not Just Survive" through writing, keynote speaking, thought-leadership blogging, and podcasting, and whose superpower is leading with empathy. Currently advancing my skills in marketing, communication, branding, and copywriting. Social Media Anchor/Spotify: https://anchor.fm/heroddself Website: https://heroddself.com/ Podcast: https://anchor.fm/heroddself Blog: https://medium.com/@HerOddSelf
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heroddself/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/HerOddSelf Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey Find All Our Links Here
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Scott Mason shares his story of navigating through biracial adoption while being a part of the LGBTQ+ community. He is also a podcaster himself. You can find his podcast on his WEBSITE or by searching for "Purpose Highway" on your podcast platform of choice.
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Today's guest was Darren Fink (from Transfiguring Adoption), the author of Gruhit's Hope. It is about a group of siblings that are placed in a foster home and (spoiler alert) there are a few magical creatures involved!
It isn't all fantasy - there are some real questions that this book forces you to ask yourself. Get a copy on their website at:
https://transfiguringadoption.com/store-2/?model_number=gruhits-hope-paperback
Listen to the episode to hear what Darren is offering if you get the book from their website!
If you are totally committed to Amazon for everything, you can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Gruhits-Hope-Magical-Creatures-Around/dp/0578889722
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Darius Kimberling is a former foster youth (FFY) and a current foster parent as well. He and his wife of 8 years are helping kids in more than one way. His goal is to connect with each kid that comes through his organization while they are building their own custom-made Noble Goal.
You can find him on his FB page OOTW Creations (link below).
https://www.facebook.com/OOTWCreations/
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A native of Tacoma, Washington, Jamerika Haynes-Lewis has more than ten years of experience as a journalist and advocate for children in foster care. While growing up in foster care, Jamerika was determined to have a different life than the one she experienced. She put herself through college earning a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Washington State University. As the owner of Clever Jam Communications, Jamerika offers strategic communications guidance, motivational speaking, and facilitation. Currently she is USA Ambassador Ms. 2021 through the USA Ambassador Pageant. Her platform is ‘A Chance to Succeed: Empowering Youth in Foster Care.’ Instagram: Jamerika Haynes-Lewis (@jamerika_b) • Instagram photos and videos Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/USAAMs/ Website: www.cleverjam.com Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey Find All Our Links Here
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Amber Jewell is a licensed master social worker with over 15 years of
experience working with youth and families in child protective services,
education, and mental health services. As an educator and an advocate
for promoting change for and value within people, Amber works to
inspire and motivate others to grasp their own form of hope. She is also
a motivational speaker and has experience in the foster system.
Amber's Book
FINDING HOPE
The 12 Keys to Healing
Hardship, Hurt & Sorrow
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Shenandoah Chefalo is a graduate of Michigan State University, holding a Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Interdisciplinary Studies in Social Science, a Core Essentials Graduate from Coach U, and a member of the Foster Leaders Movement. She is a sought after speaker on topics surrounding youth in foster care and the science and impact of trauma and resilience on various social issues; and a trainer/consultant that helps private, governmental and public organizations implement sustainable trauma informed strategies that are focused on learning new skills as well as organizational culture changes and shifts. She has been featured as a consultant and trainer nationally and internationally.
After spending nearly 20 years as a Law Office Administrator, Shenandoah became unsettled by the ever revolving door of people into the criminal justice system and set out to find a way to change it.
A survivor and alumni of the foster care system, Shenandoah Chefalo is also the co-founder of the #4600andCounting, a grass-roots movement to bring awareness and change to the missing youth of foster care. She is also a faculty member and trainer at The Center for Trauma Resilient Communities a new initiative by the Crossnore School and Children’s Home to help organization translate the science of trauma and adversity.
In additional to her multiple award winning book, Garbage Bag Suitcase, she also wrote an e-book entitled Setting Your Vision and Defining Your Goals, and is also working on her next manuscript, Hiking for Stillness.
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Richard Capriola has been a mental health and addictions counselor for over two decades. He recently retired from Menninger Clinic in Houston Texas where he worked with adolescents and adults diagnosed with mental health and substance abuse issues. He is the author of The Addicted Child: A Parent's Guide to Adolescent Substance Abuse.
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Dr. Breanna Gentile, Ph. D. completed her bachelor's in psychology at Gonzaga University. She went on to receive two master's degrees, one from Golden Gate University in Counseling and the second from Palo Alto University in Clinical Psychology. She also received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Palo Alto University. Dr. Gentile founded Dr. G's Lab, a trauma-informed design consultancy. She has authored studies that have been published in peer-reviewed journals and has been an invited speaker about trauma-informed practices and design at multiple national conferences and symposiums. Dr. Gentile has spent over 10 years working to improve outcomes for children, teens, and their caregivers working through Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress. Her work with behavioral health providers, communities, and families has allowed her to develop keen insight into the challenges of supporting resilience through trauma-informed practices. She is currently the Director of Product Design at the Center for Youth Wellness. Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey **Find All Our Links Here**
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Tracy tells 2 adoption stories at one time. Her husband found out that he was adopted as an adult and they went on to adopt a young lady who is one of her husband's biological family members!
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Colleen Puckett is the owner of Families’ Anchor and Podcast host on The “F” Word: Foster Care. Through her lived experience in the Child Welfare System with her family, Colleen became one of the first Parent Navigators in Georgia mentoring and supporting parents currently walking through the system through partnerships with parent & child attorneys, and parent support groups. Colleen also participates in the Birth Parent National Network, the Birth and Foster Parent Partnership, and member of the Georgia Parent Advisory Council. Lastly, Colleen has presented numerous times at attorney & multidisciplinary national conferences as well as across Georgia.
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Ryann Vernetson MA, LPC from Specialized Alternatives for Families and Youth (SAFY) joins us to talk about what children and parents really need throughout the foster care system. SAFY specialize in therapeutic foster care and we dove right into all the things that are often overlooked in the foster care system.
You can find SAFY on the web at safy.org
Ryann is also on LinkedIn
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Gina Heumann and her hubby adopted two boys from Guatemala... her youngest was neglected by his foster mom, resulting in over a decade of chaos and frustration. Through her love of research, Gina tried and tested many therapies and treatments and finally found a path to healing. She is now the author of Love Never Quits: Surviving & Thriving after Infertility, Adoption, and Reactive Attachment Disorder (gold recipient of the prestigious Parent's Choice Award); and she presented a TEDx on how Childhood Trauma Affects us All.
Does parenting a "challenging" child make you feel like a failure? If your child was diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder or another trauma-related mental illness, you don't need to do this alone! Our community will provide guidance and support; comradery and belonging. Our 4-part online course will help you understand why "regular" parenting isn't working and will set you on the right path for healing and connection. https://www.traumadramauniversity.com/
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Dr. Marissa, introduced to Oprah as the Asian Oprah, is an organizational psychologist and media personality who speaks and consults all over the world. She’s the celebrity host producer of the 2016 Podcast of the Year Top 10 in Health Award-winning CNBC syndicated show "Take My Advice, I'm Not Using It: Get Balanced with Dr. Marissa" and #1 bestselling author “8 Ways to Happiness from Wherever You Are” on 8 Bestseller Lists including #4 Denver Post and #1 Amazon with 4 Book Award Medals. Dr. Marissa is on a Happy88 Mission, helping 88 million more people be 88% happy in the next 8 years. To that end, Dr. Marissa has been interviewed on NBC CBS ABC and FOX in Seattle, San Diego, Las Vegas and was featured on FOX DC as one of their Women's History Month highlights.
In her spare seconds, she raises recovering teenagers, races sailboats, and lives out her life motto: No Regrets for the past and Don’t Die Wondering for the future. You can find Dr Marissa on her website or on Facebook and IG Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey Find All Our Links Here
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After spending time in an orphanage and 8 years in foster care, she hopes to give back to the foster
care community by highlighting other successful foster care alumni through her platform and future
podcast; Belonging Starts Here.
Find her on Facebook Here
On IG right Here
Her business IG
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Shanelle Dupree has deep Midwestern roots. She was born in Nebraska, raised in Oklahoma, and moved to Kansas to attend Washburn University School of Law. Shanelle is a lawyer, author, speaker, administrator, strategic connector, wife of a Pastor and Elected Official, and mama of 4. Shanelle’s faith is the thread that connects her life.
Attorney Dupree practiced law for nearly a decade representing children as a Guardian ad Litem, Parent's Attorney, and handled numerous high conflict family law and juvenile law cases. Mrs. Dupree is a connector and creator. She successfully created and taught a series of legal and social child welfare informational classes for five years in Johnson County, Kansas. She provided hope, help, and humor to parents struggling to understand the child welfare system.
After leaving the courtroom, Shanelle traveled the state interviewing agencies and people running for office about the foster care system. She connected foster care and fashion and produced over 30 videos. Shanelle was appointed as the Kansas City Regional Director of the Department for Children and Families in March 2019. She manages resources and staffing across 5 counties for 450 employees.
Mrs. Dupree is a writer and has authored articles in the Johnson County Bar Journal and the Kansas Bar Association Journal. She presents at various conferences and workshops regarding children, family, and equity matters.
She is married to her law school sweetheart Wyandotte County District Attorney and Pastor Mark Dupree. Together they serve in ministry at Grace Tabernacle Family Life Outreach Center located in Kansas City, Kansas. Shanelle is the Bible Study teacher and recently published Bible Study Perspectives: Genesis which helps people looking to connect to God’s word using a simple and creative system.
Shanelle is passionately involved in policies and laws that affect the community. She has served as a campaign director, campaign advisor, and copywriter for multiple successful political campaigns.
Shanelle and Mark are the parents of 4 active and brilliant children, Layla, Mark, II, Lilly, and Micah.
Shanelle's book
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Natalie Chavis Fisher is a best-selling author, third-generation attorney and executive producer for the feature documentary Foster Care: Perfect Imperfection. She is a leading expert in foster care adoption committed to helping improve the lives of vulnerable children and their caretakers. Natalie believes broken systems break children and has dedicated her life to help foster healing. She has been honored with the Congressional “Angel in Adoption” award for her work in child welfare.
Natalie has practiced foster care adoption law for twenty years. Within this time, she has helped thousands of foster children solidify their “forever homes”. Natalie previously served as a Deputy Prosecutor in the child support division and as a Public Defender in the dependency and neglect division of the Marion County, Indiana court system.
Natalie prides herself in helping adoptive and kinship parents understand the dynamic nuances of foster care adoption. One of the ways she has accomplished this task is through her short novel with a big impact, Adopting Tiger. (https://www.amazon.com/Adopting-Tiger-Chavis-Fisher/dp/0999456008)
Natalie received her BS in Business Management from Purdue University, where she was a varsity track and field hurdler and where she became a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Natalie received her MBA and JD from Indiana University in Bloomington.
Natalie was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is married with two step-children.
To learn more about Natalie, please visit:
www.chavisfisher.com
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter: @ChavisFisher
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Patty Waters enjoys bringing people, ideas, and inspiration together and hopes to form a dialogue that shares a unique perspective from an adopted teenager. Patty and her 3 siblings were adopted by the Waters family at the age of 13 and grew up in Austin, Texas. Patty and her siblings were in the foster care system for 5 years. She earned her Masters in Healthcare Administration and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Houston – Clear Lake and currently works as a Healthcare Management Recruiter. Patty has high hopes to encourage and empower current and former foster care youth to pursue their dreams by sharing her story and is grateful to have the opportunity to be a CASA volunteer.
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This week we hear a story from Tamara Sipp. Her life was turned upside down by an event that could happen to any hard-working single parent doing the best that she could.
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Juanita H. Grant known as The Parent Mastermind is a Mother of 5, includes both bio and adoptive. Fostering 30 children in the past 25+ years. A Board Member of MAFF (Mass Alliance for Families). PAYA (Preparing Adolescents for Young Adulthood), MAPP Trainer, Keeping Kids Safe Trainer, Trauma Certified, Financial Educator. Inspire by Juanita the Parent Master Mind which she is the founder and CEO.
A Business and Life Coach who offers the following workshops for both Parents and their Youth: Vision Board, Life Skills, Financial Empowerment,
Juanita is an Evangelist for Victory Chapel Church in Quincy, MA. Juanita spent her life fighting to enhance the lives of females young and old in the inner cities. From her youth, Juanita has been part of W.O.D.A (Wiping Out Drug Abuse, Inc) and is now one of the directors.
Juanita is also a graduate of Southern New Hampshire University, where she earned a Master’s of Science in Community Economic Development, completing her dual Doctorate Degree in Business and Theological Studies.
Juanita on FaceBook
Juanita's Website
Game Changer Life: The Anthology
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Debbie Ausburn is a social worker turned lawyer who has served as a house parent, foster parent, criminal prosecutor of crimes against children, and stepparent. She now advises, and defends youth-serving organizations. She is the author of Raising Other People’s Children: What Foster Parenting Taught Me About Bringing Together a Blended Family.You can follow Debbie’s blog at OtherPeoplesChildren.org.
You can find her website at https://www.debbieausburn.com/
Her publisher website is at https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/666354/raising-other-peoples-children-by-debbie-ausburn-foreword-by-dr-natalie-ford/
Links to Social Media:
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Sarah’s Links The FosterLane Website
Welcome to the Foster Lane - Parenting Advice From a Coach Who's Been There
Chapter 1 - When it's hard, it's hard
Chapter 2 - When it's good, it's good
Chapter 3 - 3 Simple strategies to take you from striving to thriving
Chapter 4 - You can't do it alone
Chapter 5 - Putting it all together
Plus resources, references, and advice
You can find Sarah @thefosterlane on all Socials
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Karl Smith and his wife adopted their daughter as an infant from China. He details their journey to China to pick up their daughter and their family's journey beyond.
You can find his story on our website here.
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His start in life was inauspicious. At 9 years old, he relinquished his parents' rights and entered the Russian orphanage. At the age of 12, he decided to be adopted into a new family, in a new country, halfway across the world, to start a new life.
At 24 years old, he began his journey of helping others live the life they have always dreamed of, despite their hardships and misfortunes by allowing them to recognize the uniqueness and worth within their own story.
Oleg on the Web:
Overcoming Odds
Oleg's Ted Talk:
https://www.ted.com/talks/oleg_lougheed_how_to_overcome_your_odds
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/oleg-lougheed-6aa2a1b5/
Facebook:
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IG:
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When I started this journey, I had no idea where my stories would take me. From learning to understand and appreciate entirely different cultures through our international adoptions to a rat totaling my minivan, I have thoroughly enjoyed the trips down memory lane that have helped me source stories and bits of wisdom to help others in their own journey. Though my kids may find my stories about their lives embarrassing, it all comes with the territory of honestly exploring motherhood, life, and a constantly evolving purpose. My stories define me, just as your stories define you. By sharing our stories, we learn, grow, and learn to laugh at ourselves while inspiring others to do the same.
Simone's website:
https://simoneknego.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/UnOrdinaryYou
IG:
https://www.instagram.com/authorsimoneknego/
Linked In:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/simone-knego-7965701a3/
Club House:
@simoneknego
Her Book:
The Extraordinary Unordinary You
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Natalie Vecchione, Co-Founder of FASD Hope and Host of the FASD Hope podcast series is also a seasoned guest and conference presenter about the basics of FASD and life as a mom of a young adult son living an FASD.
Podcast
https://www.fasdhope.com/podcast/
Website
https://www.fasdhope.com/
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Gaelin Elmore
Born the youngest of 5 to a struggling household, it brought many of its own complications. After spending over 10 years in the foster care system, and experiencing physical, mental, and emotional abuse, I was as good a bet as any to be just another youth chewed up and spit out by the foster system.
However, I knew I didn’t want to be another statistic.
While battling homelessness, I continued attending school and found sports to be a great outlet. After being taken from my family again when I was 16, I became a national recruit for football. I signed to play at the University of Minnesota, graduated in 3 years with a degree in communications and started my grad degree - all while playing football and excelling on the field.
I left grad school to sign a contract to play in the NFL... only to realize that that wasn’t what I felt like my purpose was.
