foster kid

Did you know that more than 100,000 children are currently in foster care, waiting for their forever homes? Dive into this conversation with Marcy Bursac on the intricacies and beauty of providing permanent families to children in foster care and learn how to create a comfortable home for your foster kid!

Key Takeaways To Listen For

• The Forgotten Adoption Option: What it is, its origin, and its goal
• An overview of the emotional process and requirements for adoption
• Why it’s important to let foster kids know about their past
• Helpful steps to determine readiness and compatibility in foster selection
• Essential measures to help foster kids settle in their new home

Resources Mentioned In This Episode

• Instant Family
• The Forgotten Adoption Option App
• The Forgotten Adoption Option by Marcy Bursac | Kindle and Paperback
• What to Know When You Adopt Through Foster Care by Marcy Bursac | Kindle and Paperback
• Are You a Forever Family? by Marcy Bursac | Kindle and Paperback

About Marcy Bursac
Marcy is a speaker, podcaster, social entrepreneur, and author. She is the CEO and the mind behind The Forgotten Adoption Option, a non-profit born out of her passion to advocate for foster care adoption. Recognizing the gap between aspiring adoptive parents and adoptable children in the United States, Marcy took action and authored a book titled "The Forgotten Adoption Option." This endeavor was extended to creating her podcast, "The Forgotten Adoption Option Podcast," dedicated to shedding light on adoption-related topics.

Connect with Marcy

• Website: The Forgotten Adoption Option
• Podcast: The Forgotten Adoption Option Podcast | Spotify and Listen Notes 
• LinkedIn: Marcy Bursac, MA, MBA
• Facebook: Marcy Bursac (Marcy Schroeder)
• Instagram: @marcybursac
• Email: msbursac@gmail.com 

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Follow Dr. Nate on His Social Media

• LinkedIn: Nate Salah, Ph.D
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• Facebook: Nate Salah
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This episode will give caregivers of indigenous youth a new understanding of how to help indigenous youth in care who've experienced abuse and/or commercial sexual exploitation and how to support them. 

Indigenous youth in care are a vulnerable population, we will discuss ways to protect indigenous youth from CSEC and the resources available to these youth in care.

Guest on the show:

Raechel Ibarra, Senior CSEC Case Manager for Children’s Law Center, Chiricahua Apache descendant and her ancestors originate from Arizona and the border of Mexico.  

Resources:

-The proportions of Black and Native American youth in foster care are around four times larger than the proportions of Black and Native American youth in California overall. 

-Native & Indigenous youth are overrepresented in the CA child welfare system. They make up .8% of the general population, yet 20.7% of youth in care.

Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA)

MMIW (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women's movement)

Calls To Action:
How trafficking starts (24:10)
Common language used (26:03)
How to explain trafficking to your youth (27:03)

About Fostering Parenthood:

Fostering Parenthood is a podcast by caregivers for caregivers promoting the healthy sexual development of foster youth, brought to you by the National Center for Youth Law and the Reproductive Health Equity Project.

The laws and policies discussed in our show are specific to LA County and California. However, any out-of-state or international listeners should check the regulations specific to their state or country.

Watch our episodes at https://rhep.info/fosteringparenthood-watch!

Learn more about Fostering Parenthood at www.fosteringparenthood.buzzsprout.com.

Email us with questions, comments, and feedback at email@fosterreprohealth.org.

Fostering Parenthood is fully supported by grant number 1 TP2AH000066-01-00 from the HHS Office of Population Affairs. Contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Office of Population Affairs.

On the 69th episode of The Paul Cardall Podcast, Hope Children's Home Administrative Director Matt Higgins joins Paul to discuss a modern day orphanage. Founded in 1968, Hope Children’s Home has rescued nearly 5,000 children between the ages of infant to 18 years of age. They discuss their belief that a personal relationship with Christ, combined with an excellent education and a well-rounded sports program is the key to Hope’s success. 

ABOUT HOPE CHILDREN'S HOME

Founded in 1968, Hope Children’s Home has rescued nearly 5,000 children between the ages of infant to 18 years of age. The type of children we care for are not juvenile delinquents, but rather children that, through no fault of their own, find themselves in a situation of needed rescue. Some children simply come out of a situation where a parent just needs a little help.

Whether it’s our campus in Tampa, New Mexico, or Honduras, each child is equally important in God’s eyes and ours. Each campus is able to care for the children in a beautiful family atmosphere while instilling core Christian values.

