The Forgotten Podcast

Have you ever felt guilty that you couldn't do more? Wished you could simply help more children in foster care? Or perhaps you've felt like you've failed when you reach your limits? You are not alone. Anna Koon started her journey alongside the foster care community as a case worker and an adoption specialist. But she quickly wanted to do more, and was dipping into her personal finances to buy items to meet the needs of children in foster care. Anna and her husband couldn’t stand the thought of children sleeping at the DCS office when a foster family couldn’t be found, so they shifted roles to become foster parents specifically for respite and emergency placements. Anna shares her unique journey with us from being a case worker to becoming a foster parent and insights along the way about supporting the foster care community. I was encouraged by our conversation and I hope you are as well! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/anna-koon-199/

Trigger Warning: As Kamille bravely and openly shares her experience, we want to make sure you know this episode mentions sexual assault between 11:30-13:00 and briefly again around 22:00. “They are so resilient. I can see myself in them.” - Kamille Justus Children in foster care are some of the most resilient people you’ll meet. They navigate continual change, traumatic experiences, and so much more, and their experiences often form a determination within them. Kamille Justus is one of these resilient people. In her case, that determination was to be a cycle-breaker in her family despite the hardship she had experienced throughout her life. Today, Kamille is a Lead Family Support Worker at The Center for Youth and Family Solutions, which has locations across Illinois. Kamille has endured her own experiences in what, now, could bring children into care and she is using her experiences to help connect with children and parents. She hopes that her experience can build those connections so that the families within the Knox, Henderson and Warren counties can be supported and reunited. In this episode, Kamille shares her story, the triggers that have formed as a result of what she experienced growing up, why her trauma created a passion to support others who have gone through something similar, the importance of empathy and compassion, and so much more. I am so grateful to Kamille for joining me for this conversation! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/kamille-justus-198/

The story I have for you today spans many roles in the foster care community. My guest, Raquel McCloud, entered kinship care when she was just a young child. Kinship care is when a relative or close family friend takes the role of foster parent instead of a caregiver previously unknown to the child. There are many instances of informal kinship care occurring as well as formal kinship care. In many cases of kinship care, the relatives are left without many resources to help them establish boundaries with the biological parent who is also their own family member. In today’s episode, Raquel shares her personal story of growing up in kinship care, becoming pregnant as a teen, and how she was given no other option but to put her child up for adoption. In spite of all she has been through, today Raquel is a birth mom in reunion with the very child she put up for adoption, a kinship adoptive mom to her half-sister, and an advocate for adoption, foster care, and other important topics. While Raquel wishes her life had been kinder, she is thankful that others can be inspired and learn from her experience going from a child in kinship care and biological teen mom to a birth mom in reunion and a kinship adoptive mom. I am so grateful to Raquel for sharing her story! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/raquel-mccloud-197/

This is your fault. If you want to stay out of foster care, you’d better behave. If you don’t change your attitude, then they’ll separate you from your siblings. Can you imagine hearing these messages growing up? This is often the message that is conveyed to children from hard places or who are at risk of entering foster care. They grow up carrying around this guilt and believing they are why their families fell apart. But what they don’t always come to realize is that it was never their fault. I am grateful to have Dr. Danisha Keating with me on the podcast as she shares her journey of growing up in an abusive and neglectful household where she cared for her siblings. Danisha is a former foster youth and was a guardian to five of her siblings as an adult. She loves to encourage foster care advocates and foster youth to go after their dreams and goals. While Danisha’s journey has not been an easy one, it has helped her find her life’s work. Thank you for joining me for this conversation with Danisha! (Don't forget that through the month of August, a generous donor has offered a matching grant up to $20,000! Double your impact today.) Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/danisha-keating-196/

What are the factors that cause a child to enter foster care? Addiction? Abuse? The reality is, it's rarely a single situation. Today's episode contains many factors that are all too common in foster care. For Jackie Polk, it was a combination of domestic violence and addiction that led to her children being removed from her care. Jackie gave birth to twin boys, and 16 months later, the Department of Child Services (DCS) stepped in to remove her children. Her story includes addiction recovery, domestic violence, and eventually foster care reunification. Today, she is coming up on six years of being clean and sober, is married, and has a two-month-old son in addition to her twins. Jackie's hope is that you find hope through hearing her story and realize that regardless of your circumstances, your story can be rewritten. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Jackie as much as I did! (Don't forget that through the month of August, a generous donor has offered a matching grant up to $20,000! Double your impact today.) Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/jackie-polk-195/

Do you remember how you first became aware of the foster care community? Maybe someone close to you started fostering? Maybe your spouse invited you to pray about pursuing this? Or perhaps a certain statistic impacted your heart? Ryan MacDonald attributes becoming aware of the needs within the foster care community through his wife's passion for the topic and a class he took in school about how as followers of Jesus we can engage society. Ryan describes it as his wife pulling on one arm and the Lord pulling on the other. (Maybe you can relate?) He is now involved in the foster care community at a variety of levels—at work, through the church he pastors, and within his own family. Ryan is a follower of Jesus, husband, an adoptive, foster, and biological dad, pastor, and the Regional Director of Foster the City over Los Angeles and Orange County in California. He is a self-proclaimed coffee snob but believes there is a time and place for diner coffee. In his spare time, he loves spending time with his wife, all things theology, basketball, and playing with his kids. In this episode, Ryan shares openly about his experience as a foster parent, the importance of celebrating reunification, the reality that foster parenting is a skill you get better at over time, and so much more. This was one of my favorite conversations I've had on the podcast! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/ryan-macdonald-194/ Join Team 3:10: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/team310/