I left the NFL and began working with youth from similar backgrounds to mine, assisting them in their pursuit of success. I now work closely with the foster care space, and speak professionally as an adversity expert and revisionist. What I learned through my life certainly resonates within the space of foster care, but what I learned from adversity rings true in all spaces.
I love anything competitive like sports and games. I enjoy creating such as writing, drawing, painting, and building. Besides speaking, spending time in good company is one of the most rewarding ways to spend my time.
Gaelin's Website
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I’m a wife and a mom of 9 beautiful children. 7 of which are biological siblings that we spent two and a half years working the foster care system to bring home. Shortly after that we welcomed another adoption of a sweet baby girl. It has been 4 years since that process was finalized and we are still figuring things out. We are a God-loving, big, biracial family that loves to share our story.
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Janine Porter has owned and operated Georgia Hope, Inc. formally Georgia Youth Network, Inc. from April 1998 to the present. She taught Mathematics (her other passion) in the public school system for 5 years. Ms. Porter has a Master's in Mathematics Education and is working on her MBA. Ms. Porter has successfully owned, with her family, and operated the Computer Camp (summer education camp program) in Freeport NY from 1986 through 1997.
The family business and the camp program have since expanded and is still running successfully in NY along with a residential shelter, the Sunshine Residence.
Ms. Porter now lives in Conyers, GA with her 7 children. Ms. Porter is the foster parent of one child, the adoptive parent of two children, the guardian of one college student, and the birth parent of three children. Ms. Porter is the legal guardian of one adult child.
Georgia Hope Inc
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Riana Milne, CCTP, Cert. Global Life & Relationship Coach;
Riana Milne is a Certified, Global Life & Love Trauma Recovery Coach, a Cert. Clinical Trauma & Addictions Professional, a Certified Mindfulness Coach, #1 Bestselling author, the Host of her Podcast called Lessons in Life & Love™, an Educational Speaker, and Licensed Mental Health Counselor for over 21 years living in Palm Beach County, Florida.
She was also a Life & Dating Coach for the Docu-Series; Radical Dating – Finding Lasting Love Over 40 (and her client is now happily married!). Riana specializes in helping those who have had past Childhood or Love Relationship Trauma to Heal, Transform & Thrive; leading them to Create the Life They Desire and to Have the Love They Deserve! She offers Coaching programs for both Singles & Couples globally through her LifeandLoveTrainingAcademy.com
Riana’s 5-star rated books; the #1 Bestseller, LOVE Beyond Your Dreams – Break Free of Toxic Relationships to Have the Love You Deserve - and - LIVE Beyond Your Dreams – from Fear and Doubt to Personal Power, Purpose, and Success addresses Life Difficult Transitions, Personal Transformation, The Mindset for Success, and having Loving Conscious Relationships with yourself and others.
Riana’s FB fan page is https://www.facebook.com/CoachRianaMilne and her websites are https://www.RianaMilne.com and find her podcast https://www.LessonsinLifeandLove.com
Riana’s website is: www.RianaMilne.com where you can download sample chapters of her two books, and arrange to meet with her for a private, Life & Love Transformation Discovery Session & Assessment.
Email: RianaMilne@gmail.com
Amazon Author’s page & books: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00J7CCT3I
1) Free Love Tests & Chapter downloads of both my books; LIVE & LOVE Beyond Your Dreams
2) Free eBook on this topic: Why 9 out of 10 People Suffer in Life & Love
3) Get a Personal Life & Love Transformation Discovery Session & Assessment for only $47 if your mention this interview (a $500 value)
_____________________________________________________________________
www.RianaMilne.com
FB: Coach Riana Milne
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Katie Nall, Ph.D., creates long-lasting change in the lives of the people in her audience. A sought-after speaker for colleges and universities, non-profit organizations, and private events, Dr. Nall brings a relatable and calm demeanor to her topics of expertise.
During her dissertation research on ways for students to excel in Mathematics (especially adults returning or starting college), Dr. Nall was particularly interested in helping students overcome fear, phobia, and stress-related to math class and math tests. In 2010, she learned of the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT or tapping) and began offering the process to students who were open to the different approach. Students reported they passed math class, earned 100% on a math exam, and found math easier.
It was at this time that she began serious training in EFT and became a Certified Practitioner in EFT. Dr. Nall now shares this knowledge not only with math students, but with others who struggle with stress, fear, phobias, and anxiety. Her TEDx talk (https://hi.switchy.io/NoMoreFear) highlighted the technique resulting in clients all over the world.
Dr. Katie Nall's Links
Dr. Nall's website
Dr. Nall on Linked In
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Daniel Hall is a former foster youth with a twist. He and his wife became foster parents and now they have 6 kids ages 5, 8, 10, 11, 17, and 20.
They have dealt with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), Level 2 Autism, Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), Post Traumatic Stree (PTSD), and Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD).
If you would like to connect with Daniel Hall, you can find him all over on Linked In RIGHT HERE!
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Sheila Duncan Bio www.troublethedog.net
Creating a business and bringing an idea to life is a labor of love. When Sheila Duncan’s niece was 12, she found herself surrounded by adversity losing three family members to cancer in a very short time. This devoted aunt suggested they sit down together and write a book about it. The result was the creation of a gutsy, huggable, inspiring character named - Trouble. The first book, “Here’s Trouble” was such a success that a Trouble plush toy was created, handcrafted of superb quality right here in the USA. Sheila also developed Trouble-inspired jewelry, and T-shirts and is working on an animated children's television series…but the best part of this story is what Trouble represents to children all around the world.
The message behind the first storybook is that kids today are pressured at school and deal with issues such as poverty, homelessness, abuse, divorce, illness, bullying, and more. Quite simply - Trouble helps kids deal with whatever is troubling them. Trouble The Dog gives them someone to hug. When children pick Trouble up, they hug him and smile and don’t want to put him down. Often, children whisper into Trouble’s ear first and then feel confident to speak to a teacher, parent, or counselor about what is troubling them. Kids can feel Trouble’s positive energy. Just watch a child interact with Trouble and you’ll see for yourself.
A second book is “Where There’s Trouble, There’s Hope.” The book introduces a new character – a little puppy named Hope. It’s a sweet story that inspires children to always have hope and to believe in themselves and in their dreams.
The newest book in the series “Trouble’s In Trouble!!!” gently reminds kids that it’s important to talk about their emotions … and a brand new tiny spark of light named Clarence helps them do just that.
Sheila and Trouble The Dog have been featured on CNN’s American Journey, MSNBCs Your Business as a Socially Conscious toy; https://www.openforum.com/videos/socially-conscious-stocking-stuffers-made-by-female-entrepreneurs/; North Shore Magazine’s Top Women Entrepreneurs, Martha Stewart Finalist for “Made in America”, Magic 106.7’s Exceptional Women Entrepreneurs, Broadcast interview on Radio Entrepreneurs and Success Magazine’s “Seniorpreneurs” series.
Testimonials from parents, teachers, and families attest to the fact that Trouble and his posse of pups are needed in this upside-down world more than ever before.
Trouble the Dog on Facebook
Trouble the Dog on Instagram
Trouble on Twitter
Trouble's Website
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My name is Laura Hernandez. My husband, Tony, and I are raising our ten amazing children in the Dallas area. In the past four and a half years we have added six new children to our family... three biologically and three through adoption.
Going from four to ten kids was hard work. And, on top of having a large family, we are also not your "typical" family. We have three kiddos in public school, we are homeschooling five kids, and - with three kiddos having special needs - we have over 20 appointments weekly.
I read many books on homeschooling schedules, large family logistics, and family dynamics; but I found over and over again that nothing that was already out there was fully relevant to our family!
I had to figure out what worked for US and I had to do it myself. Books didn't have the perfect answers. How could we manage all of our logistics and have-tos and make time to intentionally instill the ideals that our family values? It took me years to develop systems and life hacks to keep our family running and organized. But after creating systems that helped our family run smoothly, it reduced my daily workload and my house became a place of peace... yes, even with 10 kids!
Out of these years of hard work, Mama Systems was born. I want to save other Mamas the pains I went through to figure it out on my own. I want to bring more peace to their homes by coaching them through ideas, schedules, incentives, chores, and delegating.
Mama Systems
Mama Systems Website
Mama Systems on FB
Mama Systems on IG
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This week we are sharing a webinar that we hosted recently. It is all about the process of becoming a foster parent, and the questions that you might have.
We hosted this project in hopes that people who are interested in the idea of becoming foster parents could find some information to help them start on their journey. If you would like to watch the video you can see it on our website, you can watch it here:
Click to watch the whole video on the website!
Faith was born in Liberia and became an orphan at a young age. As a child she suffered from :
- the horrors of war
- poverty
- hunger
- life in an orphanage
- trauma
She was adopted into a family in America and she has been changing the world ever since
Faith's Links
Find her on Social Medial @liftallvoices
Subscribe to her podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lift-all-voices/id1527897706
See how she is changing the world
https://thelappaproject.org
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Jason Palmer 0:01
Wait, stop, hang on, don't hit the jump ahead button yet. I get it, I do the same thing, skip over the commercials, right. But this one is kind of timely, it's real quick, if you're listening to this when it comes out on February 9, on the 18th, here in just nine days, a week and a half or so ahead, we're going to have a webinar upcoming about how to become a foster parent. So if you're interested, listen up to what we have to say here and just go to the website at foster care nation.com. And there is actually a sign up button right there on the website for you. So if you're interested, listen in. If not, go ahead and jump ahead, get past it, I get it. Foster Care nation. Listen up, we have some exciting news to share. We're going to offer up our first ever webinar, if you've ever been curious about what it takes to be a foster parent and help kids in hard places. Join us on February 18, at 5pm Central for our free no obligation webinars, we're going to share our hard earned knowledge and experience with anyone who has ever wondered about helping kids from hard places. If you're interested, go to foster care nation.com and sign up for our newsletter. This is where you can get the details and the links to join us so that you'll be able to ask any questions you have in the question and answer section. Now, I know what you're thinking, webinar, free, no obligation webinar, it sounds like there's a sales pitch at the end. I've listened to a lot of webinars guys, I know what you're thinking, I don't have anything to sell you. I don't have anything to sell you. I promise I don't have anything to sell you today. But what we are going to do is try and support you and help you join us in our mission to help kids. And if that's what you're interested in, come see us. I promise you, we're not selling anything today, we're just going to offer up our experience our knowledge, and try and help some people who are interested in helping kids. As you can tell in the background. I have some kids, they're here, they're noisy. And I'm not even going to try and quiet them down at this time. Because I'm not going to get that done. They're wound up out there. But you know what they're happy. And that's what we're looking for. We're just trying to provide a safe place for kids to try and help them to some of their traumas, some of their things and make the world a better place. And if you want to join us on that mission, we welcome you to show up February 18, at 5pm Central. Like I said, foster care nation.com sign up for the newsletter. And that's where you'll have all the information. Thank you so much.
Foster Care nation, listen up. This is
Unknown Speaker 2:32
foster care and
Jason Palmer 2:39
string for the powerless courage for the fearful hope and healing for wounded hearts.
Welcome back to foster care. And I'm parallel journey with Jason and Amanda. Today, we have faith with us. I don't mean faith, like necessarily faith in religion or God. I mean, faith. I'm gonna give this a shot here.
He hosszu Yeah, nevermind, I had it in my head earlier, eco Zilla or say, Allah to save faith, because you'll get it much more right than me.
Faith 3:23
Well, you try give you that. So it's pronounced a field? What? Kinda
Unknown Speaker 3:31
are you doing today?
Faith 3:33
Oh, I'm doing great. I'm doing good. Thank you for asking.
Jason Palmer 3:36
That's great. You know, I was listening to a podcast after podcast because I drive for living as a lot of people know. And so I spent a lot of time on the road. And I'm always looking for new podcast and yours popped up and I said, oh, let's check this out. This is interesting. And your story just kind of blew me away. I mean, just the simple fact that even in talking to you, we have to have to really think to figure out how many siblings you have. Because your foster parent or your adoptive parents have been a foster adoptive home for a number of years. And I think at the time, I heard you talk a while back, you were somewhere around 10 siblings. I know now it's up to like 17 or 18. But what a story, you know, for somebody who came out of out of Liberia, and has turned her life around and is now talking about it on her own podcast. So why don't you tell us a little bit about your story. So we can kind of just get to know you a bit.
Faith 4:34
Yes, well, first of all, I just want to say I'm very excited to be here with you and the wife, and also with your audience.
I'm very grateful for this opportunity to share my story. You know, of course, adoption. It's more than a topic for me. It's my life experience. Right and, and I'm thankful for you guys allow me to be here to share my story. So just a little bit background about myself. So as you mentioned earlier, Jason I was adopted at the age of 14, Africa, and a country called Liberia, a beautiful country that I grew up in and learn a lot of my traditions and cultural so Gurbani often niche for a bit, I was blessed enough to be adopted. And I came to the US at 14 years old in 2005. And, you know, went to school. And it's now starting my own family and trying to use my story to change people and just to empower and also to inspire others and and now just trying to, you know, be that person who wants to get back into much more of society that has done so much for me.
Jason Palmer 5:46
That's that will be all need is to give back more when we from what we were given, that sets a great story faith that you're given back from where you came from, you mentioned that you were adopted at 14 from an orphanage in Liberia. Can you talk about the experience of being in an orphanage in Liberia? Because honestly, all I know about Liberia is its rough geographical location. It's over there by Africa, right?
Unknown Speaker 6:13
Yes.
Jason Palmer 6:14
And I know that it was in the news at one point. And not much of it sounds like it's it was real pleasant news that they were talking about at the time wars and things like that. So I imagine coming out of Liberia, you probably had a story to tell about your childhood.
Faith 6:30
Definitely tasting. And, you know, the beauty about having the news is you get to learn a lot about other countries, and sometimes maybe bad news in programming, the good news. And unfortunately, for Liberia, you know, a country that I love so dearly, there was a lot of negativity that came out of there because of the 14 us Civil War. So a little bit, buddy, I'll finish life. I grew up when I was about 10 years old, I was taken to the orphanage in Monrovia, which is the capital city of Liberia. And so I lived on the orphanage for four years. And then I was why on the alternate course, during that time, we had a lot of war going on around us. So the war that actually started in Liberia in 19 1989. But by around 1998, when the war really kind of took off, really because we were in the middle of a new transition with elections and all of that stuff but so I was always I was pretty much very young. Right? And, and my auntie who raised me She always the climbing wall baby. And I thought how what attracted me to call the child right war baby, and but come to find out later on in life that because I was born during the war, my feet at night, and then the war actually started. And that's why they called me a little baby. And so there was many more babies that were born during the year. And unfortunately, some of them they end up living, living on to continue this life. I was blessed enough. So I went to orphanage because my, my auntie who raised me couldn't afford to send him to college to send them to basic school. So yeah, I was taking to the orphanage and there I there was about 150 of us on this orphanage. It's often it was notorious for lots of bad things. There were a lot of child trafficking No, not at times. Of course, when there's war, there's always going to be chaos. So we kind of really tried to manage as much as we could, as young kids on the orphan they're trying to survive, you can imagine by for those of you who have been experiencing war, it's never it's a lot of hardship that comes with it. So we try our best to survive on the afternoon, on the streets, trying to do what we could to survive. I'm sure we the you know, I was blessed enough to get adopted.
Jason Palmer 8:56
Wow. Being a product of of that has to have left it scars in your life somewhere.
Faith 9:05
almost definitely. Um, you know, and I, I know that with what I went through on the automation, it was, it was a lot of difficult time difficult things that I experienced. So yeah, it definitely affected me mentally, physically, just emotionally in every aspect of my life and also create a lot of trauma for me too.
Jason Palmer 9:28
I would expect that that T word to show up trauma shows up in a lot of those situations. Have you have you done any sort of trauma counseling and that sort of thing work through that since you've you've gotten a few years older than you were maybe 10?
