Too many kids age of foster care without a place to live, an education, a job, or even a drivers license. Pamela Bress, Founder of Ready for Life Brevard, shares her experience as an attorney fighting for basic needs for young adults aging out of foster care and how that drove her to start a wrap around program, to meet all needs of this population, so they can become healthy, self-sufficent adults. Check out Ready for Life Brevard here....
Jul 22, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 26
Rebekah was adopted at birth to a white family, in an all white community. She talks to us about how it felt to be the only black girl, how it impacted her ability to develop a sense of identity and how it didn't prepare her for being Black in America. Her perspective allows us to understand what matters to transracial adoptees and how we can be better inclusive of our childrens' cultures. Follow her on social media @onlyblackgirl Follow her blog...
Jul 15, 2020•55 min•Ep. 25
Dr. John Degarmo is the author of several foster care books, including the new book The Little Book of Foster Care Wisdom: 365 Days of Inspiration and Encouragement for Foster Care Families, the best selling book Faith and Foster Care, as well as the foster care children's book A Different Home: A New Foster Child's Story. He is the director of The Foster Care Institute , and acts as a consultant to foster care agencies and legal agencies across the USA. On today's episode he discusses his journ...
Jul 08, 2020•56 min•Ep. 24
In this episode we sit down with Tonja Tristan Johnson who has adopted 7 children and fostered countless more. Her and her husband moved from a smaller suburban house with two cars to a farm house and a 12 passenger van. She shares the importance of giving children a place to land. She tells her children they should never feel lucky to have been adopted. She instills in them that they deserve a forever home and that God loves them. Her life is dedicated to meeting her children's needs even if th...
Jul 01, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 23
In this episode join Dina Shale as she shares how her child trauma history inpired her to find healing through horses, and ultimately open The Way of the Horse to serve others. She explains the benefits of equine therapy as opposed to talk therapy and how she doesn't focus on dredging the past back up and reliving trauma. Rather she equips people to stay attuned to the parts of us that are seeking healing and invites us to work with our inner child to heal those parts. Check out her website here...
Jun 24, 2020•53 min•Ep. 22
Erica Shubin is a mom of 5 chidren, three biological and two children from Ethiopia. When her black son and daughter wanted to ask neighbors about picking up some odd jobs to make extra cash, Erica hesitated to let them go, because she worried about how the world would respond to the color of their skin. Against her gut feeling she let them go, they were 9 and 11 and ended up with an officer at her door responding to a robbery in progress. This experience gave her perspective on just how pervasi...
Jun 17, 2020•52 min•Ep. 21
On this weeks episode we speak with Bekah Bischoff, who always knew she wanted to adopt a child, and that calling was confirmed by complications with her second birth where she had a full hysterectomy. Although it took her time to heal from her birth trauma, she and her husband slowly worked toward starting the foster to adopt process. Bekah tells us what it is like to go through the process of fostering children you so desperately want to adopt. She provides great insight on how to talk to your...
Jun 10, 2020•51 min•Ep. 21
In this episode I interview my aunt who is a social worker who works in Department of Children and Families as someone who maintains and creates policy. We dive into how policy works, what makes good policy and how children's and family's lives are better because of policy work.
Jun 03, 2020•48 min•Ep. 20
In this episode I break down what post adoption services are, my mistakes, lessons learned and top pieces of advice from my experience.
May 27, 2020•46 min•Ep. 20
In this episode I sit down with one of my most favorite people, my husband, who also was a police officer in Atlanta for 10 years who answered many 911 child welfare calls. He gives us a bit of a ride-along, while he shares how cops interact with child protective services and the courts to make sure children are safe.
May 20, 2020•47 min•Ep. 19
I thought it was time we all had a mental health check due to these crazy times, then I realized foster families are always adjusting to a new normal. Kate Neligan is an equine-partnered life/career coach, writer, speaker, and healer who is devoted to the human-animal bond. In this episode we focus on how to stay grounded, permission to live for ourselves and finding the opportunity in tough situations. Follow Kate: Website: https://www.consciousrockstar.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com...
Apr 22, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 17
There is nothing more common among foster children than the feeling of having no choices and feeling like you've lost all control over your life. This feeling was magnified for Tony when he was put in a mental institution while in foster care. Even if there aren't many choices, humans want to feel like they have some say over their care, their future, their life. Listen to Tony's story of how he overcame the foster care system and is a peer counselor for other foster youth today. Follow Tony IG:...
Apr 15, 2020•47 min•Ep. 16
On today's episode Paula tells us about her time in foster care, how being called a "foster kid" caused her to be bullied and the pain she went through being accused of her mother's murder. Paula now trains foster parents on how they can make a difference in the lives of the foster kids they invite into their home. Paula was in 6 placements that didn't have much of an impact at all, and her 7th placement made all the difference in the world. She shares the small but such important details of par...
Apr 08, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 14
This week we discuss the impact Corona Virus is having on foster youth and how we can help. Foster youth who are attending colleges have no place to go now that they are shut down and no campus jobs to work at. Foster homes are less likely to open their homes in a pandemic. Social worker no longer need to put eye's on kids on their caseload and child abuse and neglect cases are skyrocketing in isolation. We can help. Go to www.togetherwerise.org to join the fight....
Apr 01, 2020•22 min•Ep. 14
Hey Y'all. The world is in a crazy place with this pandemic. This is me coming to you real and raw about the state of the world today, what you can do as a foster or adoptive parent or as someone who serves these families.
