Fostering Change
Rob Scheer
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Top 10 Fostering Change Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Fostering Change episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Fostering Change for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Fostering Change episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
10/15/24 • 19 min
"If you have nobody, you have yourself." Lillian Colon
When Lillian Colon shared that phrase above with Rob Scheer when he interviewed her recently, there was a pause in the conversation as those words hit home. Reflect on them for a moment.
On today’s episode of Fostering Change, Rob interviews Lillian Colon, who spent more than a decade in a strict New York City orphanage because her father “thought it would be best” to separate from the mother she adored. With restrictions all around her, she strove to be someone better than anyone ever believed she could. Lilly never knew the care and loving attention of a stable family, but she didn’t let obstacles and family tragedies stand in the way of her dreams.
As a child, after the nuns who ran the orphanage took her to Radio City Music Hall to see the famed “Rockettes, “Lilly was driven to become a dancer. A graduate of New York’s prestigious High School of Performing Arts (if you’ve ever seen the movie Fame,” you’ll understand), Lillian became the first Latina Rockette.
Lillian achieved so much more in her career, having performed with some of the great names in Hollywood and on Broadway, including the legendary Chita Rivera. Most recently, she was the oldest dancer in the Hollywood adaptation of Lin Manuel Miranda’s “In the Heights!”
We celebrate this achievement on the last day of Hispanic Heritage Month.
Lillian shares all this in her memoir Lilly: The First Latina Rockette. This is a truly lovely conversation with a wonderful, good human. We know you will enjoy her growing-up stories and her performance success.
To find out more about what Lillian is up to, please visit her website: https://www.lilliancolon.com/
You can purchase her book here: https://www.lilliancolon.com/product/lilly-book/
Thank you for listening! Of course, if you have any questions or comments about today’s episode or a suggestion for a guest for Fostering Change, please reach out to us at [email protected].
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Overcoming the Haitian Earthquake & Successfully Navigating the US Foster Care and Education Systems!
Fostering Change
09/17/24 • 19 min
Welcome back to Season 6 of Fostering Change!
We hope you enjoyed our first episode of the season with Andrew Bridge. This is a reminder that if you order his book before its publication date, a portion of the sale will go to CASA chapters nationwide. Please visit AndrewBridgeAuthor.com and select the CASA chapter of your choice.
In today’s episode, we have two exceptional guests - one is making her second appearance on our show. Donna Biase co-founded BEST FOOT FORWARD Foundation, a Florida-based organization whose mission is to empower foster care and at-risk youth to become self-sufficient adults and positive contributing members of society through academic achievement.
Having survived the deadly and horrific earthquake that ravaged his home country of Haiti, Elie Merisier was in the foster care system in High School when Best Foot Forward reached out to him to provide assistance with his academic studies. We’ll let you listen to the show for more details, but you should know that despite attending five different high schools, Elie graduated from Florida Atlantic University with a degree in accounting. Today, he is a licensed real estate agent.
We hope you enjoy today’s episode of Fostering Change as much as we think you will. Of course, if you have any questions or comments about our interview with Elie and Donna or have a guest suggestion, please email us at [email protected].
More about Donna and Elie:
To learn more about Elie, please follow him on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092082848694
https://www.instagram.com/elie_merisier/
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/eliemerisier/
To learn more about Best Foot Forward:
facebook.com/bestfootkids
instagram.com/bestfootkids
Twitter/X
twitter.com/bestfootkids
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Damon Davis Shares His Journey Through Life as an Adoptee to Becoming an Adoptive Parent Himself
Fostering Change
12/20/22 • 34 min
Please note that this episode was initially scheduled to air in November, National Adoption Awareness Month. We acknowledge all, such as our guest Damon Davis, who continue raising awareness about adoption.
In this week's episode of Fostering Change, Rob Scheer talks with author and podcast host Damon Davis. Host of the "Who Am I Really?" podcast (www.whoamireallypodcast.com) Damon interviews people who share their stories of adoption and their attempt to find their birth families. He has interviewed nearly 200 adoptees from an array of life experiences from awful adoptions and amazing reunions to inspiring adoptions and unfortunate reunions.
In his autobiography "Who Am I Really? - An Adoptee Memoir" Damon shares his journey to becoming an adoptive parent and his emotions over the birth of his son, Seth. He opens up about the heartbreak of grappling with his adoptive mother's mental illness while balancing the joy of locating his birth mother working nearby. His journey took a twist when he located his biological father via DNA testing.
Story Key Notes:
🖐️Who Am I Really? An Adoptee Memoir
🖐️Changing the Narrative about Adoption
🖐️While many children are very fortunate in our adoptions, let’s acknowledge that adoption starts with trauma.