Faith 9:44
Yes, you know, I've done some that I feel I can always do more. Just if you think about trauma and just the way everything happens when I was just, you know growing up there not just the war but growing up in my immediate family home in Africa, I had abused also I was abused. And so when I went too often, that kind of carry on there so, and over the years, you know, being an adult, I was able to take some counseling and really try to help myself, just because I know how much I've been impacted by my past and my past always seemed to creep up and be proud of my present. So I needed to find a way to kind of understand all of it, and process it as much as I could. And so it's been very helpful, honestly, once I recently went to see a diagnostic psychologist, and it was the first time I actually met with a behavioral person, and he was able to help me a lot. And now I'm in the process of getting that really focusing on the trauma, which is my it's travel trauma that I have and carry and be evidence xiety. So just stuff like that, I've been able to what I've been working on the SI gold. So it's a lifetime process, I think,
Jason Palmer 11:02
yeah, but you seem very self aware of what you've been through, to be able to, to realize that and then be intentional about getting some therapy and counseling and bringing some psychologists on board to make sure because in this world, and I, I know you you grew up, not in a standard American culture, necessarily from a very young age. But we're out here in mid Missouri. And I spent a lot of time in St. Louis. And I know that in a lot of the urban areas around here, that mental health piece is something that people really frown on, on looking at realizing that man, you might have some things wrong with you. And I might even have been one of those people at one point in my life until I realized some things were wrong with me. And God knows there's a list over there and ask her she's laughing for a reason. But yeah, just realizing that you're that you have those things and then being willing to work on it that that's says a lot about the person that you've become. So when you were 14 years old, you were adopted out of that orphanage into the US, tell me what was that like, because that's, I've heard so many different stories about international adoption, it seems like each and every one is so very different. And the way that it happens and the way that people respond to it. Hey there foster care nation, we'd like to take a quick minute to step out of the podcast here and ask you guys for a little bit of support, if you could share an episode with people, friends, in a group, with family, anywhere where there's somebody who would like to hear this. Also, if you'd like to join us and support our mission, a couple dollars a month would be really helpful. You can find us on patreon@patreon.com slash foster care nation. Now back to the show.
Faith 12:54
Most definitely. And that's the beta by adoption, right. And there's not one story, I feel like, we all have our individual unique story. And it's authentic, and real to us based on what we went through. And, and I feel like adoption, also a can bring a lot of feelings that when we talk about it, it can also it could be either a negative feelings, sometimes it could be a positive feeling. And just sort of whoever it is, right, we're really talking about adoption. And based on your own story, and often I think it comes with, like so many stories, right? When we go through a lot of live events, those events, the nukes experience, it becomes a part of our stories. And, and for an adopted child, like, like I am, and I have been, obviously through many challenges and ladders, many different experiences of force, that I've kind of that's going to help me really create this narrative and what I might call my story that I have to own, even though it was not ideal, at some point, right, some of the experiences and like, things that I went through, they weren't ideal. But yet they also who what built me up and built me to a place I am and a woman that I become a strong woman. So my story with adoption begin in Liberia. I was just on the orphanage trying to survive when the and the other kids. And I remember every so often there will be somebody from abroad, they will come through to the orphanage and we'll come and take pictures of us all the kids on the orphanage and it was one of those things that we all gravitated to. And we enjoy having those visitors those gifts because for many of us, it meant that they were hope for us. There were some light at the end of this tunnel that we were going through during that phase of constant Civil War. And so when we ever whenever we saw those gifts come through, we knew there was hope. And so they always came through and so pictures of us and I remember vividly, they asked Leader, she will always get us all together and it will be a big deal, we all have to dress up. Not in a fancy clothes, but something that was very, that she really spoke of our poverty, something that spoke of a child who is, you know, really needing help. So our parents have to cry out to these guests and let them know and let them feel the suffering and they think that we're going through the trauma. So we will all dressed up in our truck, our red clothes and lined up. And each of us will get pictures taken. But here's the interesting, interesting thing for me. Because each time there was these gifts that come that came through to the orphanage, a lot of them came from America, from Europe. And at the time, I remember, they always have these big camera with them when they come through. And very kind hearted people, they'll take pictures of everyone. But luckily enough, I don't know if this is a locker or not. But I was never there to just get a picture taken. And it's because I was always on the street, my friends and I, we felt like we cannot reliably stay on the orphanage. So we always, you know, went out the gates and try to be on the streets and beg for food and try to do what we could to survive in our in our environment. So as we go out to, I guess, hustle. It was during that time when these guests will come through and take these pictures of these kids. Now keep in mind, we have 150 of us on this orphanage. Right. So after all this is done and done. I remember one day I came home from one of my outings. And there was a lady there. She was an American lady. And she was taking pictures of all the kids. And I remember rushing through the to get to the lines and make sure my picture was taking too. And I forgot that I would have been about age 11 then, and she's snapping photos of everyone. And I'm thinking Yes, this is funny, I get to get my picture taken today. I'm looking forward today. Well, once I got to this point where it was my turn, I remember she turned around I looked on you says I'm sorry, sweetie.
This film, we don't have any more film. Next time, though, when we come back with a picture of you. Well, you can imagine as a little girl, I thought, why is this happening to me, I'm never going to be adopted, I've never been to be to have a sponsor. It was more like a sponsor ship is what we were trying to get. And I feel very down on myself. And so they wanted at that time. But I think God always had a plan, right? He had a plan and where he goes through things. So that was one of the time when I felt like well, this is never going to be something that I would ever experience, which is adaption. So I just kind of put it out in my mind why I was on the hospital and just kind of went in on the on the orphanage. And I just became to focus more on my survival and the oldest survival on the official what would you maybe tell me when I will will beg for food and whatever we need to do. I'm not proud to say this. But I became we all became petty thieves, which was something we were proud of looking back at that I think something when you're hungry. And hunger would make you see things that you won't do otherwise. So I remember going back and forth, we will come back home and admission we'll call for the little kids. because keep in mind during this time the war has been going on for maybe 10 years. And a lot of the people that have it hits on the often and they have escaped because the wall is actually nearing our city where we were. And we have two rubber groups. One we're on the right one was on the left. So we were in the middle of all of this. And so a lot of the kids parents have stopped coming to the orphanage to visit them. And we included so we had to really survive by ourselves. And so to make matters worse, the people on the orphanage the leaders they have is whenever the UN will bring food whenever a successor agency called welfare program, they will bring food to finish. Or nighttime the lady will sell all of the food. He will sell everything, bring a truck into the compound, and they will haul everything out they are under the orphanage and you all you could do was just washed in my night in the middle of the night and you just start to cry because you know, this is your oldest story of survival, but yet it was the soul. And so throughout this time, I remember thinking if I ever make it through here and this war doesn't really end up coming to us in the middle of this city. I hope to someday just because somebody and do something with myself. So as the year goes by, we're here on your finish. They start to we started seeing less and less visitors coming through for the right reasons because it wasn't safe for the National Peoples to come like this guest from abroad to come on the orphanage because of the war. So there was one time of one of my best friends, honey, she came, she was on y'all finish together, we went to same time, they were by the same age. And we did everything together and the orphanage. So we just kind of had this bond. And somehow just by law, and by the grace of God, she got this family in New Jersey, they wanted to adopt an older girl, and she was 14 at a time. So, Sienna being adopted. So once she was about 1000, I remember the day she accident Africa, she, she pulled me to her, and she said, Hey, I'm going to America. But
I want you to remember this, I will never forget you. So that was that was for me, that was amazing. Because it was like, she was telling me that I'm going to do something for you. I didn't know what she was capable of. She said, I will never forget you. And I want you to always stay on this often, which a lot of what happened to you never leaves up and it must stay here. Because I'm going to send for you. And in Africa, if a person goes abroad, and a person says, I will send for you that means I will come and get you out of this poverty. So you you as a child, you any hope any anything you can get to hold on to is meaningful. So for me, that was me. That was a sign to say I must stay here. So anyway, she left and she was adopted. She was 14, she lives in New Jersey adopted family. Over the years, I didn't communicate with her force, as somehow she wrote a letter one day and kind of show pictures of her and I'm like, Oh my god, I think we should go to America, this My friend is having so much fun. So this story came about because my mother, my mother in America, she told me the story of how I was adopted. So my best friend who as a child, the orphanage had been adopted in 2002. She was while she was in New Jersey, how family had already adapted from my orphanage also. And so they were communicating to the agencies where the adoption agency. So my mother, in Montana, reached out to my best friend's parents about the parents in New Jersey and said, Hey, we're looking to adopt or they were planning on deputy another person from this office. And as God would have it, my friend, she was listening that did by my adopted family initially, but didn't move quick enough. So they were already some another family adopted her this time about the hair. So as they were talking, one day, she had mentioned to her mother and says what does this I have this friend, his best friend on this orphanage? where I came from in Liberia. And I'm not sure whether she's still alive due to the war. But if she is alive, I would love for her to be adopted also. So my parents, they relate to her parents, really, that's my parents, my dad, the parents here in America. And my mother says she knew instantly that I meant to be hooked at her part of her family. So that's kind of how the story happened when they then went through the agencies. And the agency actually came and found me on the orphanage
Jason Palmer 23:13
that foster care nation, if you'd like to find yourself in a group of like minded people toward Facebook, and you can find us@facebook.com slash groups slash foster care you J. We've got a group over there where we talk about foster care, we talk about adoption, we talked about all the things related. If your podcast player allows it, you can also reach down hit that subscribe button. So you get notified every week, when we put up uploads. Every Tuesday, a new episode comes out. We'd love to see you next week. Now back to the show. Wow, what's the chances of that?
Unknown Speaker 23:49
I mean, that's just incredible. And I mean, you're, you're still sitting here, and you're talking to us. And it's just I mean, for a child to have to go through as many traumas and trials. And you're still upbeat, and you're still trying to get your story out there and talk to people. It's incredible,
Jason Palmer 24:07
and help other kids.
Faith 24:10
Yes, and I think it's important to share stories because there is no such a good way to relate and to connect with other people. experiences. So you know, it's not it's not about you know, having a really well thought of live and having positive, whole public travel is about for me and just sharing my story. I may not be the best as to some people, but I think it's my story and I and I need to share that. So when I was adopted before I was adopted, I remember the day like it was yesterday, a lady. Her name is Patty and she has an organization, a nonprofit in Liberia at the time. She came to my orphanage one day one night, and I remember one of the kids from the open house. Give me like, Hey, we have this lady. We have three white ladies that are here to see you. And I'm like, What? Why? And they're like, Oh, they came to see you and they wanted to talk to you about something. But before I talk about x three, I remember, there was a this white woman, she came one day and she had this camera, she show up on your plane. And she had told us that she came from America, she was with the New York Times, I believe. And her name was Caroline cold. So she's very well known person. And so she came to Liberia to do a shoot, she was a photojournalist, right? Can we do a story to do a story on the war and how they affected how the war was affecting young kids in Africa and Liberia at the time. And she really felt like you needed to share the story because the war the West needed to step in and stop this war on behalf of these innocent kids. So when she came in the orphanage one day, this photographer she said, Hey, guys, she told us that she wanted to make took a picture of each of us. But there was there was a place you want to actually take this picture, which was a swamp back of us in the in the back of our orphanage. And I know we all got so everybody's so scared. And we're like, there's no way we can go. That's one that's one because I mean, there's a lot of snakes in there. We have like alligator just stuff like that. So everybody was very afraid. And this is a salami so actually going to pick greens to cook and eat because we didn't have any other means of food. But when she when this lady came in Caroline, she began to take pictures all of us. And so I decided, I raised my hand I said, Listen, I will be the volunteer, I will go into that farm. I don't care what happened to me, I will post and I will take a picture. So we went and Karolina took this picture of me. And the picture, it's it's interesting, because I'm spending the swamp and I'm picking this Marina, she snapped this picture of me and we go to the orphanage, we were back to the health niche home and she's looking at it, we're looking at the picture on her camera, she's showing that each of us honestly, they said it was that this was like the first time that I've ever felt like I was able to process the war and really see what the war was doing to people. Because through all those films, like when they say, when you hear people say a picture can tell it like a mini it's possible that many wars and it can really look a story. I was like, this is amazing, because I saw how much the warheads took so many lives. I mean, she had a picture in there of the rebels at this place, and they have this port, this port we actually used to have where the food will come from abroad and they have to get to this port, and then you didn't go in and get the food. They had learned all the cider rice, all the schools and things of it to them, like monkey to the sky. And the rebels were actually they were firing at it. And like destroying all the meats of food. And I saw that picture. And I remember that reminds me today, every time I think of it, I'm like, Damn, that's crazy that people are so evil like that. And she said, Yes, she says, This is what the world is doing. And she said as a why we think it's important for you to take a picture of us. She said, because no one has listened to any of this. I think it was like president george bush that was in the presidency. Then just like I mean, if he, I want him and everyone else to see your picture, to know that they've got to be somebody that needs to come and do something and stop the war. So but then she showed my picture. This was remember, like, this is the first time I can see myself in the mirror. And I'm thinking, this is me, like I was not myself, I was my marriage, I have become almost sick to the point I was going to kill a guy. And I was like, wow, this is crazy. And so she told me, she said when I get to America, my goal is to actually publish this and the times.
And to really read a story up and show the people. He says some of them may not believe it, some of them may watch it and just go back to the regular life. But I know somebody will actually see it and want to do something. And today, I can still look at that picture online. Because of her. I go to the LA The New York Times, and I see the pictures on there. And I'm like, wow, like, this is amazing that I actually got this office meeting. So when parents decided, why did I share the story, because once my parents decided they wanted to adopt me, unfortunately, there was no story. There was no picture anywhere for them to actually see me because a lot of times we adopted someone and you guys went through it. It's just knowing what that person look like, right? And so they wanted to have that and they couldn't have it because there was no picture of me and get this. This is my best friend who came to America in 2000 how she came with an orphanage, Arbonne which had like 150 kids in the big album. And I remember she looked through there and she didn't see any picture of me whatsoever. So my parents are like, Okay, well I get this mosaico her we already know if I'm a mistake and she might be 13 around 13 or 14, that's it when we were doctor, so my parents are about to sign a picture of me because of this photo journalist who has taken this picture of me in Islam. So my parents are able to look at the Times website, and they saw a picture of me for the first time. And that was it. That was adapted from now on. Yeah.
Jason Palmer 30:20
Yeah. The only picture of us is when you made it into the New York Times. Wow. That's, you know, if we go back into into that timeframe, did you have any biological siblings that you know of?
Faith 30:36
I do, honestly, I, I am. This is actually in present. Now. I didn't get to, like know my story a lot more. So I did some I did have my Polish from In fact, my mother and my father magically there are alive in Africa right now. I have there was 11 kids a lot. 11 children of us, my father said, but the seven alive. I'm the third child. So I have a big family I just didn't know about because this is another part of my story. As a three year old, my father, my biological father had gifted me to his sister, my auntie, which is the type of tradition I guess she was married, she couldn't have kids. So she was, you know, of course, in that part of the world. It's not, you know, it's frowned upon, right? So, when my father says, As the story goes, when my father and his sister they wanted to a life, when the mother dad, which is my grandmother, my auntie, my father's sister took him in and raised him and sent him to school. So as that retain her, he, he said that if a sister cannot have a child, or brother has to give somebody you have to give the child to your sister, so I would say you're the one giving to her as a gift. Because I was the oldest. And I would give it to her and so I never saw my family at all.
Jason Palmer 31:57
Wow, that's crazy. Why? I mean, from from being more or less kind of adopted by your auntie first and then and into the orphanage and then again into America? I mean, what a ride.