“Every kid, no matter what their circumstances are, should be celebrated and honored just like we do our children.” Agency workers are the first responders of the foster care community. They are among the first to meet a child, they are keepers of that child’s history, and they know firsthand the needs that often go unmet. With many agencies experiencing unprecedented employee turnover, the challenges facing agency workers continue to increase as they experience secondary traumatic stress, lack of resources, and underappreciation. Danika Briggs has been a close friend and worked with one of our TFI Advocates in Virginia for many years! She has been in social services for over 20 years and is the Assistant Director for Family Services at the Chesterfield-Colonial Heights Department of Social Services in Virginia. Danika plays a vital leadership role in overseeing child welfare programs at their social service agency she also helps resource and encourage agency workers overall. In this episode, Danika shares how partnerships with organizations like TFI can have an impact on the agency workers and the current challenges they are facing. I really enjoyed this episode, and I hope you will too! (Don’t forget that through the month of July, a generous donor has offered a matching grant up to $20,000! Join Team 3:10 today.) Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/danika-briggs-193

“Being a foster parent was always something that had been on my mind…” I am excited to have two of my favorite people on the podcast today: Jonah and Sarah Wilson! Sarah is part of our team here at TFI and grew up with foster siblings. So becoming a foster parent was always something she personally wanted to pursue. When Sarah and Jonah got married, their conversations turned to when the “right time” was to become foster parents and biological parents. While they knew they wanted to be in a stable place for either, they agreed that becoming foster parents would come first. In our conversation, Jonah and Sarah share the details of what it looked like to become foster parents, where the journey differed from their expectations, how they navigated both the good and the hard parts of foster care, their perspective as both foster and adoptive parents, encouragement they have for other foster parents, and so much more. I loved this episode, and I know you will too! (Don’t forget that through the month of July, a generous donor has offered a matching grant up to $20,000! Join Team 3:10 today.) Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/jonah-sarah-wilson-192/

Welcome to a bonus episode of the podcast! We don’t do these very often, but we wanted to give you a little extra surprise content that we hope is an encouragement to you this week. It’s always special when we get to share the work of our TFI Advocates, volunteer leaders across the nation who are working to support their local foster care community by bridging the gap between the needs of foster care agencies and the people and resources to meet those needs in local churches. At our TFI Advocate Retreat last year, we got to share an interview between Lisa Jacobsen, an Advocate in Carver County, MN, and a local pastor as well as a local agency worker to share how they have built trust and started working together to meet needs in their community. In this bonus episode, we get to share that same interview with you! This conversation will give you such a great look into some of the work we’re doing here at TFI, and it brings us so much joy to hear stories just like this one. (By the way, if you want to make ministry like this possible, we have a matching grant up to $20,000 through the end of July, so your gift can be doubled right now! Double your gift today.) Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/bonus-lisa-jacobsen/

It’s not uncommon for children impacted by foster care or adoption to desire to find answers, know where they came from, and understand the reason their life has looked the way it has. It can lead many children to question their identity or even wonder if they will ever find a sense of peace at all. Anna Bernacki grew up in an adoptive home after being placed in foster care as an infant. As a teenager, she began to long for that special biological bond she felt would come from her biological parents. But after meeting her biological mother, Anna was disappointed to find that in her experience, that special connection she had longed for was still missing. It wasn’t until Anna and her husband, Brian, were foster parents for six years and then adoptive parents to two sibling sets of two (four adoptive children in total!) that she would find healing and come to terms with the identity she carried outside of biological connection. I really enjoyed my conversation with Anna and appreciated her openness about her story and experiences. I hope you do too! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/anna-bernacki-191/ Join Team 3:10 (a generous donor has offered a matching grant up to $20,000 through the end of July!): https://theforgotteninitiative.org/team310/

Back in 2009, trauma-informed care wasn’t discussed as much as it is today and many families were not as open about the hardships that came along with an adoption. Kara Higgins always knew she wanted to grow her family by adoption, and she and her husband, Ryan, later had the opportunity to do so when adoptions opened up in Rwanda. That’s when she came face-to-face with trauma at a time when very few realized what it meant. Kara is the mother to six children through foster care, adoption, and biology. She and her husband founded Imana Kids, which is an orphan care ministry with an educational sponsorship program in Rwanda focusing on trauma-informed interventions, learning, and care. Kara has more than twenty-four years of experience as an international healthcare provider and orphan care advocate for some of the most vulnerable populations of women and orphans, and it was an honor to speak with her today. In this episode, Kara shares openly about her journey to understanding trauma-informed care, how her expectations of adoption matched up to reality, when she discovered that trauma isn’t just for foster children, and why connection makes all the difference in the world. This really is one you don’t want to miss. Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/kara-higgins-190/ Join Team 3:10 (a generous donor has offered a matching grant up to $20,000!): https://theforgotteninitiative.org/team310/