You can find out more about Damon by visiting:
Website:Whoamireallypodcast.com
Facebook:facebook.com/waireally
Instagram:@damonldavis
Learn more at https://www.comfortcases.org/
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09/20/22 • 21 min
In this week's episode of Fostering Change, Rob Scheer talks with Giovanna Ventola, an entrepreneur and self published children’s book author who lives in Chicago. She wrote the story of her rescue pup, “Waylon’s World” about Waylon’s journey to his forever home with her in the big city. It’s the first children’s book she’s written but she already has plans to add more to the series. Walyon has been the cutest little mascot for kids and he’s a big hit when they do live readings in Chicago.
Story Key Notes:
🖐️ Background on How Giovanna Wrote the Story and a Summary About What It Is.
🖐️ Kids reading books and trying to relate to characters
🖐️ The Book as a Tool to Comfort and Empower Children Going Through Any Type of Change
Purchase “Waylon’s World” here: https://www.readwaylonsworld.com/shop
You can find out more about Giovanna by visiting:
Website: www.readwaylonsworld.com
Instagram: @readwaylonsworld and @giovanna.ventola
TikTok: @readwaylonsworld
Learn more at https://www.comfortcases.org/
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Fostering Change | Joseph Toles
Fostering Change
07/26/22 • 23 min
In this week’s episode of Fostering Change Rob Scheer talks with Joseph Toles, Licensed Mental Health Counselor. Rob and Joseph talk about Joseph’s life living as a former foster child, working in the system, and now adopting kids from the system.
Story Key Notes:
🖐️ Joseph’s Experience in Foster Care and How it Informed Childhood Decisions and Choices
🖐️ How did Joseph’s Experiences Impact Career, Family, Identity Choices?
🖐️ Why did Joseph Decide to Adopt
You can find out more about Joseph by visiting:
Websites: Josephtolesfoundation.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joe.toles.3
Instagram: Instagram.com/tornadotoles
Twitter: Twitter.com/joetoles
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-toles-3b120414/
Learn more at https://www.comfortcases.org/
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Fostering Change | Keri Vellis
Fostering Change
07/19/22 • 30 min
In this week’s episode of Fostering Change Rob Scheer talks with Keri Vellis,
Biological, Adoptive, Foster Mom, Author & Advocate. Keri has 3 biological children & adopted three from foster care. She has fostered over 20 children, written 3 children’s books: Sometimes - for foster children; When I Was Little - for children who have suffered from trauma & abuse, and her latest book, Tummy Mom for adoptive children. Keri has a NonProfit Keris Kids which distributes the books nationally. To find out more about these titles, please visit: https://www.kerivellis.com/
Story Key Notes:
🖐️ “Tummy Mom”
🖐️ “Sometimes”
🖐️ Stigma Around Abuse, Foster Care and Adoption
🖐️ Changing the Laws Around Child Abuse and Visitation Went in Reunification.
You can find out more about Keri by visiting:
Websites: Www.kerivellis.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kerivellisauthor/
Instagram: @Kerivellisauthor
Learn more at https://www.comfortcases.org/
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Fostering Change | Mindy Henderson
Fostering Change
06/28/22 • 29 min
In this week’s episode of Fostering Change Rob Scheer talks with Mindy Henderson, author, editor, speaker, advocate. Henderson is the author of THE TRUTH ABOUT THINGS THAT SUCK, A Motivational Speaker, Writer, Coach, Host of The Truth About Things That Suck podcast, guest contributor of “Morning Motivations” on CBS Austin’s “We Are Austin” lifestyle morning show and was recently named an “Austin Woman to Watch” by Austin Woman Magazine. After a 20-year career in high-tech, Mindy shifted her focus toward helping others realize their potential and normalizing disability. Driven to build a world that welcomes and includes EVERYONE, Mindy advocates for universal design in air travel, architecture, and fashion.
Despite living life from a wheelchair, Mindy’s achievements include:
● Bachelor and Master’s degrees
● Multiple singing appearances on national television (plus a CD recording with George Strait’s guitar and bass players accompanying her!)
● Public speaking addressing thousands of volunteers of the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) and addressing corporate executives for companies such as 7-11, VMware, NXP Semiconductors, 7-Up and Cisco
Story Key Notes:
🖐️ Mindy’s secrets to making things that suck, suck less including her companion podcast The Truth About Things That Suck
🖐️ Mindy’s philosophy, “we can make the impossible possible”
🖐️ Mindy’s journey from Texas to China to adopt her daughter (China is one of the least wheelchair accessible countries in the world)
🖐️ Disability Pride Month
🖐️ News from MDA.org including her high-profile guests on the Quest podcast such Judith Heumann, a legend of the disability rights movement.