Faith 32:13
Exactly. Jason I always think about it and sometimes like I was like, wow, you were you were already adopted. You're already in the adoption were they already nonprofit? Because you know that was a former adaption being given
Jason Palmer 32:29
that's that's just wild I mean, my goodness what a ride you've had, and all the way to San Angelo, not San Angelo, I was stationed in San Angelo years ago, San Antonio, Texas, raising your own family that there now I mean, what an amazing journey you've had. That's that's got to be something for you to to have experienced and turned your life around so far to be able to, to understand that, man, life is difficult, but but you still have a smile on your face. And I I'm just I don't know, I think I'm kind of blown away by that. Because I see a lot of stories where people talk about their, their journey through having been adopted. And so many people have so much vitriol and anger behind it, because they were taken from their first family but but you've walked through one heck of a journey and still come out the other side smiling and looking for places to help people not? I don't know, if you're if you have anger left in you, I don't see it.
Faith 33:41
Well, thank you for that. You know, it's it's been taking me a long time, I think I've always been a person that I feel lucky. I feel that out of the 250,000 people live that were taken back in Africa, in Liberia during that 14 Year Award, I could have been easily taken my life could easily be been taken along with all of those people. Because I feel as though I have a lot of reasons to celebrate my life now I have a lot of reasons to want to be better and and be a person of kindness and be happy because why are they why would Why was he taking one my life have been taken in Africa. I feel it was a purpose behind it. And part of that purpose, I'm thinking it's to be able to be something good to the society and and use my story, my voice to bring about good things and share my story in hopes of changing lives and helping people really see that. Yes, you may come through you may go through a lot of funds in your life. You may experience a lot of hardships, they may be a lot of roadblocks. A lot of dark holes, but you're so Sometimes it doesn't mean you're supposed to be tarnished forever, you still have something good in your soul that you can still bring to life and be able to enjoy life.
Jason Palmer 35:12
Well, from the time that you were in the orphanage, back in the day until modern day, the internet has made a big world mighty small, have you been able to reconnect with your auntie at all?
Faith 35:25
Yes, I have a microphone. And thank God for all this. Technology is, it's been such a big step in helping like minded people like myself, be able to reconnect, I gave her kind of my auntie, seven years ago, and along with my biological family, so I am in contact with them, usually through Facebook, which isn't very helpful.
Jason Palmer 35:49
So how has life been going for them? I mean, I honestly don't know how the politics or culture of Liberia is moving these days. So how's life going for them?
Faith 36:01
Yeah, I mean, for them, I feel it's a day to day struggle. There's so much, there's still a lot of corruption of what's the upside is that enemy to say something that's such, but it is the reality for them every day. The political, you know, atmosphere is still the same, right? There's still that corruption, there's still poverty. It's just kind of come out, trying to figure out life and but I will say this, that Africa as a whole, including, I mean, like, there, it's people that are just so, so forgiving. And they're just so much. They have so much faith about life as a whole. And they hold so much, really to their traditions and their religion, to keep them moving forward. So no matter why there's always going to be bad rulers, there's always going to be people that are corrupt, and not wanting to do well by them. But I feel like they always have a way of pushing through and trying to find meaning in you know, one that seems to be none. So it life is still it's still the same, honestly. But I think a lot of them, a lot of times they have nothing else to do, or there's nothing else to really help for logistic people living off of this. But they're doing okay.
Jason Palmer 37:19
That's great to hear. That's great to hear. Because here in America with our politics. I mean, we hope that people can keep pushing on because we may have a little bit of corruption and problems in our own system as well. Right.
Faith 37:32
I think everyone has some some form of that. It's just the magnitude of it, right?
Jason Palmer 37:40
Yeah, absolutely. So I know that you now have your own podcast, talking to people about your adoption journey and stories of adoption, called lift all voices, what made you want to start your own podcast?
Faith 37:54
Yeah. So when I become very anxious, I became very interested in writing, this kind of sent from my adoptive mother, she really pushed me to write down things that I was going through and experiencing from my past. And she's taught me to always have a journal. So I started writing very, very early on when I came to America. And so that really kind of helped me to express my feelings and my story, just write those things down. So over the years, as the years gone bad, I kept going back to those journals and writing and rewriting reading them. And I will tell you this, this was like for me at some a form of therapy, therapy. I really just kind of helped me expose all those grievances, all those emotions, feelings, and I was able to really feel like, Okay, this is I'm getting closer to understanding what things happened to me. And why did it happen this way. So once I started doing that, I realized that I needed to share my story. But honestly, it all started when I went to an event in San Antonio here, and it was about child trauma. And I learned so much this is about two or three years ago, and I learned so much about the effect on childhood trauma and, and how it carries on to an adult who were not treated or look upon. So I thought, this is something that I didn't know. And I felt like this is something I can actually take and do something with. So I kept on writing. And I felt like, wow, there's so many stories. I love to write. So I think if I can tell my story, and help somebody else see that, you know, what I've been through, maybe I haven't been through it, but if they can share it and just express that story is a way of healing them also. So lift our voices. It's a story 30 a storytelling platform. And what we've tried to do is to buy other people's with different experiences. You know, it could be community leaders. It could be an immigrant. It could be anyone to come in and talk about this story and really have, because I feel as though sometimes our stories, it is so much to connect to a person when you hear the story because sometimes we mentor somebody without even knowing the background, like what happened to them. But when we actually hear the story, their authentic real story is there's something with that, that kind of connects us to the human side of it. You know what I mean? So I think that's why I'm very passionate about and looking into it, like, unlike I have to be able to tell a story. And I figure, well, this is something I want other people to also utilize, to share their story, and be able to connect with other people's experiences, because I don't know that we're all human beings. And so that's how this whole little voices kind of it just came about because of that.
Jason Palmer 40:45
Wow, you know, I'm always amazed when I get to meet people who come from such trauma, tragedy, struggles, you know, all of that really hard world, and they come out of it with an urge to help other people. You know, that's, that just speaks volumes to who you've become. Do you? Are you still in contact with anybody that you were in the orphanage with?
Faith 41:07
I think, for social media, I am. And I see them all the time on Facebook, we communicate through there, and a lot of them are in the US. Some of them are in the US now. So we communicate there and Africa. So it's just interesting seeing all of our lives and seeing what people are doing with their lives. Now you think, Wow, back that back in the day, like we were barely trying to survive, and we didn't know we were going to be able to lift the cow story. But here we are. Now we are still moving forward in life. And I'm just grateful for that. And we're all lucky.
Unknown Speaker 41:41
Yeah,
Jason Palmer 41:41
yeah. Cuz that's a tough place to come from. But my gosh, if it's not amazing to see people come out of that tough spot into becoming amazing humans. And here you are living in, in San Antonio, Texas, and, and helping other people out. Now. You look,
Unknown Speaker 41:59
nobody can see her. But I mean, she's got a smile all the time. And it just seems like she has a spark. Thank you. Not everybody has that spark, especially after it's broken out of them. So that's really awesome to see.
Unknown Speaker 42:13
Appreciate that.
Jason Palmer 42:15
So with a last name, log, like he owes Zuma. Zuma Got it? Something like that. I'm gonna guess whoever. I know, that's a married name. Right?
Unknown Speaker 42:29
It is. Yeah, I'm
Jason Palmer 42:30
gonna assume the whoever you married Probably. Probably is not like, I don't know. I'm Mexican. Or,
Unknown Speaker 42:40
you know, American. Very
Jason Palmer 42:44
Americanized last name. So are you is are you married to someone else who came from Liberia or somewhere else? Or?
Faith 42:52
Yes. So he is from Nigeria. And we met in Salt Lake City, Utah. Yeah.
Jason Palmer 43:01
Of course in Salt Lake City that just makes the world to some amazing place. And you have three little kids who are going to get to learn to spell that name in kindergarten?
Faith 43:13
Oh, yes. They're already trying to figure it out. And I'm telling you, it's sometimes difficult.
Jason Palmer 43:20
Well, you know, we've been foster adoptive family for about a dozen years. And we have seen some names. So. Yeah, yeah, we we've had more than one that we kind of felt sorry for when it gets to kindergarten time. There was one little girl actually who lived with us for one whole night, I think.
Unknown Speaker 43:37
Yeah. So they were locating family. Yeah, we were just an overnight emergency.
Jason Palmer 43:41
Yeah. And we're not allowed to give out a whole lot of personal information. But I can say, because I know I can't say it, right. It was EMS. It was an M a bunch of O's eyes and A's. And I think it came out kind of like sounding something like Mariah. But this little girl I was like, Huh.
Faith 44:03
learning that new
Unknown Speaker 44:04
baby. And they couldn't even tell us His name because the little girl didn't speak well enough to Yeah, it was Wow. You know, baby, it was the natural. Yeah, it
Jason Palmer 44:14
was a little girl with an M. Name and her baby brother. That's all we knew. We still don't know what his name was to this day. But yeah, the name thing can be a real challenge for kids. And it's always, always interesting to see them go through that when they as they go through their their young years. But I'm sure we all figured that out as we go forward.
Unknown Speaker 44:31
Oh, yeah.
Jason Palmer 44:33
Now, I know you have another project that you're working on now. Because you know, helping helping kids isn't enough. So we got to help other people, right. The lap of project is, you know, working with empowering women in Liberia. What What was the genesis of that? What made you decide you needed to start that project?
Faith 44:52
So when I came to America, I always felt there was something I needed to do back home in Africa and I know if this is, you know, When you have a roof, and you have that foundation, and a place where you learn so much, you know, so much hurt and so much things, and you just kind of been, I've always been tied to it. And I felt I needed to, because I think when you go through a lot in life sometimes, and that's the thing, like I meet people who've been through so much more worse things than I have, and they still have joy, they still have happiness. And I think I used to think how that impossible but you kind of get in a place in life or point a point of your life, you just have to realize that in order for you to live fully, and really enjoy what we've been given what we've been blessed, and you have to move forward and in some way for this, not forget or forgive them, and move forward in life and be happier, and be grateful for where you are now, because you can change back then. But now you have the choice to move forward and make a more decent life. So I always wanted to give back and help those people in need. Because I know what it feels like to go someday without food and a little bit later feels like as a girl, young girl, and watching my auntie being abused and seeing other women not really treasure as they should have been in Africa and Liberia as a young girl, I realized that if I can do something to help empower a woman that will help her be able to empower her kids. And you turn also empowering for a whole community and a whole nation. So when this iPad project came about came about last year, in February, a friend of mine who actually sat down who did my adaption, and she has an organization is called acres of hope, International. And it's a nonprofit of fabulous power three, I will see what, three, she's been doing this for so many years, almost over 30 years. And she's also been back and forth, right in Africa. So she reached out to me and said, Hey, babe, I have this idea in mind. And I've always thought that you've always been the person who I love to volunteer and do a lot of good things. So would you be willing to partner with me? And and I said, Well, how can you? How do you know like, I've been wanting to be something with with with education, for my people in Africa. And I just didn't know how to go about it. And she said, Well, I hope you can join me. So I decided to join her in February last year when this pandemic hits. So we've been working on this for since then. And we just kind of been because of the pandemic flu supposed to go to Africa and things kind of slow down. But behind the scenes, we've been trying to put everything together and it's been going so wild. So well, we have about there were supposed to be 20 ladies to sign up, we have 50 of them. But Kenyans sign up. And we tell them, Hey, we don't have the funding right now, because we just started this project. And so we do already have a school down there, which the organization already have a school for kids. And so we're going to be utilizing that building to for now until we build our own. So the laptop project really is something that really speaks to me, because I know a lot of these women, they're very hardworking, and given the right opportunity, they can do a lot to really empower themselves. And to really be able to help the kids, you know, go to school pay for tuition pay for uniforms. And they really are the ones who helped fuel those economic growth in that type of country because the women are the backbone. They're the ones who are doing the, the petty traits in the markets, and then they provided everything. So giving them an opportunity, like this skill to learn how to sew will not only give them something to be able to, you know, empower themselves, but also they can now use that skill to contribute to wherever they find themselves. And they can really be able to make them feel like there's somebody and they can take care of themselves.
Jason Palmer 48:58
That's amazing. What does lap a stand is that isn't an acronym. does that stand for something or what does that mean?
Faith 49:06
Yeah, so the law is it's a, so it's a name for a fabric. So Africa fabric. If you ever seen one of those, they're very barbering, and very colorful and very traditional. So it's a law. It's a fabric that we use the women use for many multipurpose uses, they use it for wrapping around the body. A lot of times they will use that laptop for putting the baby on the backs. If you see some of those photos. Yes, that's that's what a lot of it is when they carry the baby on the back with the with a laptop, and a lot of them will use it for putting on the head to carry load to its meaning. There's a lot of money to the left by each individual person has their own meaning. But for me the law means protection because it protects the baby and it protects a woman when she weighs a lot but she feels proud. A lot of families also You know, celebration, celebrate serial events is, it's well, it's something that a lot of African will utilize the law to show kids how happy they are, is useful wedding ceremonial for all those different naming ceremony just very, very traditional. So the lover means a lot. And so when we were coming up with a name, we wanted to bring something that the woman can relate to. And we thought lap art is a great name. It's a lot of African country use it, it's just mean it's called different in different parts of Africa. So for example, in Nigeria, a Nigerian person might see that and call it the Rat Pack. Right? Because you wrap it around your body, if you go to South Africa, and maybe call the pinion. And so it's exact same thing, which is called differently. And the question now is, do
Jason Palmer 50:54
you guys have a website for your project?
Faith 50:57
Yes, we do. We just launched our website. It's called the lava project.org. And that's about acta.org. Okay. Yeah, that's
Unknown Speaker 51:09
really awesome. You know, and to think of how much that program will help empower women to empower their children, and even literally change generations that way.
Jason Palmer 51:25
Absolutely, no, I know, you said they're a 503.
Unknown Speaker 51:32
Yeah,
Jason Palmer 51:32
it's a nonprofit. How about that? We'll go with nonprofit, let's just assume we have one or two wealthy people out there who are listening this who want to want to donate to that that's something that that strikes our heart, do you guys have a platform for them to be able to donate? and help you guys out? Or is that on the website?
Faith 51:50
Yes. So we are because of the COVID-19, we can really do a physical lunch event. And normally, we'll have to, you know, get together and do a little just to introduce the project. And but so what it is, is the organization, the nonprofit four acres of hope. And like I said, it's a fabulously free nonprofit, which means it's the habitat status, right. And so that's the mean, nonprofit. So the laptop project is actually an initiative that's creative from that nonprofit. Okay, so if they want it for those of you who would like to contribute or help us with this project, you can go to the laptop project.org. And you can donate through our donation of donate now, button from there.
Jason Palmer 52:40
That sounds like a great organization, because just like you mentioned earlier, as, as children, watching the UN food come in, who was donated from the UN who got money and food and stuff from people in countries where all that money was donated, and corruption takes it over. I find that these nonprofits that go out there with a good heart like yours, and your partners to actually intentionally help people are the ones who change generations.
Faith 53:08
Exactly. And I think that what you said is so true, because we, for me, I think it's more important nowadays for us to not too much focus on just giving them like clothes and things like that. I feel Africa library as a whole. The people there they need to work, just like we all work for Thanksgiving, they need to work. And if they have, you know, the ability to do something like for example, our nonprofit that are initiated like a project, each woman that signed up, they have to contribute $7 that dollars. So some people might look at that and say, well, that's too That's crazy. That's outrageous. Because these people are poor. They don't have money to donate into a program. And this is a nonprofit initiative. But I was one of those people who thought of it like that until one of our partnership in Liberia, the person who oversee everything she had mentioned to us, she said yes, we have to have the women contribute to this initiative. This is the only way we can get them to get through this process. A whole year of sewing school. Yes, people can donate people have we have great people that have good hearts, I want to do best and want to do good. But I learned in life for you to be able to be successful and do well in something, you as an individual how to contribute to your own growth. So you don't contribute to it. Company, you don't take a serious, they may not have a minute for you. So we decided to have him put in something small as $7. And that way they have they are proud of them. It's part of it. So if you go through this process of one year of school, you can now we can take that $70 at the end of the school year, the school year. We have a big fashion show that can now create and whatever you know They can use as $7 to buy materials. So it basically is an encouragement feed for the ladies to encourage them to want to do well. So that way they can use up on it goes back to them, they can buy fabrics create something for themselves. And the goal is to be that make them individual entrepreneurs, where they have jobs where they can create their own, they have they keep the machine, they can sew and create income for themselves. Of course, we have to be able to support them and teach them we have will be teaching them basic business entrepreneurial skills, and money management, which is basic budgeting for the future to know how to manage that. And that is because if you see someone to fish is great, they have to go to teach them the whole entire Saturday on how they can sustain that and not be able to come back again and be cast, like asking for handouts, basically. So we're coming, we're going towards that as a as a entrepreneur, opportunity for the women. That way we we can kind of get away from that handout, you know, that we are used to in Africa, and make them work for what they need to learn. Because education is something that you can, you can take away something they can always have. And they are going to be the mentors, I mentor the younger generations, until I'm home for a lot of these women, they don't really have basic literacy, the literacy rate for women African, like there is, I think it was like 23%, it was like less, and these are like a lot of them are from the material side. So they don't have the means of education or girl education was mine, it was important back then. So their generation came up without knowing anything about how to read or anything. So if you give them a skill, like sewing, they can really have something that they can empower them, they think, you know, I can do this, if I can make something of myself, I can create something for myself and my family, I can know that in a day, I did this, and it's to benefit my family and a community. And they can then pull back into the community. And that's what it's all about. It's not about, I give you $100 today, for the $100 might be gone. And you may come back for more. But if I teach you something, hopefully you can utilize that skill, and then be able to multiply that that's what it's about.
