Fostering Voices Podcast

This week we are happy to have an interview with Robert Watson, pastor, and newly published author! He wrote 'Upside Down Crown', and the premise of the book is based on the only sermon that Jesus ever preached - which is the Sermon on the Mount .

Season 4 is here, and we are so excited to bring you 20 brand new episodes! This week we talk about what our insane summer looked like, as we took 8 weeks off of the podcast. This is not an actually recommended guide.

We do a brief book review on 'Garbage Bag Suitcase' by Shenandoah Chefalo. It's a memoir of Shenandoah's life - filled with difficult years with her mother and a man she thought was her father, and difficult years in foster care, and aging out of the system.

This week we have a great interview with the lovely Lindsey Stamm, the Operations manager at Arizona127.  Arizona127 is an AMAZING organization that exists to recruit, develop, and sustain foster family through training and events. They want to help foster children, and support the families who foster them.

Gotcha Day. This is common vernacular for adoptive families. We just celebrated this day as it's been two years since we adopted our Wesley! But then we got to thinking - is it ok to call it that? How do adoptees feel about the word and the day itself?

A flamboyance is a group of 6 flamingos. And our guest this week, Anna Saunders, loves flamingos, and happens to be a part of a family of 6! Anna and her husband Woody, have been fostering for about 3 years now, and have had the privilege of caring for 11 children in that time!

This week's topic of discussion is to remember to be kind when communicating with others -whether it's your spouse, your foster kids, your coworkers, anyone you interact with! Everyone has things going on beneath the surface that you may know nothing about.

This episode is near and dear to our hearts as we have Kevin and Bekah Tinter joining us on the podcast! The Tinters are GREAT supporters of our podcast, but more than that - the Tinters are the amazing family that has adopted one of our sweet foster babes! They share about the many highs and lows that they experienced as a family through this journey.

This episode covers how we transitioned our sweet 10 month old, Winston Churchill, to his new forever home. There were lots of tears - before, during, and after. Because foster care is so hard. And it is not for the weak at heart. But this experience has certainly made us so much stronger! And it helps that our precious boy is with the most incredible new placement.

This episode features a GaL, a Guardian ad Litem, who is a 'best interest attorney' for children in foster care. Kim Turner has been practicing Juvenile Law for 15 years, and has such an amazing heart for youth in foster care, and their families. She shares valuable insight into laws, statutes, and other resources that can help foster and adoptive families.

This episode features a law enforcement officer who shares signs and symptoms of drug abuse in your children.

An interview with the Estradas who are at the beginning of their foster care journey. They share some of the hiccups they had while getting licensed, and they ask us lots of great questions about what to expect while fostering.

A review of Dr. Carol Dweck's book, Mindset. Having a growth mindset is all the rage, but how do you do that? And why this is so important to teach all children, especially ones in foster care?

This episode features our 12 year old daughter, Lily, who has been a foster sibling for 5 years now! She shares the good and the hard, and whether or not she thinks fostering kids is worth the pain and hardship.

A review of The Boy Crisis by Warren Farrell, PhD and John Gray, PhD. Talking about the purpose void that boys find themselves in, and what we can all do to help them through it.