Welcome to a VERY special episode of The Forgotten Podcast. We are going to be doing things a little bit differently because we just hit and surpassed a huge milestone. The Forgotten Podcast has reached the 1 million download mark! Can you believe this?!? We have listeners in all 50 states and over 150 countries around the world. I want to express my heartfelt thanks to you for being a part of this amazing community. Thank you for sharing, listening, and supporting our work here. It is a joy to walk with you and to share a big opportunity with you in this episode. A generous ministry partner has offered a matching grant for $20,000 to help us double our impact through the month of July. This means when you join our community of givers with a gift of any amount now through the end of July, your gift will be doubled! Team 3:10, which is based on the Bible verse in Malachi 3:10, is our community of podcast listeners and other givers who share the dream of seeing God throw open the floodgates of Heaven so that every child, parent, and worker in foster care will know they are not alone. In today’s episode, I am reminiscing about some of my personal favorite parts of the podcast, reviews we’ve received, what’s on the horizon, and more about this matching grant. Listen in and celebrate this milestone with us! 🎉 Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/one-million-downloads/ Team 3:10: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/team310/

My guest today experienced a childhood filled with painful circumstances, parents who struggled with drug addiction, and the death of his father at the age of seven. You can imagine the amount of trauma and instability he experienced growing up. Corey Johnston, in spite of the instability of his mother, always longed to feel like her son. God was gracious to invite Corey into a relationship with Him. And as an adult, he gave his life to Christ and started a church plant. But even after that, he would encounter unmet hopes through a miscarriage that would eventually open the door to fostering and then later adopting his son. Corey shares with us why it feels so difficult when hopes are unmet, how to process grief, and many more nuggets of wisdom along the way. I was blessed by Corey’s story as I have personally experienced unmet hopes through a failed adoption. If you’ve ever wondered, “God, how can you make this good?,” then you won’t want to miss this episode. Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/corey-johnston-188/ Get 10% off BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/tfi

My guest today is proof that awareness leads to action, and that a passion for supporting the foster care community can span generations. Once you become aware of the needs, have seen them firsthand, or have seen your own family foster, it is hard not to answer the call to take on a supporting role within the foster care community. Sarah Hamaker first saw foster care in action from her own parents. They started fostering when she was a teenager and had a total of more than 40 children in their home over 30 years. This is initially what inspired her to be a foster parent herself. In addition to being a second-generation foster parent, Sarah is a therapeutic foster parent, speaker, award-winning author, podcaster, biblical parenting coach, and certified Leadership Parenting Coach™. She is passionate about helping parents develop strong relationships with their children. In this episode, Sarah is sharing about how your impact goes beyond the children that are in your home, what you should do if you feel a pull towards foster care, why crying when a child in foster care leaves your home can be a gift to them, and so much more. Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/sarah-hamaker-187/ Get 10% off BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/tfi

Today’s guest defines trauma as something that impacts your ability to cope in everyday life. Trauma can also affect multiple generations and start a cycle that is difficult to escape. Cordelia Cranshaw Skeete has experienced this cycle of generational trauma. As a former foster youth, she experienced the deep trauma of multiple transitions, the loss of connection to biological family, and other traumatic events. But through all the struggles she experienced, she was able to find beauty too. Cordelia is a former foster youth, foster system advocate, coach, author, speaker, former Miss District of Columbia USA 2019, founder of Acts of Random Kindness (a nonprofit that provides resources to children and families facing life challenges), and Licensed Graduate Social Worker. Her greatest passion is to bring healing to children and families who have experienced trauma. This was such a special conversation. I hope you are as encouraged as I was by Cordelia’s willingness to share her story and her powerful perspective on generational trauma. She is a cycle-breaker! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/cordelia-cranshaw-186/ Get 10% off BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/tfi

Since May is National Foster Care Awareness Month, I will be bringing you stories every week from the various perspectives of the foster care community—agency workers, foster parents, vulnerable adults, and children. Did you know that 30% of children who enter into foster care are teens? The shift into foster care is a lifelong challenge for children of any age, but uniquely so for teens. That grief journey is deep and complex, as it also often involves giving up a role in life that they are used to fulfilling. Melissa Smallwood found herself in the foster care system as a teenager and, along with the trauma she had experienced, her foster care experience had a lasting impact on her life. She moved from being a primary caregiver to her two brothers to the role of a foster child. Through her journey, she has found healing and pursued a career as a therapist who works primarily with children and teens who have been or are in the foster care system. Melissa is now a wife and mom of seven, several of which joined her family through adoption and foster care, as well as “Mimi” to five. I hope you find encouragement and support through her story! (Remember: Only until the end of May, applications are still open for YOU to become a TFI Advocate, bridging the gap between foster care agencies and churches right in your local community. This only happens twice a year, so learn more and apply here.) Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/melissa-smallwood-185/ Get 10% off BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/tfi

Since May is National Foster Care Awareness Month, I will be bringing you stories every week from the various perspectives of the foster care community—agency workers, foster parents, vulnerable adults, and children. Sometimes seeing another family involved in foster care can change someone’s mind from “I could never be a foster parent” to “I can do this.” Sarah Butler, TFI Advocate in Conecuh County, AL, didn’t imagine she would be able to be a foster parent. But after seeing another family foster, she saw it was possible and she and her husband felt God’s call to pursue it. Immediately after completing the requirements to be foster parents, they were told there was a child that needed a place to stay that very night. Since then, the Butlers have had over 30 children come through their home in four years. In this episode, Sarah shares the challenges, blessings, hardships, and joy that comes from fostering, and what it looks like to take a step past the fear of the unknown and into the call that God may have for your family. I hope you are encouraged and inspired by Sarah’s story today! (Remember: Applications are still open for YOU to become a TFI Advocate, bridging the gap between foster care agencies and churches right in your local community. This only happens twice a year! Learn more and apply here.) Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/sarah-butler-184/ Learn More About Samaritan Ministries: https://samaritanministries.org/theforgottenpodcast