Jason Palmer 57:12
Wow, it sounds like they've really thought this project through quite a ways because that makes a whole lot of sense. You know, and, and the way you talk about the people of Liberia, I mean, I'm just encouraged with the amount of resiliency that appears to be they're not only in their ability to just just survive, and in difficult circumstances, but also to be able to, to go create something out of nothing. And you know, come from a hard place. And well, and to be able to sit there with that smile we keep talking about you know, and I did want to ask you about one thing you mentioned earlier, you mentioned the idea of, of forgiving the past without forgetting it. Can you talk just for a minute about what that looks like in your life? As you look back? And you learned to forgive without forgetting?
Faith 57:59
Yes. So I what I used to be one of those who it was hard for me to understand. Why do I have to forgive people? After all, they hurt for me? Why do I have to be the one who have to say, Excuse me, I forgiving you when they hurt me. They should be the one. So I figured this out when I'm over here. As you can tell I'm a Christian. Over the years, I figure I went through a lot of hardship things that meant two things that I had to go through. My personality is very much of a person I worry a lot. So if you can, if you cope that with a lot of stress and trauma, it puts me in a position where I could end up with a lot of anxiety, phobia, things like that depression. So I had a bit of a breakdown. And I figure what all of this was coming from. It was from my past. Yes, it was the fact that I haven't forgiven whoever the head of those people that have expressed that means that it's such a negative way. I was carrying all this baggage and so much negative energy the whole time that I wasn't happy. And I felt unless the only way for me to get out of this is for me to really say I forgive this person because forgiveness is not for those people that hurt me, it's for myself. Right? It makes me feel. I think for me too. It's a therapeutic because if I forgive them, I feel a little bit of a weight is lifted off of me. And that's something I don't have to carry anymore. Because the moment I feel like I'm carrying that burden. I feel so much more depressed, so much anxiety, so much all these different things that I don't deserve in my life. I believe I've been through that experience. I've always know I really know what it feels like to be down and under and I know what it feels like to be Stefan I know how it feels like to be so much so like in a dark place. So why don't want to carry that darkness with me throughout my life when I can just step out a little down and say listen I don't need to carry this anymore. Yes, it happened to me, yes, all of these negative things happened to me. But I don't have to carry it around all these years, because those are years that I cannot get back of happiness, because I chose to carry this. Right. So I realized I needed to forgive. Now forget, because you cannot forget something that is that, that change your chemicals in your brain that you accept. As a young child being abused, you cannot forget us anything we can't forget. Well, however, I can go through this and know that I don't have to carry this burning, I can say I forgiving you. So every time I hear that person's name comes up, it doesn't have to straddle me, I don't have to feel like this is still affecting me so much so that I can speak of it, in order for me to speak of my trauma, and I have to be in a place where I'm not going to have constant PTSD. Yeah, I still have that sometimes. But it's not to the magnitude where when I didn't forgive, because and another thing about forgiving to me, I don't feel like it's like one and done. Because you have to think of it as all those years that you were experiencing those those trauma, those issues, it's gonna take a long time for you to process it, unless you actually took the time to go through a professional and seek professional help, whether it be trauma informed 30,
then you actually are not really fully forgiving someone because you're still going to have that stuff that you have in process coming back to you. And then when she gets through that, in that, when you get in that in a mind mindset, you're going to always have to have that hit come back in and for that person, so we knew, we really want to forgive, you have to go through some type of process that helps you process the trauma. And then you also have to say to yourself, okay, I know this happened to me, I know this person did this to me. And I know that I can change what happened to what I can do right now I can actually try to figure out a way and the means to move forward. And you know, and for me, I knew that Africa was a tradition, the way things are sometimes you don't expect people to apologize to you, because it's a way of life. for them. It's a way of life. That's all they know. So I have to be, I had to look at myself and say, What happened to that person that made me and treat me the way they did, what type of trauma they had experienced themselves, that allowed them to feel like it was right for them to do what they did to me. So almost like putting myself in their shoes, which you know, that can be a bit of a big deal, big thing a big shoes to fill. But I wanted, I wanted to be able to figure out what is going on with them because we all have our own form of trauma. And they may have had something that just didn't process that he honestly didn't go through. And that's that's not excusing the bad behavior at all. But I wanted to make sure that I don't keep tearing this on, and just destroying myself inside. And that person Africa, they live in that life. They're doing everything we can to move forward, and how near I'm stuck in the past. I'm stuck in 10 years ago, when I could be going move forward and having a good time and enjoying my life to the fullest. And only we can make that happen. So I needed to try to at least Forgive me because not every single person because it takes time, but do it because I feel I need to let go and let someone that burning comes down and be a little bit more happier. One, I think that I feel those people that are able to forgive, I can feel that, that weight lifted. And that's all I needed to do to move forward. And I said, the energy that I'm using to put into caring this person's low and, you know, I can use that energy to better somebody else's life to give someone else like given hope, given everything that I thought I missed. During that time when I was being abused, I can put that my whole energy into something else. For me, it's charity work. And that's what helped me also.
Jason Palmer 1:03:53
Wow, I think I'm starting to understand a bit of that smile you the theme that I'm hearing through this whole thing is just you finding a hope to look for, from all the way from from way back in your past to your present, and looking for hope in the future as well. And I feel like there's a good possibility that, that what you guys are doing that really is going to help change a nation. And it's amazing that you can do that. And a good portion of the world will probably not know about it, but we're gonna scream it from the rooftops until people hear and listen up and choose to join in with somebody who chooses hope as a way of operation. So good on you.
Faith 1:04:31
Yeah, I just want to say, you know, it's been such a pleasure Jason and your wife and Amanda, being here with you and sharing my story. I know it's, it's something that I'm in a way proud of, because I've been through it and I stretch through it. And I'm here now and I'm able to speak of my story that's in itself shows that I've come a long way and I hope to continue sharing my story. My story with all the people And then I just hope that it as some of you were able to take something away, would I be forgiving somebody, that person that you've been, you know, worrying about all these years. And, you know, and really trying to get rid of some of those negative energy and I just pray and hope that everybody will find whatever they're looking for, whether it be hope, peace, something, and just know that if you go to trauma, you can seek help and get help for yourself, do it for you and be able to get that wholesome life that you won't get otherwise if you don't get the help that you need. Thank you so much. I appreciate being here for sharing my story today. Thank you.
Jason Palmer 1:05:39
We appreciate you being here faith and whether or not they find their hope or not, they found plenty of faith here today and we appreciate you coming and sharing your story so vulnerably and honestly, with with all of our listeners, because I know that someone will find plenty of value out of this.
Unknown Speaker 1:05:55
Absolutely. Someone who needs to push to go on who needs that little bit of a spark to to find their way. You know, hopefully we reached that person today.
Jason Palmer 1:06:08
Okay, foster care nation. Thank you for listening to faith story. Now take her knowledge and wisdom to heart so you can create love and healing in your family and community. Be sure to come back next week. We have a new episode every Tuesday. If you'd like to share your story as a guest, you can reach out at foster care uj@gmail.com we're also creating a new email address you can use Jason at foster care nation.com you can connect with other like minded people on facebook@facebook.com slash groups slash foster care uj. Don't forget we have a Patreon where you can support our mission for as little as $5 a month. It's at patreon.com slash foster care nation. The links everything in the show notes on your podcast player or foster care nation.com. And as always,
Unknown Speaker 1:06:54
you are so super awesome. Thank you
Sarah’s Intro As a parent to a young adult who was adopted through foster care and also is the parent that goes through attachment interviews and experienced supervised visits and phone calls with a child at a residential facility, I am uniquely poised to discuss what it is like to be the observer and observee in parent/child interactions.
Professionally, I’m a Certified Parent Coach® whose passion is helping families with children who have experienced trauma or struggle with attachment.
I started The Foster Lane Parent Coaching in 2016. My goal: Use coaching to help others avoid some of the parenting challenges my own family faced.
I’ve spent over 1,500 hours researching trauma, children’s brain development, parenting strategies, and foster and adoptive parenting. I successfully completed the graduate-level Parent Coach Certification program through the Parent Coaching Institute®, have completed the initial training in Theraplay™, and continue to attend conferences on trauma-informed parenting.
We talked about Sarah and her wife’s story, and their journey to becoming parents.
Things we talked about on this episode:
- attachment styles, how they are formed, and how they affect us today.
- ACE’s
- Reaction vs. Response
- Training your brain to regain control
- Creating Cooperation vs. Compliance
- Mindset shift
Sarah’s Links The FosterLane Website
@thefosterlane on all Socials
Book Recommendations The Power of Showing Up by Dr. Dan Siegel
The connected child by Dr. Karyn Purvis
The Connected Parent by Dr. Karyn Purvis
The Explosive Child By Dr. Ross Greene
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We talked with Sherianna Boyle about the emotional needs of foster kids and foster parents as well!
Sherianna Boyle has been featured in over ninety-articles, her Emotional Detox Radio Show on healthylife.net is in the top five, her revolutionary method (CLEANSE Method®), Emotional Detox Coaching® services giving her worldwide recognition. Yet, Emotional Detox was not her first rodeo. It is one of nine books, Sherianna has written. In fact, her book The Four Gifts of Anxiety was endorsed by The National Association for Mental Health.
Sherianna Boyle is an international, Emotional Detox Coach®, author of eight books, including her most recent Emotional Detox and Emotional Detox for Anxiety. Sherianna has been featured in over eighty-five articles, and a featured presenter for renowned organizations such as: PESI® Behavioral and Mental Health Education, Kripalu Health & Yoga Center, 1440 Multiversity University, and more. Her book, The Four Gifts of Anxiety, was endorsed by the National Association of Mental Health. She is an adjunct Psychology Professor and founder of Emotional Detox Coaching® servicing clients (of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities) virtually worldwide. She is the co-founder of CLEANSElife.com, which features her CLEANSE Yoga® virtual video collection, host of Emotional Detox Radio Show on Healthylife.net. and co-host of Emotional Detox Now Podcast. She is married to her hometown hubby, KB raising three daughters, living her best CLEANSElife! Receive a free Calm Your Mind meditation when you register on her site here: https://sheriannaboyle.com/calm-your-mind
Sherianna's Facebook
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My name is Robert P.K. Mooney. My friends call me Rob.
I grew up all around Oahu, Hawaii, and throughout Utah. From age six until eighteen, I was a foster kid, changing homes twenty times between Oahu and Utah. How did a foster kid from Hawaii end up in Utah? After my siblings and I went into state custody, my mother developed cancer and died. Before she passed away, she asked the state of Hawaii to transfer her children to Utah where she had family. And so, on my eighth birthday, I moved to Utah.
As a foster kid, three things helped me cope with the trauma of abuse, neglect, death of beloved family members, and the lack of stability inherent to twenty home changes.
- athletics
- music
- my imagination
In each of those, I could leave the pain and loneliness of my life and take my mind and heart to another place. I read books and watched movies to take me away. The Hardy Boys, Tolkien, Goonies, Tim Burton’s Batman, even Disney’s The Little Mermaid, and my own mind and vivid dreams – they all took me to places that kept me safe.
Eventually, I decided that more than anything, I wanted my own family. I tried to become the type of person that an amazing woman would want to be with (that’s still a work in process). In college, I got married and started a family of my own. I was determined to ensure that my wife and children never had to endure the abuse and neglect that my mother and siblings had to. So, I threw my efforts into providing for them – I got a finance degree, and then a couple of law degrees and became a very successful lawyer.
My legal career led me to courtrooms across the country and culminated with me serving as the General Counsel for one of the largest pet health and wellness companies in the United States. For the last three years of my career, I was recognized internationally as one of the world’s leading intellectual property strategists. In 2019, I left the practice of law so that I could spend more time with my young family (with five children ranging in ages from eighteen to newly born) and write books – inspirational books to help foster kids choose a successful life, and novels to entertain youth and adults.
Robert's Links Rob's website
Rob's book on Amazon
Rob on Instagram
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Emily, a former playboy photographer, now a child sexual abuse prevention educator and anti-pornography activist.
She is a woman on a mission to stop the cycle of sexual trauma and open our eyes to the high price we're paying for our pornified culture.
Website
http://howtoraiseamaverick.com
Young, Wild, and Safe course
https://www.ywsedu.org/yws-details
Emily@howtoraiseamaverick.com
How to Raise a Maverick Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/emily-gaudreaus-how-to-raise-a-maverick/id1221575179
https://www.facebook.com/HowToRaiseaMaverick/
https://www.facebook.com/chiefmaverick
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Living with Rahab’s Heart
Jennifer Wilcox is an adoptive mom of 2 boys who are brothers. She is a wife of 13 years to her husband David, a homeschool mom, non-profit founder, and author. Jennifer took her adoption journey and what she has lived through in her past and started a non-profit in 2018 to help women break the chains of poverty and abuse by learning the skills and tools necessary to thrive in the community.
Links for Jennifer Wilcox Website www.rahabsheart.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/rahabsheart
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/rahabsheart
Rahab’s Heart - One WOman’s Journey to Becoming A Servant of God https://www.amazon.com/Rahabs-Heart-Journey-Becoming-Servant-ebook/dp/B08NZ81K9K
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Wendi Friesen has worked with many people on working through their trauma through hypnotherapy.
There are many ways to work through trauma and hypnotherapy is not always the answer for you. But, sometimes it is just what you need.
Finding a highly trained and experienced therapist is the key to success. She gave us some advice on finding the best fit for you.
You can find her at her website Wendi.com
She has recordings to help with things like bedwetting and sleep struggles for kids at her shop.
Her Youtube channel has a lot of resources as well!
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IZoFEp8a2PHG78jB2pyb
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Gina is a mom who has overcome enormous challenges to help my child heal from trauma. Her boys were adopted from Guatemala, and her youngest was neglected by his foster mom before they got him. This trauma resulted in severe anger, anxiety, and violence, which made her afraid of her own child. He would frequently destroy property, punch holes in the walls, and try to hurt them. He was eventually diagnosed with RAD. In 6th grade they hit "rock bottom", which involved getting kicked out of school, sent to the juvenile assessment center, appearance in court, summer of community service, and probation. After discovering a new school designed for kids with social and behavioral issues and doing family-intensive therapy, her son slowly healed and he is doing really well now. She wrote a book, Love Never Quits, about their journey and have dedicated part of her life to helping other trauma mamas.
She writes a blog, recently did a TEDx, and has been working on developing an online class for parents of kids healing from trauma.
This experience has altered the course of her life in so many ways, but now my goal is to help others and spread the word about the devastating effects of abuse or neglect on children.