Mar 25, 2020•33 min•Ep. 13
This week I chat with Shannon who was a victim of growing up abused by her mom's boyfriends. She dives into what it was like to be a victim of abuse and witness domestic violence in her home. Shannon shares what the saving grace was for her and what helped her develop into the stable adult she is today. We also talk about how her brother faired different and wasn't able to recover much from his abuse and neglect. Shannon gives our audience a look into how a child in an unstable environment wishe...
Mar 18, 2020•56 min•Ep. 12
I had the privilege of sitting down with Keia Jones Baldwin from Raising Cultures. She offers a safe space for foster and adoptive families to discuss race along with any other traditional parenting issues. Take Aways: Start having tough conversations. Find a space where you can ask what you need to ask about tough issues like racism so we can work toward being a more understanding and unified community. Be Proud of who you are. It's not about all being the same, it's about honoring everyone's i...
Mar 11, 2020•1 hr•Ep. 11
Hear Kenisha Anthony's story of how the multiple ways the system failed her, inspired her to make change. Kenisha is a first-generation college graduate, award-winning foster care advocate, and author. Known for being resilient and bold, she’s an outspoken activist utilizing her experiences to empower others. As a foster care visionary, she starred in the documentary, Foster Shock and has been featured on NPR and in the Miami Herald. Her eye-opening memoir, Labeled, is her debut. She graduated f...
Mar 04, 2020•57 min•Ep. 10
Today we sit down with Robyn Gobbel to discuss how parenting kids who have experienced trauma and kids who haven't the same. It doesn't matter if they are bio, foster or adopted, they all still need safety, securing and connection. Here are some take aways. The best thing we can do when triggered by our kid is to stop and assess what is going on with ourselves. Working on yourself will free you up to be more available for a child whether it is your child or just one you interact with. Rather tha...
Feb 26, 2020•57 min•Ep. 9
In this episode hear from Melissa and Lisa from the Adoption Connection. The Adoption Connection provides post adoption resources and friends who understand. You will gain confidence in your parenting and hope for your family's future. They offer hope, share wisdom, and mentor you foster and adoptive parents. In this episode there are three major take aways: 1. Go Big or Go Home, but know when to go home Foster and adoptive families typically go big or go home by accepting many, many children in...
Feb 19, 2020•56 min•Ep. 8
In this episode we talk to Jason and Amanda Palmer who are both foster and adoptive parents. They also have their own podcast Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey . Jason and Amanda Palmer have been together for the last 20 years. Altogether they have laid claim to 7 full-time children and fostered roughly 20 kids in their home. Right now, they have 4 and 6-year-old boys Turtle and Twitch, a 12-year-old daughter Jahnyia, and 14 and 19-year-old boys Desean and Austin. Our 21-year-old son CJ is ma...
Feb 12, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 7
Melissa came into care as mental illness and substance abuse rendered her biological parents unable to care for her properly. She was in 3 foster homes in 2 years until she was adopted at four years old. She recalls what it was like to be in care and how being adopted has impacted her life. She tells the complicated story of trying to build a relationship with her biological father and the heartbreaking story of finally finding her biological mother. Melisa lives in a suburb of Atlanta, with her...
Feb 05, 2020•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 6
In this episode we sit down with Judge Ashley Willcott to learn about how the courts play a role in child welfare. Ashley has a heart for children in Foster Care and has spent her career fighting for their well being. Ashley Willcott is a Certified Child Welfare Law Specialist and an experienced trial attorney. She has practiced in various capacities in juvenile courts since 1992 including as a parents attorney; guardian ad litem; a Special Assistant Attorney General representing the Department ...
Jan 24, 2020•55 min•Ep. 5
In this episode I speak with Nicole Hartman an amazing adoptive and foster parent who has a unique perspective on how important loving on and supporting biological parents is. She has fostered 19 children and talks about the real obstacles and also how rewarding fostering has been. After losing three babies of her own, she started a nonprofit All Embrace , to support families who suffered a loss during pregnancy. It was her own infertitlity journey that lead her to adopt and then foster. She bri...
Jan 22, 2020•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 4
Trauma and trauma-informed are buzzwords and depending the context you hear them in they can mean different things. In relation to this podcast trauma refers to developmental trauma. That means trauma that happened during core years of development, usually en utero through 8 years of age. In this episode we discuss the impact of trauma on human development and explore some trauma-informed approaches we can take while interacting with kids who are in foster care or have been adopted. This is non-...
Jan 14, 2020•50 min•Ep. 3
In this episode we talk about what lead me to start the Stable Moments program and it's very rocky beginnings. After suffering trauma as an adolescent I was on a path of destruction. Horses saved me and inspired me to learn about natural horsemanship. Later I became a social worker, to help unseen people like me. The only job hiring was a post-adoption case manager, and I got the job. I learned about kids with trauma and was blown away by the correlations between natural horsemanship and therape...
Jan 07, 2020•30 min•Ep. 2
In this episode we’ll be discussing my take on how we end the foster care crisis and how that ties into why I started Stable Moments. With the possibilities on the horizon of Stable Moments serving more and more children, I have recently decided to more boldy state our why, and that is ending the foster care crisis. Good efforts are always nice, but to what end? By making this statement, people realize, although our program is based on one on one mentorship, this work is directly related to chan...
Dec 26, 2019•15 min•Ep. 1
Stable Moments is starting a podcast! Stable Moments develops life skills in foster and adopted children through community mentorship. With nearly 500,000 children in foster care in the US, we have a foster care crisis, and I have some strong ideas about how we end this crisis. The Stable Moments podcast will be a place that unites all players involved and people affected by the foster care system, so we can work together to end the foster care crisis. We already know that children in foster car...
Dec 22, 2019•3 min