Since May is National Foster Care Awareness Month, I will be bringing you stories every week from the various perspectives of the foster care community—agency workers, foster parents, vulnerable adults, and children. Will I be able to protect my biological children?Do I need to keep the natural birth order of my biological children intact in order to foster successfully?I’ve heard that children are resilient, so do I need to worry about my biological children? I’ve heard questions like these from many in the foster care community, and I remember asking some of them myself when we first started the process of becoming foster parents. Just as much as a new placement brings up challenging emotions for children in foster care, the same is true for our biological children. However, there isn’t as big of a focus on supporting biological children as they navigate the transition of welcoming new children into your home and dealing with the grief when they have to say goodbye to someone they may consider their sibling. To help us understand more about how to support our biological children as we foster is Daniela Coats. Daniela is not only a Licensed Master Social Worker, but she is also a biological child of parents who fostered and eventually adopted. So she knows firsthand the difficult emotions that many biological children face alone. Daniela and her husband live in Texas with their six children, four by adoption and two by birth. Listen in! (Remember: Applications are now open for YOU to become a TFI Advocate, bridging the gap between foster care agencies and churches right in your local community. This only happens twice a year! Learn more and apply here.) Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/daniela-coats-183/ Learn More About Samaritan Ministries: https://samaritanministries.org/theforgottenpodcast

Since May is National Foster Care Awareness Month, I will be bringing you stories every week from the various perspectives of the foster care community—agency workers, foster parents, vulnerable adults, and children. In today’s episode, I have the opportunity to talk with Dairius Kawewahi. Dairius entered foster care due to the abuse he and his brother suffered from their biological father. Although Dairius was unaware that the abuse he suffered wasn’t normal, the effects of his early childhood and time in five different foster homes would have a lasting impact on his life. Just like Dairius’s middle name means, he is a young man with so much wisdom. I am grateful that he shared his story of overcoming impossible circumstances, learning to offer forgiveness, and discovering how to release the grasp his past held on him. His life is now marked by hope and healing, and I know it will serve as an encouragement to you. Listen in! (Applications are now open for YOU to become a TFI Advocate, bridging the gap between foster care agencies and churches right in your local community. This only happens twice a year! Learn more and apply here.) Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/dairius-kawewahi-182/ Learn More About Samaritan Ministries: https://samaritanministries.org/theforgottenpodcast

Since May is National Foster Care Awareness Month, I will be bringing you stories every week from the different perspectives of the foster care community – agency workers, foster parents, vulnerable adults, and children. To kick off our episodes for this month, today I’m sharing my conversation with Candace Franklin, who is not only a Social Worker Supervisor, but also a foster parent and advocate for the foster care community. In this episode, Candace reminds us that there is a place for you to step into this community, and shares what her life as a worker is like, how challenges with infertility have influenced her journey, and the joy she gets to see when reunification is possible. I hope this episode is a support to you this week! (Starting today, applications are open for YOU to become a TFI Advocate, bridging the gap between foster care agencies and churches right in your local community. Learn more and apply here!) Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/candace-franklin-181/ Learn More About Samaritan Ministries: https://samaritanministries.org/theforgottenpodcast

Here at The Forgotten Initiative, we get to support incredible volunteer leaders called TFI Advocates who are leading local foster care ministries across the nation. Joining me for today’s episode is one of our TFI Advocates, Tess Dykstra. Tess has been an Advocate for Cobb County, GA since November 2021, and she is an incredible leader! In addition to her role as a TFI Advocate, Tess is a foster parent, mom to two boys (one through adoption), and works remotely in logistics and supply chain operations. Tess is going to give us a look behind the curtain of what it means to be a TFI Advocate. She shares more about what a TFI Advocate does, what skills they might need, and her own story of getting involved. Too many in the foster care community feel forgotten. They feel unloved and even uncared for. It’s our passion to change that reality. Coming up in May, we are opening up the applications for additional TFI Advocates. We only accept applications twice a year, so I want to invite you to consider if this role might be for you! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/tess-dykstra-180/ Learn More About Samaritan Ministries: https://samaritanministries.org/theforgottenpodcast

TW: This episode does contain mentions of abuse, sexual abuse, human trafficking, and Satanic Ritual Abuse that we want you to be aware of before listening. We know that youth in and out of foster care are a very vulnerable population and at risk for trafficking. However, what you might not realize is that 60% of all child sex trafficking victims have histories in the child welfare system, according to the National Foster Youth Institute. My guest today knows the reality of human trafficking on a very personal level. Tiffani Price is a survivor of human trafficking and Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA). She deeply understands the many difficulties facing this vulnerable population as she was trafficked by her adoptive parents. Today, Tiffani has founded a nonprofit called GloryB to help support other survivors. In this episode, Tiffani bravely shares her story and helps us understand how we can protect children in our care by recognizing signs of grooming and trafficking. Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/tiffani-price-179/ Learn More About Samaritan Ministries: https://samaritanministries.org/theforgottenpodcast