Gina's Links
Gina's website:
http://loveneverquitsbook.com Love Never Quits on Amazon:
Love Never Quits
View her TED Talk:
https://www.ted.com/talkgina_heumann_childhood_trauma_affects_us_alls/
Find her on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/loveneverquits
Here is her Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/love.never.quits/
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Danny Vann is a musician, an Alumni of the Elvis Presley Impersonator Hall of Fame, author, and former foster youth. He tells his story of where he came from and the struggles that he faced.
However, he doesn't stop there. He is actively trying to give back and help current foster youth. His ebook is aimed squarely at kids aging out of the system and provides knowledge and resources that they can use to begin their own path in life.
Danny is also the author of a physical book. His book My Journey in the Shadow of the King is available on Amazon (link below).
Danny's Links
My Journey in the Shadow of the King
Get the free ebook here.
Danny's Website
Danny Vann's Facebook Group for Foster Care Survivors
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Frank King is a comedian, 20 veteran writer on the Tonight Show, has 5 TED talks, and suffers from depression and chronic suicidal ideation.
Frank says, if you are thinking about suicide, call the prevention hotline - they are professionals. If you are having a bad day, call a crazy person. Then he gives out his personal number:
858-405-5653
Frank King's Website
Frank on Youtube
Suicide Prevention Textline
Suicide Prevention Hotline
National Alliance on Mental Illness
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Paul Mocsari came into foster care at a young age. Listen in and he will unpack his story for you. Take this opportunity to listen to the lesson he had to learn the "hard way" Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey Find All Our Links Here
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Roman is a 1st generation immigrant from Ukraine. He
arrived in the US with 6 other family members in a 2 bedroom
apartment.
Roman interned with the Secret Service and
held a top-secret government clearance. He was forced to
become a self-taught digital marketer as a result of the
2008 recession, and fell in love with it.
Roman has 11 years of experience leading digital teams in senior leadership roles on over 600 campaigns across many industries. He founded Nova Zora Digital in 2012.
Roman is the host of the Digital Savage Experience Podcast, a Top 100 Podcast on Apple Podcasts for How To.
He is a foster parent and has had 21 kids in his home since June 2018. He became a foster parent by going through 5 miscarriages with his wife in 3 years, 2 of which happened on Christmas Days.
With death, loss, and hardships Roman pushes through no
matter what.
He and his wife Lindsay found their calling in the Foster Care system after experiencing 5 miscarriages in 4 years.
When we spoke, they had just taken placement of their 21st placement in 2 years.
Their vast experience in such a short time led them to a lot of hard-earned wisdom in a short time frame.
Some of those lessons included:
- Connecting with kids
- Learning to love another person's kids
- Dealing with grief
- Explaining foster care to others
- Connecting with bio-family
- Finding resources for them and the children they serve
- Dealing with child trauma
Roman's Links
Nova Zora Digital
Roman's Podcast
Find him on Facebook
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Watch the interview on
Justin and Alexis are authors, speakers, and business owners. Together, they've created The Scholarship Expert and The ROSE Empowerment Group to support hundreds of young people. Now, with their new venture, Redefining Normal, they hope to continue the conversation on healthy relationships, mental health, and healing.
In this episode, Justin and Alexis Black tell their story of tragedy and trauma, and how the foster care and adoption system has shaped their lives and the people they have become.
Most importantly, we get into how they are helping to change the world today!
Website
re-definingnormal.com
Redefining Normal Book on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08MDHZ5KZ
Business Ventures
roseempowermentgroup.com
thescholarshipexpert.com
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Watch the interview on Youtube
Ashley is a wife, mother, writer, and former social worker who also happens to be totally blind. She and her sighted husband are raising two children, adopted from Bulgaria, and they recently had a biological son of their own.
Ashley's Links Her Facebook Page - A Blind View
Her writing on Her View From Home
Her Blog
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Cheryl Ruzzo is a registered nurse with a certification as a pediatric clinical specialist. She has worked with families of many backgrounds and with various needs, including safety planning for medically at-risk clients. Most recently, Cheryl has spent a number of years as a stay-at-home parent and full-time advocate for her children’s needs and to educate about reactive attachment disorder. She and her husband Joe have three grown biological daughters, a biological 14-year-old son, six grandchildren, and have adopted two children.
RAD Advocates
Building the Bonds of Attachment by Daniel A Hughes
A Glimpse at Understanding RAD by Karen Poitras
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Cheryl Ruzzo is a registered nurse with a certification as a pediatric clinical specialist. She has worked with families of many backgrounds and with various needs, including safety planning for medically at-risk clients. Most recently, Cheryl has spent a number of years as a stay-at-home parent and full-time advocate for her children’s needs and to educate about reactive attachment disorder. She and her husband Joe have three grown biological daughters, a biological 14-year-old son, six grandchildren, and have adopted two children.
RAD Advocates
Building the Bonds of Attachment by Daniel A Hughes
A Glimpse at Understanding RAD by Karen Poitras
Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey Find All Our Links Here
https://linktr.ee/fostercarenation
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https://patreon.com/fostercarenation
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https://fostercarenation.com
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An accomplished writer and public speaker, Kevin Hofmann has appeared across the United States sharing his experience and guiding parents, students, and professionals through today’s multicultural landscape. His perspective and light-hearted yet contemplative view resonates with people of all cultures and is sought by many.
Kevin has been interviewed by media including Nightline ABC and NPR and is quickly becoming a trusted voice on the topics of race and adoption.
Kevin’s layered racial resume has led him to write Growing Up Black in White, a compelling memoir revealing his difficulties and joys growing up in a diverse family –particularly during a time and in a location where acceptance was tentative and emotions regarding race ran high and hot.
Because his story also addresses the impact of race and culture in society, it serves as a catalyst for open discussions on diversity and inclusion as well as race and culture.
We had one of those discussions on this episode of Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey!
Kevin Hofmann's Links Facebook Page
Kevin’s Website
Growing Up Black in White
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MaryRose is a foster parent coach and a former child welfare case manager. She owns and operates her own online coaching business that supports foster parents as they support children and families.
MaryRose works with foster parents on things like advocating effectively, setting and enforcing boundaries, supporting parents on their journey to reunification and so much more.
She believes that the only way we’ll change our world for the better is if we put aside our differences and focus on what is best for children.
MaryRose lives in her hometown of Atlanta, GA with Kyreigh and Irving, her two dogs. She moved back to Atlanta to be closer to her family after attending Florida State University and working in the child welfare system in Tallahassee, FL.
MaryRose plans to attend law school in the near future to continue advocating for children and families in the courtroom and/or through public policy.
Mary Rose Maloney is the first foster parent coach that I have met. And I think the concept is brilliant!
There are about a million ways that a foster parent could use a bit of coaching.
- Trauma Levels
- Court proceedings
- Biological parents
- Therapists
- Child Welfare system workers
Think about it, even if you are a new or even a seasoned foster parent you want all the help you can get. You are wise to consider a second opinion about your perception of the case and how you communicate it to others.
Our conversation pointed out needs that we had not even considered. Foster parents and adoptive parents can use all the support they can get and will only be well served by considering this as an available support.
Links for Mary Rose Maloney, Foster Parent Coach Facebook Group
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Foster care was not in Laurel's plans. Laurel had a young family member that needed a place to be safe and loved.
She stepped up and provided a loving and safe place for her young family member to stay. As time progressed his chances at reunification diminished.
This led to a complicated relationship with his birth mom. They continue to work their way through a complicated familial relationship.
Laurel's Podcast I will share a link here to her content as soon as it is available
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Darren and Margie Fink are an amazing couple who jumped into Foster Care and Adoption head first!
Together they created Transfiguring Adoption.
Darren received his bachelor's degree in visual fine arts. Since university, he has worked in varying graphic design and social media management positions. He's an imaginative foster/adoptive parent that can get children to go to bed by inventing a detailed story about small, friendly creatures living throughout the house that only come out at night. Darren helped co-found Community Kids, a resource and networking 501(c)3 created to assist foster/adoptive families.
Margie received her degree in psychology and has worked in various social work capacities. Margie has been chosen in the past to speak on Capitol Hill about the Refundable Adoption Tax Credit. She is a witty foster/adoptive mom who is able to give kids from hard places a loving structure while providing unbelievable homemade cooking. Margie co-founded Community Kids, a resource and networking 501(c)3 created to assist foster, adoptive, and relative caregiver families. Check Out: Wise Thoughts From A Foster-Adoptive Mom
We talked about Transfiguring Adoption's origin story as well as their own as a foster and adoptive family. If you have kids, they are a great resource.
If you are a foster or adoptive family, they are a necessity!
Here are a few links:
website: www.transfiguringadoption.com Media review service: www.transfiguringadoption.com/subscribe Coupon Code - 1 free month: 1STFREE Therapeutic kids' book: www.magicalcreaturs.com Social Media Tag: @TransfigurAdopt Our Links Find All Our Links Here
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Ginger Baerg is a wife, mother, and high school math teacher. God called Ginger and her husband, Dustin, to grow their family, by fostering and adopting. Over the past seven years, the Baerg family has fostered six kids, and have adopted two, becoming a family of seven!
Other episodes mentioned today:
Hope for Amy
Connected Parenting with Melissa Corkum
Ginger's Links My Patchwork Family Book
Ginger’s Facebook page
Ginger on Instagram
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Travis resides in Fayetteville, Tennessee, and is a jack of all trades. He preaches, coaches, teaches, parents, and finds a way to still rock the social media world. He is married to Whitney and they have two awesome kiddos, Hailee and Daniel. Travis has worked with the Riverside Church of Christ and Riverside Christian Academy for 13 years. He is the pulpit minister for the church and the head football coach and the chaplain for the school. His most recent accomplishment is beating the dog mess out of Leukemia. His diagnosis, battle, and remission have further inspired him to share the message of Christ and hope with the world. That struggle directly resulted in the Helping Healing Humor Podcast.
Follow Travis on * Instagram * Helping Healing Humor Podcast * Youtube * Website
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Intimacy Expert, Allana Pratt is a global media personality and go-to authority for those who have suffered heartbreak and are ready to live unapologetically and attract an open-hearted, ideal relationship. Her vulnerability and courage landed her a featured weekly column on the GoodMenProject, she’s been chosen as an Icon of Influence and featured as Guest Expert on Huffington Post, People Magazine, Forbes, CBS, ABC, FOX, and The Jenny McCarthy Show. This Ivy League grad is the Author of 6 books, has interviewed Whoopi Goldberg and Alanis Morissette, and Hosts the edgy Podcast “Intimate Conversations” where listeners learn how to find the relationship they deserve. A certified coach with close to 5 million viewers on YouTube, Allana was asked by Leeza Gibbons to coach her during Dancing with the Stars. While supporting several non-profits, Allana is launching HeartMates~ Become the One to Find the One~ A Dating App & Intimacy Training all rolled into one. She offers private and group coaching so that her clients have a thriving intimate relationship with themselves first, which naturally attracts and enhances their ideal partner.
In this episode, Allana talked with me about healing trauma and pain that children have experienced in their childhood and taken into their adulthood.
She reminds us that the mess in our life builds beauty and growth. And it helps in finding a path forward that leans into the potential inherent in every struggle.
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Anthony Trucks talks about his own Unparalleled Journey from foster care, through the NFL, and beyond. That journey allowed him to become the amazing and inspirational human that he is today! Along the road, he was met with struggles and learned to master the man he was in order to become the man he wanted to be!
This is from his website https://anthonytrucks.com/
Where Shift Started
At the age of three years old I was placed into the foster care system. It’s a well-known fact that up to 50 percent of kids placed in the system will end up homeless upon emancipation, and 75% of prison inmates in the U.S. are former foster kids so needless to say the odds were against me from the beginning. This looming reality was never lost on me and I spent a good bulk of my childhood feeling adrift, unworthy, and listless. For years, I spent every day in survival mode, just trying to make it to the next day, week, and year in one piece.
Somewhere between being placed in foster care and adopted by an all-white poor family at the age of 14, I overcame my challenges and began to apply myself. Being a self-aware kid allowed me to recognize my pattern, which always started with setting a goal, hitting a wall, overcoming that wall, and finally achieving said goal. The satisfaction I got from setting goals and grinding until I reached them against all odds was immense. So much so that in high school, I gave myself the most challenging and lofty goal yet … making the varsity football team.
While I had the build, I definitely didn’t have the skill which became evident during my first seasons. But I persevered. I worked hard, made the team and fast forward to my senior year, I was offered a full ride scholarship to the University of Oregon, and achieved the ultimate goal of going pro in the NFL. By the age of 25, I was on the Pittsburgh Steelers roster, had a beautiful wife, a son and an even brighter future ahead. Or so I thought.
Shift Got Real
If you do a quick Google search on my name along with the words “NFL player” you’ll see that I don’t have any gameplay stats. That’s due to a fluke shoulder injury that sent my NFL dreams crashing down just as quickly as they’d come. Within a two-month period I went from having it all in the NFL to being a personal trainer at my local gym to support my family. Despite my reality, I realized that I had been given another chance to change my life just like I had earlier in my childhood. I had to pivot and I had to pivot quickly. I’ve come to realize those pivots have always been shifts. I decided that with my football career over, the only way I could provide the kind of life I wanted for my family was to become my own boss.
With a degree in kinesiology, I decided to open my own gym. The business was okay, but not great. Entrepreneurship is a series of failures before you strike gold so I wasn’t deterred even though I encountered many ups and downs, but along my journey to provide for my family, I lost it all again. The gym ate up all of my time which meant I had nothing left to give my wife, my now three kids, or myself. My marriage fell apart, my children missed me constantly and I’d gotten out of shape all within the span of just two years. Eventually, my business tanked and I almost went bankrupt. So not only was I broke, I felt broken and alone, was losing my family, and becoming a total miserable failure. Every day alive was filled with the weight of my failures and hopelessness, so one evening I took a long drive with the intention of ending it all for good.
Fortunately, I didn’t find it within myself to take my own life that night. I am so glad that I didn’t because soon after I had a conversation with someone that changed my entire world. Little did I know that while I was flailing and struggling to be the man that I wanted to be, a close friend of mine viewed me as an inspiration and a hero because, despite the odds, I overcame. Prior to this conversation, my only focus was a financial success so that I could provide the lifestyle that I felt my family deserved, no matter what. But then I had a thought, “what if I could be an inspiration for others?”
My Purpose Shifted
“Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more.” ―H. Jackson Brown Jr.
From this conversation, I realized that I wanted to give back. So much of receiving positive energy and good karma is putting that which you seek out into the universe. I researched other life coaches and emulated myself and my approach to mimic theirs. I had the methods, the resources, and the business plan, but it still struggled to take off. I was battling the declining economy, a competitive industry, negative feedback from family and friends, as well as internal confusion and uncertainty. Other life coaches made it look easy and were wildly successful using the same tactics as I did. I found myself constantly asking, “Why not me?”
At that moment, I realized that I was thinking about it all wrong. The gap between my current situation and my desired outcome wasn’t a method, a secret marketing strategy, or anything like that. What was missing, was within ME. By studying my peers on a personal level, I came to the conclusion that they were just different and possessed the necessary character traits to achieve their goals. Their identity was in direct alignment with their success.
The Ultimate Upgrade
Success only happens when who you are to your core, your identity, aligns with your life’s vision. After I realized that I began taking the necessary steps to reprogram myself from the inside out. I spent years researching, practicing, and essentially rewiring my brain on a deep psychological level to achieve the necessary changes to become the person I wanted to be. People say change is hard, but the true and authentic transformation isn’t hard. It’s painful. Little by little I started to put in the work and after years of trial and error, I slowly became a well-oiled “shift making” machine.
Shifting into my ideal identity is the only way that I’ve been able to achieve success in my career. It is also the reason why I was able to bounce back in my personal life, repair my marriage and be the father that I always wanted to be for my children. I became a speaker and a best-selling author, to give back to those, successful or not, feeling stuck, uninspired and hopeless because while I’m beyond grateful for my journey, I wished I had someone to teach me all that I know now. Throughout my transformation and beyond, doors have opened to me that I never knew existed. I’ve been able to make rich and rewarding connections with people that will last a lifetime, grow and sustain my business, all the while bettering myself as an individual. I essentially achieved balance.
