The Forgotten Podcast

Tyler Daily wasn’t planning on becoming a foster parent. But his work in education as a middle school teacher ended up becoming the gateway to foster care. Foster parents are so important in the foster care community, and single foster parents are an incredible group of people. There is no specific data on the number of single foster parents nationwide; however, the 2019 Child Welfare Outcomes report shows that single parents make up 29% of the adoptive family structure with just 3% of that number being single men. Parenting alone presents a lot of challenges that other foster parents may not encounter. As Tyler has fostered 7 children in the course of one year, he says, “It’s a circus, but it’s a fun circus!” I pray you are encouraged by his story and experience this week. Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/tyler-daily-178/ Learn More About Samaritan Ministries: https://samaritanministries.org/theforgottenpodcast

Welcome back to The Forgotten Podcast! I am eager to share another story from the foster care community with you this week. My guest today is a foster parent herself, but she primarily works alongside birth parents and infants recovering from drug withdrawal. Heather Simpson is a mom to four biological boys, a foster parent, and a charge nurse at Brigid’s Path, an infant recovery center. In today’s episode, she is sharing how she got connected to the foster care community, what it looks like for infants to withdraw from drug exposure, and the perspective shift she has made from working closely with birth moms. Listen in as Heather shares her important perspective with us! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/heather-simpson-177/ Learn More About Samaritan Ministries: https://samaritanministries.org/theforgottenpodcast

Bethany and her husband, Benji, originally planned to foster school-age kids or older and did not plan to accept any babies. But when they got the call for Journey, they couldn’t say no. Little did they know she would be diagnosed with a brain tumor with an unknown prognosis and months of appointments and treatments that followed. Today on the podcast, I’m thrilled to be able to have one of our TFI Advocates, Bethany Riley, with me. Bethany first had a heart for international adoption but as newlyweds, her husband Benji and herself were led to foster care in the United States. She has been a foster parent to teens and little ones for the past 15 years. Her story isn’t just one of diverse experiences of foster parenting, but also of adoption and loss and grief. Their daughter, Journey, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. As they walked through the challenges of her complicated medical treatment as foster parents, they made the decision to adopt her regardless of the outcome of her treatment. They finalized her adoption just eight days before she passed away. The journey isn’t always easy, but it is worth it. I think that’s the message you’ll walk away with after today’s conversation. Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/bethany-riley-176/ Get 10% off BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/tfi

When loss, grief, hardships, or tragedy hit our own lives, most of us are ill-prepared to deal with it.  Davey Blackburn experienced an unbelievable tragedy when he came home to find his pregnant wife had been shot during a home invasion. She would pass away just 24 hours later, leading him on a journey of learning to process the loss and grief he felt at the sudden loss. While Davey’s story isn’t directly about foster care or adoption, it is about a topic that I think affects many of us in the foster care community. This is the question of what we do with pain and how we handle traumatic events. In this conversation, you’ll hear Davey’s story, truths he has learned about the healing process, where many of us need to shift our view of God, and much more. I hope this episode is as meaningful to you as it has been to me. Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/davey-blackburn-175/ Use code "forgottenpod" for 10% off the Who Loves Series: https://www.wholovesseries.org/  

TW: There are brief mentions in this episode of abuse, self-harm, and suicide, which we wanted you to be aware of before listening. There are some episodes of the podcast that simply pack so much wisdom into a short conversation. This is one of those episodes. Children enter foster care for many different reasons. And despite some of the hard work we do to overcome and heal from the past, our stories can still be messy. My guest knows this all too well! Kristen Thomas entered into kinship care after suffering abuse, but experienced deep-rooted challenges when she felt misunderstood, unsupported, and became homeless after aging out of care. As an adult, Kristen has taken the time to move towards healing those parts of her past. Today, she is going to grad school for Counseling and is an adoptive parent to her daughter, with only a 10-year age difference between them. Kristen is very well-spoken and I greatly appreciated her coming onto the show. I know you will be encouraged by her story! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/kristen-thomas-174/ Get 10% off BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/tfi