We believe that a personal relationship with Christ, combined with an excellent education and a well-rounded sports program is the key to Hope’s success. Our school program begins in our Nursery and continues through the 12th grade. We are proud to say that over 95% of the students who graduate from Hope Christian School continue to college.

Hope Children’s Home receives no State or Federal funding but rather is entirely supported by churches, private individuals, businesses, and organizations. The faith that we exercise each and every day for our needs is a faith that is passed on to the children as they see God’s hand of provision. The children see first-hand that God will never leave them nor forsake them.

For over 50 years, Hope Children’s Home has lovingly cared for children in need and tried to make a difference in their very impressionable lives. We feel that God has called us to help rebuild the broken lives of these children and to build the bridge, when possible, between home, parent, and child. The rewards of our labor are the thousands of children across the country who are now productive adults raising their own children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:   https://hopechildrenshome.org

DONATE: https://raisedonors.com/hopechildrenshome/donation-page

FACEBOOK:  https://www.facebook.com/HopeChildrensHome

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/hopechildrenshome

TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/hopechildrens

ABOUT THE HOST PAUL CARDALL

Official Website - http://www.paulcardall.com

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/paulcardallmusic

Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/cardall

Instagram - http://www.instagram.com/paulcardall

LISTEN TO PAUL'S MUSIC

APPLE MUSIC - https://music.apple.com/us/artist/paul-cardall/4312819

SPOTIFY - https://open.spotify.com/artist/7FQRbf8gbKw8KZQZAJWxH2

AMAZON - Ask Alexa to play Peaceful Piano by Paul Cardall

Paul Cardall is an artist who has given a new meaning to the phrase, a change of heart and how he used this radical change to take his music to an unexpected place.  Despite being born with a potentially life-threatening heart defect Paul Cardall has become a world recognized pianist. He is even endorsed by Steinway & Sons as one of the finest pianist of our time.

A Dove award winner for his Christmas album, Paul’s recordings have debuted on 11 No. 1 Billboard charts along with 46 other chart debuts. His music has 25 million monthly listeners with more than 3 billion lifetime streams and is often categorized as Classical, Christian, and Holiday. Although most of albums are instrumental, Paul has songs that feature Grammy winning gospel legend CeCe Winans, Matt Hammitt (Sanctus Real), Kristin Chenoweth, Country duo Thompson Square, David Archuleta, Tyler Glenn (Neon Trees), Audrey Assad, Steven Sharp Nelson (The Piano Guys), and more. 

Paul has performed for audiences worldwide including the White House. Forbes, American Songwriter, Jesus Calling, Lifestyles Television, Mix Magazine, and countless other media outlets have share his remarkable journey of receiving a life changing heart transplant and using music as a tool to help God heal spiritual, mental, and emotional hearts.

Show your support by subscribing to the podcast. Please leave a review. 

Welcome to Fostering Parenthood, a podcast by caregivers for caregivers promoting the healthy sexual development of foster youth through the National Center for Youth Law and the Reproductive Health Equity Project. We will launch 6 episodes on September 1st, plus an exclusive bonus episode, so subscribe and stay tuned!

About Fostering Parenthood:

Fostering Parenthood is a podcast by caregivers for caregivers promoting the healthy sexual development of foster youth, brought to you by the National Center for Youth Law and the Reproductive Health Equity Project.

The laws and policies discussed in our show are specific to LA County and California. However, any out-of-state or international listeners should check the regulations specific to their state or country.

Watch our episodes at https://rhep.info/fosteringparenthood-watch!

Learn more about Fostering Parenthood at www.fosteringparenthood.buzzsprout.com.

Email us with questions, comments, and feedback at email@fosterreprohealth.org.

Fostering Parenthood is fully supported by grant number 1 TP2AH000066-01-00 from the HHS Office of Population Affairs. Contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Office of Population Affairs.

It's not easy to be a foster parent. Host Nancy Barrow  talks with two foster care parents about how to navigate the  system. DCF ( The Department of Children and Families) also joins in on the discussion, and talks about the big changes the agency has made over 30 years.

It takes a special person to  be a foster parent. Jessika Holmes is a relative foster parent who worked for DCF. She is the guardian of her sister's daughter, which has caused some tension within her family. Jessika says caring for her has taught her about patience and boundaries.

Antonio Eason works in the foster care field and was a foster parent. He and his husband took in a 16 year old boy who identified as a girl. Antonio says it was the most rewarding experience of his life.