It is my passion and life’s mission to pass along the knowledge that took me 30+ years to learn on to those who are struggling just like I have. I know what it’s like and have been where you are right now. The only thing worse than unsolicited advice is advice from someone who’s never walked a mile in your shoes. I was put here, and put through my hardships in life, to coach you through the identity shift that you need to make in order to create the life that you deserve.
Anthony's Links
Anthony's Website
https://anthonytrucks.com
Anthony's Podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aww-shift/id1453722690
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SONIA MARTIN, LICSW, PIP, TBRI® PRACTITIONER Director - Central Alabama Sonia joined Lifeline in July of 2019. She is from Montgomery, Alabama, and serves as our Director in the Central Alabama area. She engages the central Alabama church community in implementing Families Count, birth mother support and services, and speaking to parents, professionals, Judges, DHR attorneys, & GAL’s at various conferences in the southeast on topics such as parenting kids from hard places and how to measure bonding and attachment in deciding best placement for children in foster care. Sonia earned her BSW from the University of South Florida, MSW from the University of Alabama, TBRI Practitioner, TIPS Leader, President of the Montgomery County Foster Parent Association. Sonia is the mother of 7 teenage boys, 3 of which were adopted internationally and she is a foster parent for Montgomery County DHR. They live in Pike Road, Alabama where Sonia spends most of her time cooking and cleaning baseball infield dirt off the kitchen floor. Sonia loves to travel and has a heart for the people of China and the millions in that country that have never heard the Gospel. Her 3 simple joys are Jesus, Eggplant Parmesan & Orphan Care. “Being surrounded by like-minded believers who are all driven to love, teach, disciple and serve vulnerable populations, it is such a beautiful picture of the Gospel being lived out.”
You can find Sonia at https://lifelinechild.org/staff/sonia-martin/
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Foster Care Advocate Jen Lilley in Washington, DC
Jen Lilley is an actress known for her roles on Days of our Lives, General Hospital, and numerous roles as a leading lady on the Hallmark Channel and The Lifetime Channel. She is less well known as the daughter of a Judge and the leader of a women and children’s facility. However, we got to know her as a foster care advocate in this episode.
Jen and her husband Jason Wayne are foster parents, adoptive parents, and biological parents as well.
Jen has been called to not only help the weakest among us, but she has become an advocate on the national political platform as well and continues to speak before congress on the issue of how to help kids in hard places.
Links to Jen Lilley Fostering Hope with Jen Lilley
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fostering-hope-with-jen-lilley/id1503743084
Child Help
https://www.childhelp.org/
The Foster Care Institute (Jen is currently working with as an advocate for kids in care)
https://www.drjohndegarmofostercare.com/
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Life That Counts
https://www.lifethatcounts.org
Foster Care and Infant Felonies with Ruben Jay Ruben Jay grew up in foster care and was eventually adopted into a family where he was raised by David and Paula. There he found a family that he was proud to be a part of.
Ruben Jay is an American radio & podcast host, producer, and is the President of MultiMediaMouth.com. Born and raised in Orange County, California, Ruben grew up hearing teachers, counselors, and family friends telling him he had a “Voice for Radio” which encouraged him to jump into the world of broadcasting.
At 6 weeks old, Ruben was taken from his birth mom and placed into foster care. He was later adopted by his foster parents at the age of 2 years.
In 2011, Ruben graduated from Sonora High School and began to ponder his future. He then stumbled upon the website for The Academy of Radio & Television Broadcasting. He enrolled in the Fall of 2011 and graduated in the Summer of 2012. In May of 2012, Ruben launched Online with Ruben Jay, a music show where Ruben invited different musicians onto the show to discuss their projects.
In 2013, Ruben began working with NBC’s The Voice as a red carpet correspondent. This opened the door for him to work with America’s Got Talent, American Idol, The X Factor, SUITS (on USA Network,) and eventually with wrestling companies such as WWE, IMPACT Wrestling, Ring of Honor, and All Elite Wrestling.
Ruben also began blogging for different entertainment outlets in 2009. He worked MultiMediaMouth.com and eventually left the website to start his own site: HeadlinesTonight.com. In 2017, Ruben Jay purchased MultiMediaMouth and merged it with HeadlinesTonight to create a database of 11 years of content.
In 2019, Ruben created his current podcast, You’re My Best Friend, with Moxy Anne. Today, Ruben serves as the Executive Producer of You’re My Best Friend, President of MultiMediaMouth.com, Executive Producer and Host of Space is Hard: The Unofficial Space Force Podcast, and helps educate future broadcasters at The Academy of Radio & Television Broadcasting.
Ruben's Links Twitter:
https://twitter.com/therubenjay?lang=en
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TheRubenJay/
Website:
https://www.multimediamouth.com/about-ruben-jay/
Podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/youre-my-best-friend/id1457897715
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Bryan Post has been working in the homes of low-income families bringing mindfulness and presence for 20 years. He helps parents learn that stress turns off the memory system and changes how they learn.
He teaches emotional understanding inside of families that have the stress and anxiety of past trauma. Especially emotional absence and parental depression and how to overcome that emotional absence in our own lives using mindfulness and being present.
Bryan's Links
https://parentsintraining.org/
https://www.facebook.com/postinstitute/
https://www.feartolovebook.com/misc-28687180
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Heather's story of trauma began at birth. Being born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome was only the beginning of her struggles that have followed her through life. Even through multiple diagnoses, she has managed to find her way to work on her abuse and neglect both in her biological family and in foster care. Today she has overcome more than most of us will experience in our entire life! She tells her story of tribulations and becoming an overcomer!
Links to Heather's Podcast and Blog
Heather's Podcast
Heather's Blog
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A Story of hope Eric MacDougall was in foster care for 3 1/2 years between the ages of 10 1/2 and 14 years old.
While in foster care he found some great male role models that offered him the opportunity to learn all about boundaries and discipline - even if he didn't consider it an opportunity at the time!
While learning to deal with a deep sense of loneliness, he also had to face his own self limiting beliefs and filters through which he had built some faulty belief systems. His foster family gave him a chance to experience love and resilience while overcoming abandonment issues and developing his sense of independence.
As he became a man he was no longer willing to push everyone away and live in the old stories that caused pain and didn't serve him anymore. As a result of that journey he has been sober for 2 years now and has committed to breaking the cycle of hurt and abandonment.
Today he is looking to add value to the lives of others as he is intentionally looking for older men to learn from as well as honoring the elders in his life!
His passion has become helping young men to understand that there is a healthy masculinity that serves everyone and overcoming the culture of toxic masculinity that has pervaded our society.
Links for Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey
Listen to the podcast
Find us on the web
Our Facebook Group
Email us at fostercareuj@gmail.com
Melissa drops wisdom on us this week about the intricacies of parenting for adopted, foster, and transracial families! We covered:
- The Guilt of Parenting
- Understanding and overcoming "blocked trust" and "blocked care"
- Attachment disorders and how it affects our relationships
- Using the enneagram as a tool for parenting - The Road Back to You by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile (not an affiliate link)
- Multiracial families - the nuance of transracial families
Melissa Corkum is also an Empowered to Connect Trainer where she teaches Trust-Based Relational Interventions (TBRI), the brainchild of the late Dr. Karyn Purvis from Texas Christian University. If you are interested, her last book is being finished after her death and due to be published soon.
She offers a 21-day parenting course where you can learn what successful parenting looks like.
Links for Melissa Corkum
Melissa's Facebook Group
Melissa's Free offer for our listeners
The Adoption Connection Podcast
Find Melissa online!
Links for Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey
Listen to the podcast
Find us on the web
Our Facebook Group
Email us at fostercareuj@gmail.com
In this episode, I delve into the steps involved in becoming a foster parent and there is also some news about the show as well!
I discussed some of the steps required to become a foster parent including the parts of a home study, background checks, and some of the things that will get you disqualified.
If you would like to see the things we are doing online, here are some links:
All of our links in one place.
Our website
Join our Facebook group for free!
Listen to us on iTunes!
Ryan and his wife became accidental foster parents. They took his great-niece into their home when she needed a place to stay. They already had a daughter and it changed the face of their family.
Foster care created some difficulties for their family, but it also created a relationship that will they will all challenge for the rest of their lives!
Ryan is also a podcaster! Check out his links below.
Remix the Dad Podcast:
- iTunes
- Google Play
- Stitcher
You can find Jason and Amanda at:
- Website
- Facebook Group
- iTunes
Kristine Pienkowski has a dual role in the foster care system. She was both a child in care and a helper of children who are currently in foster care. She and her husband own and operate The Ranch of Hope Reins where they help teach kids using an EGALA model of equine therapy.
Listen to this episode and understand why she loves helping kids at risk and how it empowers children to become healthy adults!
Links to Kristine and The Ranch of Hope Reins
- The Ranch of Hope Reins on FaceBook
- Find Kristine on FaceBook
- The Ranch on IG
Links to Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey
- Find Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey on iTunes
- Check out our Website
- Find our Foster Care and Adoption group on Facebook
- All of our links in one handy location
Foster care is always challenging for all parties involved.
At this point in time, we as a nation need someone to exemplify humanity done right.
Interracial adoption and foster care can be hot-button issues. Barry Farmer, the host of the nationally syndicated Barry Farmer Morning Show, tells his story of foster care as a child, and as a foster and adoptive parent.
Strong fathers are the solution to most of the societal ills that challenge today's families and society as a whole. Barry is an example of that strength.
Barry Farmer
Find Barry and all his links
His story on Love What Matters
Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey
Our website
All of our links in one place
Our Facebook Group
Brian tells his story of spending almost his entire childhood in the foster care system. After 20 placements, he has many stories to tell. If it had not been for his last and longest placement, he may have never found a place to call home.
He tells a real and raw story that is all too common in the foster care system. He also talks about the lessons that he learned and how his experience has made him the man he is today!
You can find us online here:
Facebook Page
Facebook Group
Patreon
Website
All of our links in one place
Providing Continuity of Community for Older Adolescent Teens in Care
•offering an online virtual community delivering evidence based curriculum called REAL Essentials to Kids in Care, grades 9-12. The purpose of the program is to provide an opportunity for mentoring and community for Older Adolescent Youth in Care throughout their many transitions.
•Services will last for 5 years.
•Participating High School Seniors that join will remain eligible for services for the full five years.
•realizing the challenges and variety of situations Older Adolescent Teen participants in care face, we plan to provide a computer or tablet device for students to use for this program.
•We are establishing guidelines for keeping youth safe in this online platform such as:
•Having two project staff on each video conference meeting
Purchasing and using programs to monitor and lock digital content on these devices
•Project staff assigned to work with adolescent participants in the virtual environments will have undergone background checks and will be registered Mandatory Reporters with C.A.N. (Child Abuse and Neglect) clearance
•Adolescent participants will meet weekly in a virtual video conference in a group of 12-15 other youth and a minimum of two project staff.
Participants can choose between male groups, female groups, and coed groups.
•There will be an onboarding process for new students that join a group. This includes monthly connect groups for care providers.
There are 12 hours of Evidenced Based healthy relationship skill building content which each student will be required to participate in.
We will encourage student participation through a multi-tiered incentive system, as follows:
After completion of of all Sessions 1-3:
•$25 gift certificates
After completion of of all Sessions 4-6:
•$50 gift certificates
•After completion of all Sessions 7-9: $75 gift certificates
•After completion of all Sessions 10-12: keep the computer device (we anticipate providing MacBook Air laptops to the students)
•Beyond the initial 12 hours of required Evidence Based Learning, students will be encouraged to continue their participation in weekly Life Groups with their peers.
•Our aim is to provide an environment where students can receive encouragement with the additional 72 sessions or REAL Essentials and supplemental materials led by the Project Staff Education and Engagement Team.
•to be included as potential service recipient of this project, LOUs (Letters of Intent) are due ASAP (for a template, please email Laura@lifethatcounts.org)
•non binding MOU/LOI - 6 months after funding is awarded to get up and running
•the power of community in online platforms (my story with the dads alliance)
•to contact me directly, john@lifethatcounts.org
•opportunity for older adolescent teen participants, grades 9-12, with local providers, community stakeholders, and others who want to see kids beat the odds and make better decisions for more healthy outcomes
*Born in 1969, leading international foster care expert and consultant and TED Talk speaker Dr. John DeGarmo has worn many hats throughout his life. Singing and dancing while touring around the world in the international supergroup, Up With People, serving as a D.J. at four different radio stations on two different continents, working in the professional wrestling industry, teaching English and Drama at the high school level, working as a media specialist, director of The Foster Care Institute, and founder and national development director of Never Too Late, a residential group home for boys in foster care. Dr. DeGarmo has had a variety of experiences.
He is the author of several foster care books, including the new book The Little Book of Foster Care Wisdom: 365 Days of Inspiration and Encouragement for Foster Care Families, the best selling book Faith and Foster Care, as well as the foster care children's book A Different Home: A New Foster Child's Story. He is the director of The Foster Care Institute and acts as a consultant to foster care agencies and legal agencies across the USA. Dr. John is a High Content Speaker and informative trainer on the foster care system, and travels extensively across the globe, meeting with foster parents, child welfare workers, churches, schools, and organizations. Dr. John has appeared on several TV programs, including CNN, Good Morning America, and ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, PBS stations. Dr.John and his family have even appeared on the popular show Wife Swap. He writes regularly for many magazines and is a regular contributor to several publications, both in the United States and overseas.
Dr. DeGarmo is married to Dr. Kelly DeGarmo, who hails from Australia, and the two of them have six children, both biological and adoptive. Dr. DeGarmo and his wife are also currently foster parents to three siblings, bringing their household to nine children. Dr. DeGarmo has been a foster parent for dozens of children for over a decade now. He has a passion for foster children and is driven to bring education and insight into general society about all things foster care.
Dr. DeGarmo and his wife are the recipients of the Good Morning America Ultimate Hero Award and the Up With People Everyday Hero Award. The two also were honored with their city's Citizens of the Year Award.*
Find Dr John Degarmo's books on Amazon (not an affiliate link)
Dr John Degarmo's webinars
Never Too Late Ranch Boy's Home
The Foster Care Institute
You can find us at:
Website for the Blog and Podcast
Support us at Patreon
All the links to everything we do
Karin Davis-Thompson has experience as a foster, adoptive, and a special-needs mom. In this episode, she tells her story of what it takes to fight for the best outcomes for your child - especially when they can't fight for themselves.
Her foster, and eventually adopted, daughter had some significant needs and rights that she was not aware of before the adoption was finalized.
So what did she do? She decided to put on her BATTLE SHOES and go to war with anyone who wasn't willing to give her daughter what she needed.
Her tenacity has been instrumental in securing a safe future for her daughter - and it is inspiring!
You can find her blog and podcast at In My Shoes
You can find us at:
Website for the Blog and Podcast
Support us at Patreon
All the links to everything we do
Caroline wasn't in a good place to parent a child - and she knew it. Shame kept her from sharing her story until one day when she made the decision to talk about her feelings. Telling other moms they aren't alone has changed the lives of many women and created many opportunities for her to help others. She invites birth moms to join her in her Facebook group:
Caring for Birthmothers support group
You can find more from us at:
Foster Care Nation
All of our links
Support our pop tart budget
Dr Nick Sotelo joins me this week to discuss the tie between kids in Foster Care and kids in the juvenile justice system. He works as a counselor at the Oregon Youth Authority.
As a child, he experienced a lot of the same traumas that children in foster care experience. As a young man, he grew through those experiences. As an adult, he became an invaluable resource to children that found themselves in the Oregon Youth Authority's custody.
Today he is here to talk to us about that journey and how you can be benefitted by the hard-learned lessons that he shares with us!
Links to connect with Dr. Nick Sotelo online:
The Upgraded Life with Dr. Nick Sotelo
The_upgradedlife on Insta
Our Links:
Website
Facebook Group
Apple Podcast Link
Spotify Link
Patreon Link
All of our links in one place
John and Val have been working for the cause of the orphan for many years. They have a nonprofit organization that serves the orphans of Kenya, Africa.