Welcome back to The Forgotten Podcast! In this episode, I have the opportunity to talk with Shyann Skelton. Shyann came from a broken home where she did not know her biological father. After her mother’s death, she was adopted by her grandmother, but experienced deep pain through loss, bullying, and hardships as she was rejected by family for being biracial. Shyann’s story begins with odds that were stacked against her, but she has taken those experiences and used them for good! As an adult, Shyann is a foster mom to teen girls and soon will be working with a nonprofit whose goal is to fill the gap while children are waiting for foster homes. Thank you for listening to her story! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/shyann-skelton-173/ Use code "forgottenpod" for 10% off the Who Loves Series: https://www.wholovesseries.org/  

We love bringing you stories from the foster care community as a way to encourage and equip you in your foster care journey. I’m excited to be able to share my conversation with not only a foster parent and adoptive parent, but the Executive Director of a non-profit whose mission is to help aging-out youth.  My guest is Nick Sgarlata. Nick and his wife, Carrie, started fostering in 2015. Today, he works closely with aging-out youth through Bridge to Brighter in Wisconsin. Nick has three biological children, two adoptive children, has fostered 15 children, and they just renewed their foster care license.  My hope is that you will benefit from hearing about the unique work that Nick does with aging out youth and connect with his experience as a foster parent. He has a generous heart, and I’m eager to share this episode with you! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/nick-sgarlata-172/ Get 10% off BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/tfi

Today on the podcast, we are talking about a special kind of care in the foster care community called kinship care. Kinship care is when children are cared for by grandparents, extended family members, or unrelated adults with whom they have a close family-like relationship. Caregivers providing kinship care often face unique challenges and abrupt changes to their life plans. In addition to dealing with the circumstances leading to the need for kinship care, their lives are overhauled with the unexpected introduction of the child now in their care. Sharing her experience with us is Rachel Mahnke, a Certified Wellness Coach, Trauma Informed Parent, Life Coach, Therapeutic Art Facilitator, author, and adoptive parent of her biological grandchildren. When life took an unexpected turn, Rachel went from a soon-to-be empty nester to providing kinship care to her two little grandchildren. This episode holds so much wisdom and honesty, and I am eager to share it with you! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/rachel-mahnke-171/ Use code "forgottenpod" for 10% off the Who Loves series: https://www.wholovesseries.org/

The LGBTQIA+ conversation has intersected with foster care heavily in recent years and it has prompted many people in the foster care community to have questions such as: How can we care for our LGBTQ+ kids as foster parents who hold to a traditional view of marriage? How should the Church come alongside LGBTQ+ foster parents who do not hold to the traditional view of marriage? And many more. If you are unaware of what each of the letters stands for or haven’t seen the “IA” part of LGBTQIA+ here’s what each letter represents: L – lesbian, G – gay, B – bisexual, T – transgender, Q – queer, I – intersex, A – asexual. The “+” indicates many more that could be mentioned, but I’ll pause there for now. I’m thrilled to have Laurie Krieg with me as we navigate this topic of sexuality and gender through the lens of the Gospel. Laurie identified a default to a same-sex attraction when she was starting at five years old. She wrestled with what this meant for her Christian faith throughout her young adult life. Laurie identifies as both a Christ-follower and a part of the LGBTQ+ community and has been on the front lines of the sexuality conversation since 2014. Today, Laurie is the president of Impossible Ministries, a coaching ministry with the mission to equip the Church with a gospel-centered approach to marriage and sexuality. Laurie is also a coach, speaker, author, podcaster, mom to three, and has a mixed-orientation marriage with her husband, Matt. This conversation is so important, and I want to encourage you to listen in! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/laurie-krieg-170/ Get 10% off BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/tfi

I love every time I get the opportunity to talk with Jenn Hook here on the ol’ podcast! Jenn has a deep passion for the adoptive and foster care communities. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Replanted—a ministry that helps empower the Church to support adoptive and foster families by providing emotional, tangible, and informational support.  Last time I spoke with Jenn, we discussed her first book, Replanted, and navigating reunification.  In this episode, Jenn is back with a new book that builds on the foundation laid by her first book. In this new book, Thriving Families, Jenn provides resources for navigating the grief children in foster care feel, maintaining relationships with biological parents, preserving the cultural background of your child, and much more. We’re diving into some of those same topics today, and I hope our conversation is a great encouragement to you this week! Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/jenn-hook-169/ Use code "forgottenpod" for 10% off the Who Loves Series: https://www.wholovesseries.org/