Tyler Daily wasn’t planning on becoming a foster parent. But his work in education as a middle school teacher ended up becoming the gateway to foster care. Foster parents are so important in the foster care community, and single foster parents are an incredible group of people. There is no specific data on the number of single foster parents nationwide; however, the 2019 Child Welfare Outcomes report shows that single parents make up 29% of the adoptive family structure with just 3% of that number being single men. Parenting alone presents a lot of challenges that other foster parents may not encounter. As Tyler has fostered 7 children in the course of one year, he says, “It’s a circus, but it’s a fun circus!” I pray you are encouraged by his story and experience this week. Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/tyler-daily-178/ Learn More About Samaritan Ministries: https://samaritanministries.org/theforgottenpodcast

Welcome back to The Forgotten Podcast! I am eager to share another story from the foster care community with you this week. My guest today is a foster parent herself, but she primarily works alongside birth parents and infants recovering from drug withdrawal. Heather Simpson is a mom to four biological boys, a foster parent, and a charge nurse at Brigid’s Path, an infant recovery center. In today’s episode, she is sharing how she got connected to the foster care community, what it looks like for infants to withdraw from drug exposure, and the perspective shift she has made from working closely with birth moms. Listen in as Heather shares her important perspective with us! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/heather-simpson-177/ Learn More About Samaritan Ministries: https://samaritanministries.org/theforgottenpodcast

Bethany and her husband, Benji, originally planned to foster school-age kids or older and did not plan to accept any babies. But when they got the call for Journey, they couldn’t say no. Little did they know she would be diagnosed with a brain tumor with an unknown prognosis and months of appointments and treatments that followed. Today on the podcast, I’m thrilled to be able to have one of our TFI Advocates, Bethany Riley, with me. Bethany first had a heart for international adoption but as newlyweds, her husband Benji and herself were led to foster care in the United States. She has been a foster parent to teens and little ones for the past 15 years. Her story isn’t just one of diverse experiences of foster parenting, but also of adoption and loss and grief. Their daughter, Journey, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. As they walked through the challenges of her complicated medical treatment as foster parents, they made the decision to adopt her regardless of the outcome of her treatment. They finalized her adoption just eight days before she passed away. The journey isn’t always easy, but it is worth it. I think that’s the message you’ll walk away with after today’s conversation. Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/bethany-riley-176/ Get 10% off BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/tfi

When loss, grief, hardships, or tragedy hit our own lives, most of us are ill-prepared to deal with it. Davey Blackburn experienced an unbelievable tragedy when he came home to find his pregnant wife had been shot during a home invasion. She would pass away just 24 hours later, leading him on a journey of learning to process the loss and grief he felt at the sudden loss. While Davey’s story isn’t directly about foster care or adoption, it is about a topic that I think affects many of us in the foster care community. This is the question of what we do with pain and how we handle traumatic events. In this conversation, you’ll hear Davey’s story, truths he has learned about the healing process, where many of us need to shift our view of God, and much more. I hope this episode is as meaningful to you as it has been to me. Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/davey-blackburn-175/ Use code "forgottenpod" for 10% off the Who Loves Series: https://www.wholovesseries.org/

TW: There are brief mentions in this episode of abuse, self-harm, and suicide, which we wanted you to be aware of before listening. There are some episodes of the podcast that simply pack so much wisdom into a short conversation. This is one of those episodes. Children enter foster care for many different reasons. And despite some of the hard work we do to overcome and heal from the past, our stories can still be messy. My guest knows this all too well! Kristen Thomas entered into kinship care after suffering abuse, but experienced deep-rooted challenges when she felt misunderstood, unsupported, and became homeless after aging out of care. As an adult, Kristen has taken the time to move towards healing those parts of her past. Today, she is going to grad school for Counseling and is an adoptive parent to her daughter, with only a 10-year age difference between them. Kristen is very well-spoken and I greatly appreciated her coming onto the show. I know you will be encouraged by her story! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/kristen-thomas-174/ Get 10% off BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/tfi

Welcome back to The Forgotten Podcast! In this episode, I have the opportunity to talk with Shyann Skelton. Shyann came from a broken home where she did not know her biological father. After her mother’s death, she was adopted by her grandmother, but experienced deep pain through loss, bullying, and hardships as she was rejected by family for being biracial. Shyann’s story begins with odds that were stacked against her, but she has taken those experiences and used them for good! As an adult, Shyann is a foster mom to teen girls and soon will be working with a nonprofit whose goal is to fill the gap while children are waiting for foster homes. Thank you for listening to her story! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/shyann-skelton-173/ Use code "forgottenpod" for 10% off the Who Loves Series: https://www.wholovesseries.org/

We love bringing you stories from the foster care community as a way to encourage and equip you in your foster care journey. I’m excited to be able to share my conversation with not only a foster parent and adoptive parent, but the Executive Director of a non-profit whose mission is to help aging-out youth. My guest is Nick Sgarlata. Nick and his wife, Carrie, started fostering in 2015. Today, he works closely with aging-out youth through Bridge to Brighter in Wisconsin. Nick has three biological children, two adoptive children, has fostered 15 children, and they just renewed their foster care license. My hope is that you will benefit from hearing about the unique work that Nick does with aging out youth and connect with his experience as a foster parent. He has a generous heart, and I’m eager to share this episode with you! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/nick-sgarlata-172/ Get 10% off BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/tfi

