Send us a text Jayne Amelia speaks with Jacqueline Robles , a former foster youth, and a relentless determined powerhouse of a young woman who aged out of the system and made her own way... jumping through hoop after hoop with the hoops always changing and ever higher. Identifying as both Indigenous and Latina, Jacqueline is set on a career to “level the playing field” for communities of color. Jacqueline’s expertise lies in community engagement, policy, and working with historically disadvantag...
May 26, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Send us a text Jayne Amelia speaks with foster care alumnus and abolitionist, Regina Louise. Regina is a sought-after speaker, teacher, coach, and author. Recently she was the recipient of the prestigious Christopher Award, given to producers for stories that “affirm the human spirit.” In 2019 she received the Jordan Award for service in transforming foster care through advocacy and the arts; the Community Service Award for Children and Families from the Seneca Foundation; and the NAIMC Vision A...
May 19, 2023•50 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Send us a text Jayne Amelia speaks with artist and foster sibling, Elle Fox. Elle, a high school student, has been sketching for as long as she can remember. Growing up in a family that fostered children, Elle draws on her experience of life, love, and loss while sharing her heart and home for a period of time with numerous babies and children. As an author, illustrator, and entrepreneur, Elle launched Elle Fox Art to showcase her illustrations and share the aspects of life that Inspire her. "He...
May 12, 2023•34 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Send us a text Jayne Amelia speaks with former foster youth, Adisa. Adisa compares himself to a lion cub who had to fight for survival all his young life against the bigger badder lions all so hungry and looking to feed. Born in Long Beach to a single mom who was declared unfit to raise her children, he grew up on the streets of Los Angeles. Adisa and his siblings were removed from her and placed in foster care. Adisa was only nine at the time (but already considered himself a "hoodlum" as he sa...
May 05, 2023•55 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Send us a text Jayne Amelia talks with therapist Dr. Mimi Savage . In this episode Mimi describes her upbringing: "My parents are not who I am. My mother's a white woman, my father's a black man. I am born of the two of them, a melange, a mixture. But I had to find my way. And it's not just about race. As I say this to your listeners, everyone needs to find their way. And it's foster care, it's psychiatric units, it's the world, it's the women on skid row whom I've become very close to, many of ...
Oct 21, 2022•48 min•Season 2Ep. 38
Send us a text Jayne Amelia speaks with former foster youth Jeremiah McWright. Jeremiah is from Sacramento, California. At 15, his four siblings and he were removed from their family and put into the system. After two years and 15 placements, Jeremiah was shipped to a low-level group home in San Francisco. He started his career at 17 in San Francisco as a cinematographer for the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. He's since spent over 2000 hours behind the camera in situations of every kind...
Oct 14, 2022•52 min•Season 2Ep. 37
Send us a text Jayne Amelia speaks with foster and adoptive mom, Jennifer Stern. Jennifer and her husband decided to become a foster family after realizing their dinner table was too quiet and knowing they had space in their home and hearts to welcome more children. They wanted to foster after learning how great the need is for foster families who can provide a safe and loving home for children in the system. They are grateful every day for their non-traditional path toward expanding their famil...
Oct 07, 2022•47 min•Season 2Ep. 36
Send us a text Jayne Amelia speaks with Kendra Lukens. In her words: “ My name is Kendra, I spent my entire life going in and out of the foster system after the death of my father in 2012. This started a spiral of abusive homes, and losing hope in a lot of people. After recently aging out at 18, I started a podcast of my own, HEAR US YELL, where I’m able to bring more people together through a common factor of the foster system. I will also be going to college to study criminal justice and socia...
Sep 30, 2022•37 min•Season 2Ep. 35
Send us a text Jayne Amelia speaks with Emi Nietfeld . Emi is the author of the memoir Acceptance, published by Penguin Press. A former foster youth, she graduated from Harvard in 2015 and worked as a software engineer at Google and Facebook. Her work has appeared in The New York Times , Vice , and Slate , been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and noted in The Best American Essays . She lives in New York City with her family. Emi is now a full-time writer and speaker. https://linktr.ee/eminietf...
Sep 23, 2022•57 min•Season 2Ep. 34
Send us a text Jayne Amelia speaks with Breyon Johnson. Breyon is a former foster youth and now a student at Santa Monica college studying to be a storyboard artist and writer. She’s currently working as an intern at Better Youth, a nonprofit that helps youth who face adversity get their foot in the door in entertainment to work in film, video games and animation; and she's also working at Skydance. Breyon worked at other internships making films and creating content that can help former foster ...
Sep 16, 2022•47 min•Season 2Ep. 33
Send us a text Jayne Amelia talks with activist David Ambroz. David is a national poverty and child welfare expert and advocate, and author of a new memoir “A Place Called Home.” He was recognized by President Obama as an American Champion of Change . Currently serving as the Head of Community Engagement (West) for Amazon, Ambroz previously led Corporate Social Responsibility for Walt Disney Television, and has served as president of the Los Angeles City Planning Commission as well as a Californ...
