Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey

Madame Voodoo is an amazing woman that we met through her business in our area. She has a tattoo shop in Warrenton, MO where Amanda and I met her.  She has a heart for helping others and leaving the world a better place than it is today. Her experience growing up in a family member's home she experienced foster care from a sibling perspective.  Some of her experiences involved kids that were in a...

Lauren Bujorian is an adoptee and a birth mom who realized her own limitations at a time in her life when she became pregnant.  She had a hard choice to make - and her decision has shaped many lives!  She has become active in a support group that supports birth moms in adoption. You can find some of her links here: Caring for Kids (the adoption agency) Caring for birthmothers (Facebook page)   CFB...

Being a trauma-informed human is all about learning what trauma is and the best way to handle people (kids in the foster care system, adopted kids, adults who have been on either journey, and pretty much anyone else who has experienced trauma in their lives).  Robyn Gobbel is a psychotherapist who is currently focused on teaching, training, and writing.  Her clinical focus has always been children...

Darren W Carter and Theresa Carter join us in this episode to talk about their lives, struggles, and joys through the lens of being foster parents. They are both strong parents and business owners located in Cleveland, Ohio. We talked all about bio kids, adopted kids, foster kids, and god kids. We dove into tough questions about learning to guard your heart and working diligently to help bio paren...

Caseworkers in the foster care system get a bad rap. To be fair, there are a few turds in every group of employees.  Most caseworkers are hard-working people who truly care about the children on their caseload.  Libby gives us a personal perspective about what it is like trying to help at-risk youth.  Find us online: https://www.fostercarenation.com Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gr...

This episode contains stories that allude to sexual violence against children. If you have children in the area or are strongly affected by this content you may want to listen to this episode when you are away from small children or not at all if it will affect you negatively. Trauma and childhood sexual abuse are an all-too-common occurrence for kids in foster care. This episode is no different....

We talked with Rebecca Britt from Stable moments a little while back on her podcast. This week we talk to her about how she is helping kids with her program "Stable Moments."  Her journey involved her own trauma and abuse that went unnoticed at a young age and a relationship with a horse that helped her begin to heal her trauma. She began by using a horsemanship program and local volunteers to sha...

Trauma-informed parenting requires us to understand our kids and how they see life through their filters. This week on Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey we talk to Jeremy Roadruck about understanding those traumas and how to understand them while parenting them in the most successful way.  Whether you are a foster, adoptive or biological parent all kids experience some level of their own trauma...

This week on Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey we talk with Beka Dominguez at bark.us about the frightening realities of the dark side of social media and internet access for children. In this episode, we talk about the best practices to keeping your kids safe from online child predators and exactly how bark.us does this without removing all privacy from your child.  Beka also tells us about an...

Foster Care news isn't all bad! Jason and Amanda talk about stories we found in the news around the country related to foster care!   #fostercarenation   Fostering hope in the city of sin The Lost Children of Los Angeles County After spending much of his life in foster care, former foster boy spends much of his time caring for shelter dogs

Sean and his wife devastated when infertility took away their chances to build a family. That was until a movie by The Dave Thomas Foundation "A Home for the Holidays" introduced them to the idea of adoption. It was not as simple as adopting a new puppy, it took a lot of time and dedication to be able to find their daughter and their inspiring story of finding their daughter.

Luke Zitzman is a pilot with the US Coast Guard and a foster dad. He is literally protecting our country from threats, both foreign and domestic! Luke and his wife have had many placements in their home since being stationed at their current duty station in Alabama.  Their relationship with God has played a major role in choosing to take care of children in need.  Living life intentionally is also...

Zoe, a 16-year-old girl found herself in a difficult situation trying to be an adult before her time. After a volatile situation in her bio-mom's home, she tried to go it on her own and ended up dealing with all the problems a young girl might find.  She was eventually picked up by the police and placed in foster care where she was introduced to a Christian family. Her journey led her down some mu...

Today we talked to Rebecca Britt from The Stable Moments Podcast. She found our podcast and wanted to talk to us about our involvement with kids who have experienced trauma and ended up in the foster care system. Her organization, Stable Moments is a mentorship program curriculum utilizing equine-assisted learning and community mentors to achieve life skills for children impacted by early developm...

This episode of Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey was Amanda and I talking with another crazy couple of foster parents. Tom and Courtney Gilmour have an amazing story about coming from foster care and becoming foster parents and how it has shared the heart of their family! We talked about all the things that we hold dear about being a unique family.   

Erin was adopted as an infant from South Korea. Being raised in Minnesota, she was obviously different from most of the kids around her. However, her family and friends made it an enjoyable childhood. Listen as she tells her story of how adoption has become an opportunity for her and blessed her and her family!

Jason and Amanda on a Youtube Live talking about the effects of trauma on adults and the children they are trying to raise. You can see the video on our youtube channel Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey

 Caroline Bailey is from Southwest Missouri. She has worked in child welfare for 18 years. She runs the blog barrentoblessed.com and Facebook Page or Instagram with the same name - barren to blessed. She and her husband fostered for 4 years and adopted 2 children from care. They are that rare family that ended up adopting the only 2 kids placed with them! They also did respite a few times but deci...

This is a youtube live with Jason and Amanda where we are discussing the benefit of FMLA surrounding new placements and needed time off of work and the protection it affords with your employer.  This is a benefit that neither one of us knew about and you may not either. As with anything involving the important things in your life, be sure to contact the experts in your life such as an HR Director...

This week's show is all about saying no. Always be willing to say no if it is the best thing for the kids! This was the audio from a Youtube live video we tried. I think it is going to be a new weekly feature.

Aubren Dudley tells the story of trauma and ramen. Her son opens up and tells her the story that inspired millions of views on her Facebook Post and was featured on Good Morning America. Her training and years of service working with at-risk youth in the foster care system told her the story she was hearing was important to listen to. 19 million Facebook users agreed. Listen as she tells the story...

On this Youtube Live, we talked about the struggles of dealing with and being a social worker or case manager. This topic was inspired by a social media post we saw from this week's guest on the big show. Be sure to check it out too. It is called Trauma and Ramen with Aubren Dudley. Be sure to rate and review the podcast on whatever platform you use!

We are trying something new. We are uploading a video version of these shorter podcasts to youtube on our channel Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey! Let us know what you think!

In this episode of Foster Care: An Unparalleled Journey "Amy" finishes telling her story. She is a rare case of a biological parent with issues that she is willing to talk about. Her riveting story involves overcoming her struggles with drugs. And details her long road back to having a home with her kids. Her openness, honesty, and vulnerability is an amazing opportunity to see foster care from th...

I talked with Mark Savant from the Lifestyle Savant Podcast. We talked about foster care, podcasting, social media and how it affects our ability to get our message out to the masses. It was a great chance to connect with another Dad who is busy changing the world with his mission!