You can find out more about Mindy by visiting:
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/MindyHendersonPage
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/mindyhendersonspeaks/
The Truth About Things That Suck Podcast : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-truth-about-things-that-suck/id1533438979
MDA Quest podcast: https://www.mda.org/podcast
Learn more at https://www.comfortcases.org/
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Fostering Change | Shenandoah Chefalo
Fostering Change
06/21/22 • 31 min
In this week’s episode of Fostering Change Rob Scheer talks with Shenandoah Chefalo,Owner/President of Chefalo Consulting: Trauma-Informed Specialist.Shebabdoah is a former foster kid, Author of Garbage Bag Suitcase: A Memoir and owner of Chefalo Consulting. They talk about Looking at the whole person and whole system transformation to create systems of healing.
Story Key Notes:
🖐️ Understanding the impact of trauma on people and the impact of trauma on organizations.
🖐️ That when we look at systems designed to help, we often focus on those they serve.
🖐️ Thinking about intentional actions towards sustainable change.
You can find out more about Shen by visiting:
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/shenandoah.chefalo/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/ShenChefalo
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/garbagebagsuitcase/
Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/hesnandoahchefalo/
Learn more at https://www.comfortcases.org/
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Fostering Change | York Bradshaw
Fostering Change
06/14/22 • 26 min
In this week’s episode of Fostering Change Rob Scheer talks with York Bradshaw, Ph.D. President, Urban Hunger Project, Inc.York Bradshaw had a long career at several universities, where he served as Professor of Sociology and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. His academic work focused on improving education and health in cities in both the U.S. and Africa. More recently, he served as an educational consultant and professional grant writer. And he is now President of the Urban Hunger Project.
Urban Hunger Project is a nonprofit organization that serves food to 2,000 homeless and impoverished people each week in the most forgotten neighborhoods of Baltimore City.
Story Key Notes:
🖐️ What is the current state of homelessness in Baltimore? And how does it compare to other cities?
🖐️ What does the Urban Hunger Project (UHP) do in light of these concerns?
🖐️ What can citizens do to help feed hungry people and alleviate homelessness?
You can find out more about York by visiting:
Facebook: @urbanhungerproject
Instagram: @urbanhungerproject
Learn more at https://www.comfortcases.org/
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Feeling Wanted, Love & Safe: Stories to Change the Lives of Children in Foster Care… FOR THE BETTER!
Fostering Change
01/16/24 • 13 min
Comfort Cases is so lucky to have many friends and supporters from around the world. In 2022 we opened our first international center, Comfort CasesUK (https://comfortcasesuk.org/). On today’s episode, we welcome a guest from England, our friend Kevin Leslie.
Kevin is known for many movie and tv roles, most recently appearing in the Christmas movie: Christmas at the Holly Day Inn. Today on Fostering Change, Rob Scheer talks to Kevin about the new children’s books series he wrote, Granddad Brian & His Stories.
Kevin wrote these books as a creative way of dealing with loss and grief, following the loss of his grandfather to covid. His grandfather loved telling stories and Kevin wanted to share the warmth from his “granddad” with children around the world. He partnered with Comfort Cases and has donated numerous books to our center in the UK!
We know you’ll enjoy today’s episode!
To find out more about Kevin, please visit him on social media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KevinLeslieActor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevinleslieactor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheKevinLeslie
If interested in getting one of Kevin’s books, reach out to him directly at: https://www.instagram.com/grandadbrianstories/
If interested in making a donation to our center in the UK, please visit: https://www.justgiving.com/comfortcasesuk
A reminder that Fostering Change now posts on alternative Tuesdays. So our next episode will drop on Tuesday, January 30. You can always catch up on previous episodes of Fostering Change by visiting www.comfortcases.org/podcast or your favorite podcast outlets.
If you have any comments, questions, or guest suggestions, we’d love to hear from you! Please write to us at [email protected].
As always, thank you for listening!
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FAQ
How many episodes does Fostering Change have?
Fostering Change currently has 244 episodes available.
What topics does Fostering Change cover?
The podcast is about Non-Profit, Adoption, Charity, Kids & Family, Foster Care, Podcast, Podcasts, Business and Inspiring.
What is the most popular episode on Fostering Change?
The episode title 'Turn 2 Foundation’s Sharlee Jeter Shares How Youth Can Reach Their Full Potential' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Fostering Change?
The average episode length on Fostering Change is 29 minutes.
How often are episodes of Fostering Change released?
Episodes of Fostering Change are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of Fostering Change?
The first episode of Fostering Change was released on Jul 16, 2019.
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