Today on the podcast, we are talking about a special kind of care in the foster care community called kinship care. Kinship care is when children are cared for by grandparents, extended family members, or unrelated adults with whom they have a close family-like relationship. Caregivers providing kinship care often face unique challenges and abrupt changes to their life plans. In addition to dealing with the circumstances leading to the need for kinship care, their lives are overhauled with the unexpected introduction of the child now in their care. Sharing her experience with us is Rachel Mahnke, a Certified Wellness Coach, Trauma Informed Parent, Life Coach, Therapeutic Art Facilitator, author, and adoptive parent of her biological grandchildren. When life took an unexpected turn, Rachel went from a soon-to-be empty nester to providing kinship care to her two little grandchildren. This episode holds so much wisdom and honesty, and I am eager to share it with you! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/rachel-mahnke-171/ Use code "forgottenpod" for 10% off the Who Loves series: https://www.wholovesseries.org/

The LGBTQIA+ conversation has intersected with foster care heavily in recent years and it has prompted many people in the foster care community to have questions such as: How can we care for our LGBTQ+ kids as foster parents who hold to a traditional view of marriage? How should the Church come alongside LGBTQ+ foster parents who do not hold to the traditional view of marriage? And many more. If you are unaware of what each of the letters stands for or haven’t seen the “IA” part of LGBTQIA+ here’s what each letter represents: L – lesbian, G – gay, B – bisexual, T – transgender, Q – queer, I – intersex, A – asexual. The “+” indicates many more that could be mentioned, but I’ll pause there for now. I’m thrilled to have Laurie Krieg with me as we navigate this topic of sexuality and gender through the lens of the Gospel. Laurie identified a default to a same-sex attraction when she was starting at five years old. She wrestled with what this meant for her Christian faith throughout her young adult life. Laurie identifies as both a Christ-follower and a part of the LGBTQ+ community and has been on the front lines of the sexuality conversation since 2014. Today, Laurie is the president of Impossible Ministries, a coaching ministry with the mission to equip the Church with a gospel-centered approach to marriage and sexuality. Laurie is also a coach, speaker, author, podcaster, mom to three, and has a mixed-orientation marriage with her husband, Matt. This conversation is so important, and I want to encourage you to listen in! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/laurie-krieg-170/ Get 10% off BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/tfi

I love every time I get the opportunity to talk with Jenn Hook here on the ol’ podcast! Jenn has a deep passion for the adoptive and foster care communities. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Replanted—a ministry that helps empower the Church to support adoptive and foster families by providing emotional, tangible, and informational support. Last time I spoke with Jenn, we discussed her first book, Replanted, and navigating reunification. In this episode, Jenn is back with a new book that builds on the foundation laid by her first book. In this new book, Thriving Families, Jenn provides resources for navigating the grief children in foster care feel, maintaining relationships with biological parents, preserving the cultural background of your child, and much more. We’re diving into some of those same topics today, and I hope our conversation is a great encouragement to you this week! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/jenn-hook-169/ Use code "forgottenpod" for 10% off the Who Loves Series: https://www.wholovesseries.org/

Do you have some hard questions when it comes to adoption and foster care? Maybe you’re unsure if you’re up to the challenge. Maybe you’re unsure how to best support a child in adjusting to their new circumstances. No matter what you’re facing, you’re not alone. April Guffey is dedicated to being a resource for adoptive and foster parents, as well as the children in their care. April is an adoptee, former foster youth, and owner of Mercy and Healing, which is an adoption coaching practice. She has an incredible story of finding true wholeness through Christ and unexpectedly reconnecting with her biological father. Through her own lived experiences as a former foster youth, April has seen the gap in services for adoptive parents and adoptees. Her passion is to fill that gap by providing a safe place to ask questions, vent, and gain new insight. Join me as April shares her story and wisdom today! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/april-guffey-168/ Get 10% off BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/tfi

I have a great episode for you this week. Children in foster care have so much going on beyond what we can see on the surface. But what is it that can sometimes cause our children to act out, rebel, or “push our buttons”? My guest today was not only a former foster child for over 7 years, but she also now works with parents to uncover how to better show up for their children, especially their teens. Serena Rice is a Supervised Visitation Specialist, parenting coach, children’s book author, and former foster child. Her experience as a foster child influenced her to start her own coaching practice to help parents build deeper trust and strong connections with their children. In today’s episode, she shares her story of jumping from foster home to foster home, how parents can better communicate with teens in foster care, what her healing journey has looked like, and much more. Whether you care for a teen in foster care or not, you don’t want to miss Serena’s story, perspective, and wisdom. Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/serena-rice-167/ Use code "forgottenpod" for 10% off the Who Loves Series: https://www.wholovesseries.org/

TW: As part of John’s story and experience, you will hear specific descriptions and terms related to adult themes, including both physical and sexual child abuse, trafficking, and suicide. We do encourage discernment in your decision to listen or with whom you share this episode with. I met John Gibson briefly at the Replanted Conference where he shared his story for the very first time. John is a former competition team member of Valko Brazilian Jiu-Juitsu in Chicago, IL. But at the age of just five years old, he was declared a ward of the state. After 11 homes and 2 group homes, John aged out of the foster care system. Through therapy, mentors, and lots of time, John is able to look back at everything he went through with positivity and hopefulness. I am so grateful to John for his willingness to be open about his life experience, as well as his journey towards healing. Foster care is often a community filled with both hurt and hope, and John’s story is an honest testament to that reality. I hope his story provides valuable perspective for your own foster care journey! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/john-gibson-166/ Get 10% off BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/tfi