Sep 09, 2022•53 min•Season 2Ep. 32
Send us a text Jayne Amelia talks with Syd Stewart. Syd is a poet, actor and filmmaker, and the author of two books of poetry, A Rock and A Hard Place (iUniverse, 2010) and Babylon Graffiti (Zeitgeist Press, 2019). Syd was featured in films Hughes’ Dream Harlem and Everyday People, and has appeared in The New York Times, Variety, and People Magazine. Most recently, Stewart’s work was selected by the National Endowment For The Arts’ 50th Anniversary. Just recently, she was a staffed television wr...
Sep 02, 2022•39 min•Season 2Ep. 31
Send us a text Jayne Amelia speaks with Ångela Quijada Banks . Ångela is a former foster youth and an NAACP Image Awards Nominee and American Award-winning author of the Black Foster Youth Handbook. As a certified holistic health coach she supports women impact leaders to get re-energized for life and reconnected to their purpose, passions and personal relationships. She is the founder of Soulful Liberation, a movement to liberate oneself and also the community. As a transformational speaker and...
Aug 26, 2022•57 min•Season 2Ep. 30
Send us a text Jayne Amelia speaks with filmmaker Akhim Dev. Dev has over 20 years of experience in broadcast television and digital content. His credits include writing and directing on "The 3G of US" for SBS, "Storm Surfers" for Firelight Productions, and "The Final Sacrifice" for Discovery and National Geographic. His new film "The Children In The Pictures" takes us inside Task Force Argos, a renowned Australian-based police investigative team, as they go undercover to rescue children from on...
Aug 19, 2022•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 29
Send us a text Jayne Amelia Larson speaks with adoptee and survivor Kimberly Bell. Kimberly is an inspirational speaker, minister, mentor, and the author of "The Epitome of Kimmy: Accept & Embrace It All” an eye-opening memoir depicting her true story of a life of abandonment, sexual and physical abuse from a very young age, and her healing journey that followed. She’s originally from Salisbury, Maryland, and holds two degrees; one in Human Growth & Development/Psychology and the other i...
Aug 10, 2022•45 min•Season 2Ep. 28
Send us a text Jayne Amelia talks with Jeffrey Jamerson . Jeffrey has over 25 years of experience in the public sector serving at-risk youth and families in various capacities, most recently as the Vice President of Programs and Services at Aviva Family & Children’s Services in Los Angeles, CA. Over the past few years Jeff has created a shift in how therapy is conducted with foster children, he has integrated Narrative and Expressive Arts modalities with Digital Media Art, which he calls Exp...
Aug 05, 2022•55 min•Season 2Ep. 27
Send us a text Jayne Amelia talks with Sana Latrease Cotten, who was trafficked by her mother and grandmother as a young child, put in foster care and was then adopted but even so never really felt she belonged with her new family. Later, when she learned of her own mother's traumatic past, Sana learned how to forgive her and also to advocate for others in need. "Sana is the Founder of Unashamed, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit organization which fosters emotional health in disadvantaged families tha...
Jul 29, 2022•42 min•Season 2Ep. 26
Send us a text Jayne Amelia talks with Jordan Bartlett who was adopted at birth by a loving family . As a young college student, Jordan met his biological sister (for the very first time) who'd been placed in foster care, bounced from home to home, and had a very rough time. As a young businessman, he committed myself to helping kids in care as they age out, and he's a CASA too! Jordan is the Co-Founder and Director of Good at Doing Good Works, a certified B-Corporation that provides resources a...
Jul 22, 2022•48 min•Season 2Ep. 25
Send us a text Jayne Amelia speaks with foster parent, Mary Rathbone. Mary, her husband Alan and their daughter Chloe started their foster care journey in 2017. Their very first placement was a sibling group of four, aged 6, 4, 3 and 1. Mary admits that after a month she nearly had a nervous breakdown with the adjustments in lifestyle and mindset fostering requires. Having worked at top hotels in NYC and Chicago before spending ten years in technology in Seattle and seven years working overseas,...
Jul 15, 2022•59 min•Season 2Ep. 24
Send us a text Jayne Amelia Larson speaks with former foster youth and survivor, Lisa Marie Arnett. Lisa Marie endured 36 placements and horrific abuse from the age of 2 on until she aged out of foster care at 18. She was then homeless for 3 years but even so, she managed to put herself through college and then joined the Army. She's now a helicopter mechanic, and raising a beautiful young daughter and practicing 'gentle parenting' which she never had but has learned to practice to raise a happy...