  State of Connecticut DCF Foster Care Director Natalia Liriano, has been at the agency for 30 years. She talks about the changes within the agency, but said one thing never changes, the need for foster parents in Connecticut. She explains that the goal is reunification with the birth parents when it's possible.

CT Paid Leave can give you up to 12 weeks of bonding leave if you add to your family by birth, adoption or fostering. Go to our website at ctpaidleave.org.

 If you are interested in becoming a Foster Care parent, call 1-888-KID-HERO.

https://ctpaidleave.org/s/?language=en_US



https://www.facebook.com/CTPaidLeave



https://www.instagram.com/ctpaidleave/



https://twitter.com/CTPaidLeave



https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ct+paid+leave

Though our guest Alexander Desmerais suffered the most vile of childhood traumas, and continues to be estranged from any meaningful family bonds, he has developed a productive approach to life that should serve as an example to all of us. He reminds us that no matter how terrible an experience, it is temporary. He goes on to teach us that trauma is as impermanent as we’re willing to do the work to make it.

...Alexander Desmarais is an undergraduate student working to become a counselor. 

Be a guest on the show by clicking https://calendly.com/aarralynn

...Canadian resources:

...If you need help in Canada please call the suicide hotline. It's open 24/7, staffed with caring people who just want to help. 1-800-SUICIDE (1-800-784-2433)

...To speak with a trained counselor any time, and you're under the age of 25, please call the kids help line at 1-800-668-6868. If you can’t call but have access to the internet, please visit www.YouthinBC.com

...For youth and young adult help and information www.mindcheck.ca is an excellent resource.

...For sexual education resources, please go to www.scarleteen.com. This is an incredible resource for both youth and educators not only to learn how to talk about sex and sex education, but an incredible archive of useful knowledge for people of all ages!

...USA resources:

...If you need help in the US, please call the suicide lifeline 1-800-273-8255 or visit https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org

...For access to counselling online, visit https://etherapypro.com, or speak to your doctor about options available to you.

This episode is part reunion and all encouraging! Sarah and Erin worked together at Missouri Baptist University nearly 15 years ago. After converting Erin to a coffee lover (it all started with a Caramel Macchiato!) Sarah discovered they share a love for all things Christmas. Instant friends! 

Several years ago, Erin left her midwest hometown to be part of a church plant in State College, Pennsylvania, where she now lives and works. She has since become a foster mom, and in this episode we hear how she heard God tell her to move to PA, her church planting experience, and how these led her to foster care today. 

Foster and Orphan Care Awareness Series

We’re in a series focused on foster and orphan care awareness during November’s National Adoption Month. The Goods are passionate about children and advocates for fostering and adoption. 

Want to learn more about Foster Care or Adoption? Check out some of our favorite sites and organizations. 

• Basic facts about fostering: https://nfpaonline.org/fostercare
• LifeLine Children’s Services - International Adoption agency the Good’s used. They do fostering, orphan prevention, and support both domestic and international adoption. Lots of great resources here: www.lifelinechild.com
• One Heart Ministries - Local St Louis Ministry for foster care: https://www.ohfm.org
• America’s Kids Belong - Foster Care organization: https://americaskidsbelong.org
• 10 Ways to Make a difference for Orphans: https://www.focusonthefamily.com/pro-life/10-ways-to-make-a-difference-for-orphans/

Some quotes from the episode:

"It is your fault that I love coffee"

“Even when we were really small God provided everything.”

“Even if it were five dollars God would make it work”

“It’s OK to want a smaller kid”

“Sometimes I feel like God is saying ‘do whatever you want - you’re gonna be OK either way.’”

“Just because they’re labeled ‘a foster kid’ doesn’t mean they’re different.  They still have the same needs and desires that any other kid does.”

“It’s easy to questions yourself if you’re being a good parent.”

“As much as I care… and as much as I love these kids - God loves them so much more. And He loves me that way.” 