Life is full of seasons. Sometimes those seasons are filled with joy and laughter, but other times those seasons include sorrow, grief, and loss. These hard seasons may come from the unexpected loss of a loved one or a child no longer being a direct part of your family. Today's conversation is especially for those currently walking through unexpected grief or those who love someone walking through grief. Joining me is Tim Challies. Tim is a pastor, author, and co-founder of Cruciform Press. He had to navigate loss and grief in his own life when he unexpectedly lost his college-aged son, Nick, in 2020. As a result of walking through his own season of grief, Tim shared his family’s journey in a book titled Seasons of Sorrow: The Pain of Loss and the Comfort of God. I deeply appreciated Tim’s openness about his story and his firm confidence in who our God is. I believe you’ll receive a lot of truth from what he has to share today. Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/tim-challies-165/ Get up to 30% off Dwell: https://dwellapp.io/theforgotten

It’s no secret that I love sharing stories of hope and healing. My guest today has an incredible story that includes both of those things! I met Peter at a conference recently and we quickly became friends. He is a surviving street kid, foster dad to over 18 kids, single adoptive dad, an author, speaker, and advocate for children everywhere. Wow! Peter Mutabazi grew up in an abusive home in Uganda and eventually ran away at the age of 10. God used a man in khakis to show Peter that he was loved and valued. Today, Peter’s passion is that every child and young person, especially the forgotten, neglected, or abused, deserves to be celebrated, seen, heard, and known. Show Notes: theforgotteninitiative.org/peter-mutabazi-164 Get 10% off BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/tfi

Even with Christmas morning already in our rearview mirrors, I love this time of year! Not only because of the holiday traditions, the smell of candles, our Christmas tree, and freshly baked pies in the oven. My love for this time of year is also not only because of the sounds of the Christmas music that fills my home, the crackling of the fire, or the old handmade-by-kids Christmas ornaments on the tree, but I love this time of year because it always makes me reflective. As I reflect, I can't help but see the Goodness and Faithfulness of God. What about you? How has God grown you this year? How has He shown Himself faithful? I’m not sure what your year has looked like or what’s in store for the next. What I do know is that Christmas is good for the soul, reminding us each year of the goodness and kindness of our God in making a way for redemption. Thank you for being on this journey with us, and we are so excited to be in this space TWICE as often. You are not alone!

As you may know, stepping in to support the foster care community can be messy sometimes. We are broken people stepping into broken situations. None of us are perfect, yet we are called to step into these situations anyway. My guest today has personal experience with this. Cynthia Yanof is a former attorney, foster mom, author, and host of the Pardon the Mess podcast. When Cynthia and her husband felt the call to step into foster care, they had fears, the urge to cling to safety, and the feeling of being completely ill-equipped. Can you relate!? In spite of all their fears, they stepped out in faith and were amazed by how God provided for them on their journey. In this episode, Cynthia shares her family’s experience of being called to foster, overcoming some common objections people have, and the values they have learned along the way. Cynthia is a dynamic bundle of energy and I know you will be blessed to hear her passion and perspective on foster care. Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/s13e13/ Get up to 30% off the Dwell App: https://dwellapp.io/theforgotten

It’s National Adoption Month! In honor of that, the podcast has been weekly this month to provide more opportunities for you to share episodes with friends who might not know as much about foster care or adoption in order to increase awareness. Let's spread the word! I have a very special guest on the podcast today. He was adopted from Guatemala at just 10-months old and he just so happens to be my son. Hudson Kaeb (or “Huds” as I like to call him) is sharing today about his story of adoption, the feelings he carries toward his birth family, and how he has processed his own story as he has gotten older. This was a really special episode for me and I am so proud of him for his openness, growth, and maturity. Hudson has shared his story in the past and I know you will be just as blessed and encouraged to hear it today! Get 10% off the Who Loves Series (use code "forgottenpod"): https://www.wholovesseries.org/ Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/s13e12/

It’s National Adoption Month! In honor of that, the podcast will be weekly this month to provide more opportunities for you to share episodes with friends who might not know as much about foster care or adoption in order to increase awareness. Let's spread the word! As many of us know, not every family gets to be reunified. In fact, in just under half (48%) of cases are children reunified with their parents. How should we respond to that reality? My guest today is unique in that she was an adoptee and also a biological mother who experienced her own children being placed in foster care. Brittany Marler’s life was turned upside-down when her mother was killed, which eventually led to her adoption by her grandparents. In our conversation, she vulnerably shares with us her experience of growing up without her birth mother, the painful circumstances that led to her to prison and surrendering her children, and their foster parents who relentlessly pursued a relationship with her. Though Brittany’s story up to this point is not one of reunification, it is one of restoration and healing. God is doing incredible things in her life, and I am so grateful for Brittany’s openness and willingness to share her story with us here on the podcast. Get 10% off the Who Loves Series (use code "forgottenpod"): https://www.wholovesseries.org/ Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/s13e11/

It’s National Adoption Month! In honor of that, the podcast will be weekly this month to provide more opportunities for you to share episodes with friends who might not know as much about foster care or adoption in order to increase awareness. Let’s spread the word! In the adoption and foster care community, we often encounter stories of brokenness and heartache. At the same time, we find stories of hope, healing, and God’s faithful purpose. For Maria “Mia” Arrington, God’s purpose and faithfulness were weaved throughout every part of her story, from being a child in foster care to an adoptee to today being a licensed social worker, therapist, wife, and mom to a beautiful daughter and stepson. In today’s episode, Mia openly shares her journey of entering foster care as a toddler, experiencing a disrupted adoption, living in a group home, eventually being adopted, and how she is using her story to spread hope and healing to others. Get 10% off BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/tfi Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/s13e10/