Jul 08, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 2Ep. 23
Send us a text Jayne Amelia talks with Raquel Wilson, a former foster youth and now advocate from Compton . Raquel is the the program manager for the Fostering Media Connections Youth Voice program, and has been an advocate for youth affected by the foster care system, juvenile justice system, homelessness, or coined “at-risk” and has dedicated over 10 years to empowering youth and helping them develop both personally and professionally. She holds a master’s degree in Grant Writing, Management, ...
Jul 01, 2022•41 min•Season 2Ep. 22
Send us a text Jayne Amelia speaks with CASA Cathy Horan Walker. CASA Cathy Horan Walker is from Monterey, California. She promised herself she would become a CASA after her two sons graduated highschool and that’s what she did. Cathy believes it was her calling to become a CASA and her CASA kiddo Ryan Moses says she saved his life many times over. “I was a middle school math teacher for 26 years before I moved on to become a Financial Advisor 25 years ago. I have been married to my husband for ...
Jun 24, 2022•39 min•Season 2Ep. 21
Send us a text Jayne Amelia speaks with former foster youth Ryan Moses. Ryan went into foster care when he was a small child and had 12 placements in 8 different school districts. At 10 he advocated for himself, called the Monterey CASA office and got himself a CASA who changed his life. But he still had to overcome massive challenges including substance abuse that almost took his life; he continues to advocate for himself, and now he does so for other foster youth as well. He’s the Founder and ...
Jun 17, 2022•49 min•Season 2Ep. 20
Send us a text Jayne Amelia speaks with Allison Lieberman. Allison is a licensed marriage and family therapist, postpartum anxiety expert, mom of 2, and 2x postpartum anxiety survivor. Part of Allison's early training including treating foster kids at emergency shelters and crisis centers where many of the young women and men are very vulnerable to being sex trafficked, and she describes how that happens in this episode. Allison is the co-founder of Rooted in Harmony Counseling, a California-bas...
Jun 10, 2022•47 min•Season 2Ep. 19
Send us a text Jayne Amelia speaks with CASA volunteer and book publisher, Rachel Malley. Rachel started volunteering as a Court Appointed Special Advocate in 2019 when she learned about the power of best-interest advocacy for children who have experienced abuse or neglect. During that time she has worked with three wonderful children, and witnessed the ups and downs of Care and Protection cases. At the time of this writing, all the of the three children are in loving and supportive homes. In ad...
Jun 03, 2022•47 min•Season 2Ep. 18
Send us a text Jayne Amelia talks with adoptee Maria Harding. Maria was adopted at birth but always considered a problem child by her mother. Her parents split when she was little and when her mother remarried, she was adopted by her mom's new husband but things only got worse for Maria with her adoptive mother. Her mother put her in foster care when she was 11 , and she was in and out of foster homes, group homes, and her mother's home for the next seven years. When Maria aged out at 18, she se...
May 27, 2022•42 min•Season 2Ep. 17
Send us a text Jayne Amelia talks with Hank Fortener, the founder of AdoptTogether, "who understands the burdensome blessing that is the adoption process". His family fostered 36 children and adopted 6 from 5 different countries while he was growing up. He knows firsthand how painful & euphoric adopting a child can be, and it is this experienced heart for adoption that drives AdoptTogether. In the past 10 years they've helped over 5,000 families raise over 30 million dollars to adopt childre...
May 20, 2022•52 min•Season 2Ep. 16
Send us a text Jayne Amelia talks with Megan Elizabeth Ward. Megan and her wife, Amanda McMillan, started fostering in the Fall of 2017 as a kinship family via ICPC. Following a successful reunification, Amanda and Megan transitioned to a DFCS partnership home and haven’t looked back since. Fast forward almost 5 years and 40+ placements, Amanda and Megan have provided a loving home to kiddos of all ages, backgrounds, and needs – sometimes for just a few hours and sometimes for many years. They h...
May 13, 2022•49 min•Season 2Ep. 15
Send us a text Jayne Amelia talks with Peace4kids.org Co-Founder and Executive Director Zaid Gayle. During his tenure at Peace4Kids, Zaid has had the opportunity to blend his experience in the film industry as a Coordinator and Assistant Director to ensure that media is an integral part of improving the lives of foster youth. Most specifically, Zaid was the lead in designing and launching the Peapod Music & Arts Academy in 2008 at the Watts/Willowbrook Boys & Girls Club. The Peapod Music...
May 06, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Season 2Ep. 14
Send us a text Jayne Amelia Larson talks with Dave Hudson who was born in Watts and adopted at birth. Later as an adult, with the help pf Pam Slaton, he met his biological father and siblings but unfortunately his mother had passed before he could find her. David is an Emmy® Award-winning creative executive with more than two decades of experience in creating content for both television and digital platforms. Hudson is Head of Original Programming for the new Scripps Networks (ION, Bounce, Laff,...
Apr 29, 2022•51 min•Season 2Ep. 13