In 2018 they were called to help a little boy named Jesse. They tell their story on this week's episode of Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey.
If you are interested in learning about their passion project in Kenya, visit Mercy's Hope or reach out to them on their Facebook Page to learn more!
You can learn more about us on our website at Foster Care nation
If you would like to support us on Patreon with a gift of a few dollars we would be eternally grateful.
Join our growing community on Facebook!
Find all of our links on our Linktree page and share it with your friends!
John and Val have been working for the cause of the orphan for many years. They have a nonprofit organization that serves the orphans of Kenya, Africa.
In 2018 they were called to help a little boy named Jesse. They tell their story on this week's episode of Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey.
If you are interested in learning about their passion project in Kenya, visit Mercy's Hope or reach out to them on their Facebook Page to learn more!
You can learn more about us on our website at Foster Care nation
If you would like to support us on Patreon with a gift of a few dollars we would be eternally grateful.
Join our growing community on Facebook!
Find all of our links on our Linktree page and share it with your friends!
Madame Voodoo is an amazing woman that we met through her business in our area. She has a tattoo shop in Warrenton, MO where Amanda and I met her.
She has a heart for helping others and leaving the world a better place than it is today.
Her experience growing up in a family member’s home she experienced foster care from a sibling perspective.
Some of her experiences involved kids that were in a national media story due to the harrowing nature of their story involving a satanic cult. They also took in a number of babies during the crack epidemic in the 80’s.
Their family eventually became an adoptive home as well.
This makes her specifically qualified to talk about the challenges of foster care and adoption from a variety of perspectives.
We discuss some of her life experiences that span a variety of topics like:
- Human Sacrifice
- Foster Care
- Creating Good from Loss
- Losing her Brother and a Close Friend
- Finding Transcendence
- Helping the Hateful
- Raising Good Kids
- Protecting kids from Predators
- And a few places in between…
You can find Madame Voodoo and her tattoo shop Madame Voodoo's House of Ink on her Facebook Page.
Her shop will be highlighted on Tattoos and Turnpikes on youtube in June of 2020
You can find our Group on Facebook
If you would like to support us you can become a Patron!
Or check out the website where you can see all that we have to offer!
#fostercarenation
Lauren Bujorian is an adoptee and a birth mom who realized her own limitations at a time in her life when she became pregnant.
She had a hard choice to make - and her decision has shaped many lives!
She has become active in a support group that supports birth moms in adoption.
You can find some of her links here:
- Caring for Kids (the adoption agency)
- Caring for birthmothers (Facebook page)
- CFB events page (website)
- The birth mom only Facebook group: The birth mom only Facebook group
You can find our links here:
- The website
- The podcast on itunes
- The podcast on Spotify
- Patreon
- All of our links in one place
Being a trauma-informed human is all about learning what trauma is and the best way to handle people (kids in the foster care system, adopted kids, adults who have been on either journey, and pretty much anyone else who has experienced trauma in their lives).
Robyn Gobbel is a psychotherapist who is currently focused on teaching, training, and writing. Her clinical focus has always been children with a history of complex trauma and their families. Last summer, she closed her private practice in Austin, TX, and she and her family relocated to Grand Rapids MI for a simpler, cheaper life.
You can find Robyn at:
Robyn's Website
Robyn's Facebook Page
The books we talked about on the show:
Parenting From the Inside Out
You can find us at:
Podcast notes, blog, contact info and whatever else you can find
www.fostercarenation.com
Show notes for this episode
fostercarenation.com/index.php/trauma-informed-humans-with-robyn-gobbel-lcsw-rpt-s/
Facebook Page
www.facebook.com/7timedad
Patreon Page
www.patreon.com/fostercarenation
All of our links in one place
www.linktr.ee/fostercarenation
Our Youtube Channel
www.youtube.com/?gl=US&tab=r1
Darren W Carter and Theresa Carter join us in this episode to talk about their lives, struggles, and joys through the lens of being foster parents. They are both strong parents and business owners located in Cleveland, Ohio.
We talked all about bio kids, adopted kids, foster kids, and god kids. We dove into tough questions about learning to guard your heart and working diligently to help bio parents get their lives on track so they can care for their own kids.
https://fostercarenation.com
https://patreon.com/fostercarenation
https://linktr.ee/fostercarenation
Caseworkers in the foster care system get a bad rap. To be fair, there are a few turds in every group of employees.
Most caseworkers are hard-working people who truly care about the children on their caseload.
Libby gives us a personal perspective about what it is like trying to help at-risk youth.
Find us online: https://www.fostercarenation.com
Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/fostercareuj
Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fostercarenation
This episode contains stories that allude to sexual violence against children. If you have children in the area or are strongly affected by this content you may want to listen to this episode when you are away from small children or not at all if it will affect you negatively.
Trauma and childhood sexual abuse are an all-too-common occurrence for kids in foster care. This episode is no different.
Janielle is a 14 year old girl with a story that she wanted to share. We were amazed at her willingness and ability to share such a personal story in the hope of helping others to find their strength to speak up.
Her harrowing story and impressive resilience is a testament to the strength of the human soul.
We talked with Rebecca Britt from Stable moments a little while back on her podcast. This week we talk to her about how she is helping kids with her program "Stable Moments."
Her journey involved her own trauma and abuse that went unnoticed at a young age and a relationship with a horse that helped her begin to heal her trauma. She began by using a horsemanship program and local volunteers to share that healing message with kids in her community. Now her program has spread to several different states and may be available near you!
If you are interested be sure to check her out at www.stablemoments.com
Trauma-informed parenting requires us to understand our kids and how they see life through their filters. This week on Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey we talk to Jeremy Roadruck about understanding those traumas and how to understand them while parenting them in the most successful way.
Whether you are a foster, adoptive or biological parent all kids experience some level of their own trauma. Understanding what that looks like, how they see the world, and how to best connect with them through their world view will create connection and make your family more connected and healthy.
All of his links can be found on our website at www.fostercarenation.com. Go to the podcast notes link and click on his episode!
Whatever you do, don't forget to get his FREE book. It just takes a click to get it! (Details on the podcast notes page)
This week on Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey we talk with Beka Dominguez at bark.us about the frightening realities of the dark side of social media and internet access for children. In this episode, we talk about the best practices to keeping your kids safe from online child predators and exactly how bark.us does this without removing all privacy from your child.
Beka also tells us about an upcoming price change to reflect some of the new services that are coming and how to be grandfathered into the lower price point!
This is not a paid endorsement. We received no monetary benefit for this interview. We strongly believe there is a need for a platform of this nature and bark.us is the best one we have seen, and it has been recommended by personal friends of mine that vouch for its quality and usefulness.
Foster Care news isn't all bad! Jason and Amanda talk about stories we found in the news around the country related to foster care!
#fostercarenation
Fostering hope in the city of sin
The Lost Children of Los Angeles County
After spending much of his life in foster care, former foster boy spends much of his time caring for shelter dogs
Sean and his wife devastated when infertility took away their chances to build a family. That was until a movie by The Dave Thomas Foundation "A Home for the Holidays" introduced them to the idea of adoption. It was not as simple as adopting a new puppy, it took a lot of time and dedication to be able to find their daughter and their inspiring story of finding their daughter.
Luke Zitzman is a pilot with the US Coast Guard and a foster dad. He is literally protecting our country from threats, both foreign and domestic! Luke and his wife have had many placements in their home since being stationed at their current duty station in Alabama.
Their relationship with God has played a major role in choosing to take care of children in need.
Living life intentionally is also one of the guiding principles that led them into their foster care story.
Zoe, a 16-year-old girl found herself in a difficult situation trying to be an adult before her time. After a volatile situation in her bio-mom's home, she tried to go it on her own and ended up dealing with all the problems a young girl might find.
She was eventually picked up by the police and placed in foster care where she was introduced to a Christian family. Her journey led her down some much healthier paths that will hopefully lead her to a life that will be amazing!
Today we talked to Rebecca Britt from The Stable Moments Podcast. She found our podcast and wanted to talk to us about our involvement with kids who have experienced trauma and ended up in the foster care system. Her organization, Stable Moments is a mentorship program curriculum utilizing equine-assisted learning and community mentors to achieve life skills for children impacted by early developmental trauma. It was a great opportunity to talk to someone who works toward the same goals as us, from a different angle.
You can find her at stablemoments.com and her podcast at stablemoments.com/podcast or on Spotify or any of the major podcast platforms.
This episode of Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey was Amanda and I talking with another crazy couple of foster parents. Tom and Courtney Gilmour have an amazing story about coming from foster care and becoming foster parents and how it has shared the heart of their family! We talked about all the things that we hold dear about being a unique family.
Erin was adopted as an infant from South Korea. Being raised in Minnesota, she was obviously different from most of the kids around her. However, her family and friends made it an enjoyable childhood. Listen as she tells her story of how adoption has become an opportunity for her and blessed her and her family!
Jason and Amanda on a Youtube Live talking about the effects of trauma on adults and the children they are trying to raise. You can see the video on our youtube channel Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey
Caroline Bailey is from Southwest Missouri. She has worked in child welfare for 18 years. She runs the blog barrentoblessed.com and Facebook Page or Instagram with the same name - barren to blessed. She and her husband fostered for 4 years and adopted 2 children from care. They are that rare family that ended up adopting the only 2 kids placed with them! They also did respite a few times but decided to close their license after the adoption of their daughter. She also writes for adoption. com and has been featured on various blogs and websites.
In this episode, we explore her journey through foster care, adoption and her barrenness that began with an emergency hysterectomy at age 11!
Her personal struggle has given her the ability to help others walk gracefully through their own!
This is a youtube live with Jason and Amanda where we are discussing the benefit of FMLA surrounding new placements and needed time off of work and the protection it affords with your employer.
This is a benefit that neither one of us knew about and you may not either. As with anything involving the important things in your life, be sure to contact the experts in your life such as an HR Director that can give you the scoop as it pertains to your employer and your employee status.
This week's show is all about saying no. Always be willing to say no if it is the best thing for the kids! This was the audio from a Youtube live video we tried. I think it is going to be a new weekly feature.
Aubren Dudley tells the story of trauma and ramen. Her son opens up and tells her the story that inspired millions of views on her Facebook Post and was featured on Good Morning America. Her training and years of service working with at-risk youth in the foster care system told her the story she was hearing was important to listen to. 19 million Facebook users agreed. Listen as she tells the story and discusses the importance of understanding trauma-informed decisions.
https://www.facebook.com/7TimeDad
https://jasonmpalmer.com
On this Youtube Live, we talked about the struggles of dealing with and being a social worker or case manager. This topic was inspired by a social media post we saw from this week's guest on the big show. Be sure to check it out too. It is called Trauma and Ramen with Aubren Dudley. Be sure to rate and review the podcast on whatever platform you use!
We are trying something new. We are uploading a video version of these shorter podcasts to youtube on our channel Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey! Let us know what you think!
In this episode of Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey "Amy" finishes telling her story. She is a rare case of a biological parent with issues that she is willing to talk about. Her riveting story involves overcoming her struggles with drugs. And details her long road back to having a home with her kids. Her openness, honesty, and vulnerability is an amazing opportunity to see foster care from the other side.
Please leave us a rating and review, it helps others be able to find the show!
I talked with Mark Savant from the Lifestyle Savant Podcast. We talked about foster care, podcasting, social media and how it affects our ability to get our message out to the masses. It was a great chance to connect with another Dad who is busy changing the world with his mission!
In this episode of Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey "Amy" tells her story. She is a rare case of a biological parent with issues that she is willing to talk about. Her riveting story involves drug use, manufacturing, sales, death, and the effect it had on her children. Her openness, honesty, and vulnerability is an amazing opportunity to see foster care from the other side. Today she does the hard work to try to get her kids back!
Please leave us a rating and review, it helps others be able to find the show!
Come find us online:
http://jasonmpalmer.com
https://www.facebook.com/7TimeDad/
In this episode of Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey "Amy" tells her story. She is a rare case of a biological parent with issues that she is willing to talk about. Her riveting story involves drug use, manufacturing, sales, death, and the effect it had on her children. Her openness, honesty, and vulnerability is an amazing opportunity to see foster care from the other side.
Please leave us a rating and review, it helps others be able to find the show!
Come find us online:
http://jasonmpalmer.com
https://www.facebook.com/7TimeDad/
Foster care began as a passion for us and has led us into adoption as well. This is the finale of Turtle's story. This story is as true and accurate as we could tell it from memory over the last 6 years. I hope you have enjoyed the story.
If you aren't on an iPhone, you can find us on Google Play - Spotify - Tune In - Overcast - or anywhere you get your podcasts. Just search "Jason and Amanda Palmer"
Foster care began as a passion for us and has led us into adoption as well. This is the finale of Turtle's story. This story is as true and accurate as we could tell it from memory over the last 6 years. I hope you have enjoyed the story.
Stay tuned for Amy's story coming up next. Amy tells her story of addiction, jail, drugs, and losing her children to the foster care system for a while. Listen in as she recounts her long journey back to becoming an intact family again.
http://jasonmpalmer.com
Foster Care is a wild ride. Listen to part 4 of Turtle's exciting and sometimes dangerous journey with us through his time as a foster kid!
Don't forget to subscribe to the channel so you don't miss out on the next step in his story!
Foster care is a tricky business that takes you to places and experiences that you never expected. Whether you are looking at domestic adoption, foreign adoption or a kinship adoption there are certain to be surprises along the way. You will most likely be working with DFS, CPS, or some other form of the child welfare system.
If you are adopting a child, you want to adopt a baby, or becoming a foster parent there are going to be unexpected hurdles along the way.
This is our story of fostering a child and eventually working through the kinship adoption process.
Episode 2 of The Legacy of Standing With Turtle. In this episode, we talk about drugs, gang affiliation, and death. Turtle finally comes into care and we are relieved to finally have some authority figures step into his life and begin providing some structure to his young life. We struggle through figuring out how to navigate his life and our own family tragedies.
Find us at: http://jasonmpalmer.com
The foster care system brought us a little guy we called "G," this is the first of a 5 part series telling his story. We are talking drugs, prostitution, gangs and plenty of other twists in his origin story.
http://jasonmpalmer.com
Jahnyia found herself in foster care at 2 years old. She and her brother were witnesses to their father's murder. Their mother was a heroin addict. After 2 years in foster care, we adopted them into our family. Today, we talked about life after foster care and how she navigates middle school as an adopted kid.
Amanda and I had the joy of fostering "Carl" in our home for almost a year. Here is one of our stories that was beautiful and hard at the same time!
Foster care and adoption are deep topics, so I decided to interview a subject expert: my 6-year-old son. He spent 2 years in foster care in our home, and has been adopted for the last 3 years. His answers can be poignantly simple, even when they are a little bit silly!
Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey
| On iTunes | On Google Play | For Stitcher or Spotify search "Jason and Amanda Palmer" |
In 2019 I began a podcast called Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey to share some of the stories of the kids that we have had the privilege to foster in our home. The Podcast is on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher and Spotify, just search for "Jason and Amanda Palmer" and we should pop up. Give us a listen and please take the time to leave us a rating and review! If not, you can find it on my media host site on the link above! We are also an adoptive family with 4 adopted kiddos. We have been blessed to have many young and injured souls come into our lives and teach us so much about life and love. My lovely wife Amanda and I tell stories and share lessons that we have learned on our journey. I hope to inspire you to consider joining us in supporting kids that need the love of one caring person to change their lives.
Foster care is one of the most formative experiences of my adult life and has been an integral part of growing into the man I am today. I hope to inspire some of you to consider joining us in our mission of providing strength to the weakest among us. I can guarantee that regardless of where you live - if you have neighbors - you have a need in your community. Are you ready to consider how you can help those young souls that need the love that you can give?
Give it a listen and leave a rating and review!
RIGHT HERE
Jason and Amanda talk about the reasons why foster care became a part of their life.
Don't forget to subscribe!