Fun things from the episode:

• Erin used to work at a children’s home in Mobile, Alabama
• Erin recommended the Bair Foundation
• Recommended book: The Connected Child

View this episode on YouTube

Subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform: https://sgood.buzzsprout.com/

Follow Now That's Something Good: Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

Share your thoughts: podcast@sarahgood.com

Now That's Something Good Podcast by Sarah Good is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Aspen is an actress originally from Colorado and currently studying at the University of Southern California's School of Dramatic Arts. As a child, Aspen studied classical music, and she began acting at age 10 when she and her twin sister were cast as the daughter of Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde in a regional theatre production. Since then, she has worked on everything from musical theatre to commercials to feature films, all while studying at the Colorado School of Acting. Most recently, Aspen played Amber in the Cinefest Best Picture nominee "Skin Deep" and Sharley in the feature film "Coronavirus" before taking on the series regular role of Olivia Mitchell in "Quarantwinned." In addition to acting, Aspen enjoys playwriting; most notably she wrote the play "Letters," which was nominated in 2019 for seven Broadway World Regional Awards, including Best Play. Most recently, her radio play "What Good Is Like" was produced with the Project Outbreak Collective.  

Find more of Aspen: 

Instagram: @aspenksomers

Youtube: The Somers Twins

IMDb: imdb.me/aspenksomers

Website: www.aspenksomers.com

A Statement from Aspen:

"I originally created this piece because I noticed that the pandemic has been a very lonely time for a lot of people, and I wanted to give them hope that things will get better, and inspire others to reach out and be the family that somebody might need right now."

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Created during a time of quarantine in the global Coronavirus pandemic, A Moment Of Your Time’s mission is to provide a space for expression, collaboration, community and solidarity. In this time of isolation, we may have to be apart but let’s create together. 

Follow Us: Instagram | Twitter

Created by CurtCo Media

Concept by Jenny Curtis

Theme music by Chris Porter

A CurtCo Media Production

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Married couple, Marika & Kurt chat about the many perspectives in foster care and the ways we can all do better by our kids

Wrapping up our thoughts for our first season, focusing on an oft overlooked part of the US Foster Care system - Transitions. 

It's been half a year since we sat down to record a new episode, but we have an excuse: COVID-19! Damn you COVID!!!

We have two new kiddos in our care. Dragging them through home-schooling, trying to support their trauma and grief in the midst of a pandemic where we've stayed indoors has been a monstrous challenge, but we're still here (in fact, we went upstate to an Airbnb WITH A POOL!!!! whilst we record this episode).

We also talk about some of the constructive feedback we've received and how we would really love to hear more from Former Foster Youth (FFY) in our next seasons.

Riki mentions some of the Facebook pages and groups primarily run by FFY and that we'd make a note of them here:

Child Centered Parenting in Foster Care and Adoption
Former Foster Children United
Adoption: Facing Realities

And some other podcasts we really enjoyed:
The Foster Parenting Podcast (Tim & Wendy were a HUGE inspiration for us!! They've taken much of their original podcast down now for privacy reasons, but some of their core message is still there, including the reasoning behind the importance of putting your hand up for kids at the beginning of their foster journey, not waiting until parents rights are terminated!)
The Forgotten Podcast
Honestly Adoption
Who Am I Really? 
Foster Care Stories
Adoptee Thoughts

Keep listening to the end of today's episode for some fun outtakes!! ie. Marika (the actor) doing what is known in her industry as "corpsing". 

Enjoy and we look forward to inviting you to our table in Season Two.

Our podcast features music by Chris Haugen "Tupelo Train"
And graphic design by Kenney Ogilvie

Married couple, Marika & Kurt chat about the many perspectives in foster care and the ways we can all do better by our kids

In our first season, we focus on an oft overlooked part of the US Foster Care system - Transitions. 

So far we have spoken to FFY, fellow foster parents and explored different examples of how a transition from one home to another can negatively or positively impact a child in foster care.

Now we indulge a little, turning the focus back to us, and how our own extended family, friends and community coped with the "loss" of our foster daughter ("Kid") moving to live with an extended family member after 14 months in our home.

We chat honestly about some of the fall out, how we handled other people's grief and processing, and what we could have done better.

Our podcast features music by Chris Haugen "Tupelo Train"
And graphic design by Kenney Ogilvie

Married couple, Marika & Kurt chat about the many perspectives in foster care and the ways we can all do better by our kids

In our first season, we focus on an oft overlooked part of the US Foster Care system - Transitions.

This episode is the most important episode of our first season. Because this episode is what a successful transition can look like.

Join Kurt as he sits down with friend and fellow former foster parent, Jennifer, so she can tell the story of how her foster daughter transitioned to extended family with dedicated time and love - and all the adults communicating in order to put the mental and emotional needs of the child first.

This is what this podcast is all about. Thank you Jennifer.