It’s National Adoption Month! In honor of that, the podcast will be weekly this month to provide more opportunities for you to share episodes with friends who might not know as much about foster care or adoption in order to increase awareness. Let’s spread the word! Once you become aware of the need within the foster care community, it’s hard to focus on anything else, right? For Jessica Hurlbut, that is exactly what happened when she adopted a sibling group from foster care in 2015. Once she became aware of the needs in the foster care community, she knew she needed to display to others how they can help. In fact, she founded a run that led to the amount of foster homes in her county doubling! In today’s episode, Jessica shares her journey of advocacy, how to push past the fluff and be real, what it’s been like to be a mother to five children, and much more. Get up to 30% off the Dwell App: https://dwellapp.io/theforgotten Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/s13e9/

Today’s episode is a special one! Not long ago my team and I got to spend the weekend at Replanted Conference, a conference in Naperville, Illinois, that provides a time away for caregivers to be refreshed, equipped, and inspired. While there, I had the privilege of speaking at some breakout sessions and also doing a live recording for this podcast! I sat down with Jessie and Carrie, whose stories are connected and intertwined in powerful ways. This was a very inspiring conversation, and I'm glad I can share it with you today! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/s13replanted Get a 10% off the Who Loves Series with code FORGOTTENPOD: https://www.wholovesseries.org

Joey & Sadie Dodson are about as involved in the foster care community as you can get! They are foster and adoptive parents themselves, Joey was adopted when he was a child, and Sadie is currently working as a Family Care Manager at a non-profit working with churches and families to foster and adopt. Sadie also leads various TBRI and trauma-informed trainings. Join us as we have a conversation about how the desire to learn can help us be better equipped (not just as foster or adoptive parents, but as people), why it’s okay to feel like you are not fully equipped, how to look at the foster care journey through an attachment lens, and what it looks like to carry moment-by-moment dependence on God. Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/s13e8 Get 10% off your first month with BetterHelp: https://www.betterhelp.com/tfi

Foster care is full of confusing, and often conflicting, emotions. How do we handle those emotions? How do we prepare ourselves for hard transitions? And how do we champion reunification as often as we can? My guest today is no stranger to those feelings as both a foster parent and a case manager at an agency in Texas. In today’s conversation, Amanda Irby shares her experience fostering 10 children in a little over two years, how her perception of biological families has shifted, what a day in her life as an agency worker is like, how she’s been learning to say those hard goodbyes, and much more. I greatly appreciate her passion for this work, and for reunification specifically. Listen in! Get up to 30% off the Dwell App: https://dwellapp.io/theforgotten Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/s13e7/

When we talk about breaking the cycle of trauma, there is no clearer example of this than in the life of DeAntwann “DJ” Johnson. DJ experienced a traumatic childhood that included child abuse, domestic abuse, homelessness, and emotional trauma. As a result of his family life, he entered the Indiana foster care system when he was about 10 years old. As DJ grew up in foster care and entered adulthood, he began to peel back the layers of his story to uncover cycles of trauma and embark on his own healing journey. In this episode, we talk about DJ’s story, how he is working to break generational cycles of trauma, how to cultivate empathy for others, and so much more. I loved this conversation and I know you will too! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/s13e6/ Learn more about the TFI Advocate role: https://www.tfiadvocate.org/

In the foster care community, we often encounter stories full of pain, hardship, trauma, and difficulties. With each story, we can’t help but consider that this isn’t how God intended life to be. Even so, God is faithful, just like He has been in the life of today’s guest, Sean Myers. Sean, a pastor in Peoria, AZ, had a tough childhood. His parents struggled with drug addiction, and he experienced homelessness, foster care, instability, and more. In the midst of all the difficulty, God had a greater plan for him that included salvation, adoption, community, and a future full of hope. In this episode, you’ll hear why the safety of what’s familiar is often more desirable for children in foster care, why the Church needs to be even more involved in supporting the foster care community, the importance of community in discipleship and growth, and so much more. This is one you don’t want to miss! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/s13e5/ Get a Special Discount on the Dwell App: https://dwellapp.io/theforgotten

Whatever your role is in the foster care community, your life looks different from the lives of many others. You have some unique values that guide your decisions and lean your heart toward the foster care community. In difficult times, being able to actually name those values is core to being able to cling to your passion and purpose in life. My guest today is Beau Johnson, who is not only an expert in helping others find their motivation and purpose at The Table Group, a company led by Patrick Lencioni, but he has also been a foster parent for twelve years. In this episode, Beau helps us consider the importance of setting family values, some insights from his experience as a foster parent, and how the roles we have to fill can either fulfill or frustrate us. Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/s13e4/ Use Discount Code forgottenpod to Get 10% Off the Who Loves Series: https://www.wholovesseries.org/

Imagine going from zero children to five children overnight. That’s the story you’ll hear today! When Kristal and Jared Black decided to start a family, they quickly realized that their path would be different than they expected it to be. While walking through infertility and then an expected adoption that ended unexpectedly, God was working in their hearts to overcome the fear of foster care and open them up to other possibilities. Little did they know that God would take them on a journey that was even crazier (and even better) than they could have expected! In this episode, listen in as Kristal shares her family’s journey, what she learned in a long season of waiting, how she and her husband have navigated such a big transition, and the work God did in her along the way.