Our podcast features music by Chris Haugen "Tupelo Train"
And graphic design by Kenney Ogilvie

Married couple, Marika & Kurt chat about the many perspectives in foster care and the ways we can all do better by our kids

In our first season, we focus on an oft overlooked part of the US Foster Care system - Transitions. 

John & Brian adopted their daughter through foster care, but not before she underwent several transitions - which resulted in ongoing trauma.

Join us for an interview in which John and Brian detail the massive changes their daughter had to process, and speak frankly about how it has impacted their family, other kids, their marriage, and most importantly their daughter.

We also mention towards the end of the episode, a great TV series we appreciated called "The Day I Picked My Parents". Check that out at https://www.aetv.com/shows/the-day-i-picked-my-parents

Our podcast features music by Chris Haugen "Tupelo Train"
And graphic design by Kenney Ogilvie

Married couple, Marika & Kurt chat about the many perspectives in foster care and the ways we can all do better by our kids

In our first season, we focus on an oft overlooked part of the US Foster Care system - Transitions. 

This episode is one of the reasons we felt the need to make this podcast...
How do you actually transition a child out of your home and into another?
What do you pack?
What do you say?
How can you make this big change for a young person clear, loving and free of trauma?

We don't know for sure... but here's what we did.

Our podcast features music by Chris Haugen "Tupelo Train"
And graphic design by Kenney Ogilvie

Married couple, Marika & Kurt chat about the many perspectives in foster care and the ways we can all do better by our kids

In our first season, we focus on an oft overlooked part of the US Foster Care system - Transitions.

Today we talk to a fellow foster parent - Liz -who has been a foster parent for several children. She's had some very traumatic experiences, but has always fought for the best interests of the kids in her care. She is now an advocate for better transition practices in the foster care system.

Beware: This episode mentions the graphic traumatic experiences of children, which some listeners may find triggering or traumatic.

Our podcast features music by Chris Haugen "Tupelo Train"
And graphic design by Kenney Ogilvie

Married couple, Marika & Kurt chat about the many perspectives in foster care and the ways we can all do better by our kids

In our first season, we focus on an oft overlooked part of the US Foster Care system - Transitions. 

We start our first interview today with the most important person in Foster Care - the kids. Jean is a FFY (former foster youth - she's an adult now) who went into the system at age 9. 

We talk with her about her experience and how it has affected her life. We ask her the most important question of all - How did changing homes impact you? What could the grown ups have done to make transitions easier?

Our podcast features music by Chris Haugen "Tupelo Train"
And graphic design by Kenney Ogilvie


.......................................................................................................................

The paper we mention in this episode called "The Children Were Fine" can be downloaded from their website www.thechildrenwerefine.co.uk

Here's what they say about the studies they've undertaken:

"As child psychotherapists working within a Looked After Children’s team, we became concerned about the ways in which children were being moved from foster care into adoption. In our view this was being done very quickly, and with very little contact between children and their foster carers afterwards.
 
Finding a complete lack of research into this area, we carried out a piece of qualitative research, interviewing foster carers, adopters and social workers to analyse in detail five children’s moves into adoption. We found that the emotional experience of the child, particularly their experience of losing their foster carer, became less prominent in people’s minds during this transition. In what is a highly anxious time for the adults we found that for very understandable reasons they lost sight of what was happening emotionally for the child. 

​​We hope this research will generate some much ­needed debate and further research into children’s moves into adoption, or indeed any move from one carer to another. We believe what is needed is a better integration of theory and practice so that we become more sensitive to children’s experiences during this transition, keeping the emotional experience of the child central in people’s minds."
​

Welcome to Conversations About Foster Care!

Married couple, Marika & Kurt chat about the many perspectives in foster care and the ways we can all do better by our kids

In our first season, we focus on an oft overlooked part of the US Foster Care system - Transitions. 

Transitions for kids between homes in the foster care system. Or, it could be from a foster family back to birth family, or from a foster family to a permanent adoptive family - and all the options in between.

Join our very first episode, in which we introduce ourselves (hello!) and tell you who we are and why we are making a podcast. As non-religious foster parents we saw a space in the foster community for us to have an honest conversation about the trauma kids can experience moving homes - and we want to involve every one in the conversation.

Welcome to the table.

We'd love to hear your feedback by emailing us at conversationsaboutfostercare@gmail.com

Thanks and Enjoy!

Marika (Riki) & Kurt & Maverick the dog
xx

Our podcast features music by Chris Haugen "Tupelo Train"
And graphic design by Kenney Ogilvie