S3E7: Soul Family - Young People Choose Their Circle of Caring Adults
06/12/23 • 28 min
REFCA Champion Patty Chin is a visionary advocate for young people in foster care. Using her lived expertise, she created a compelling new option to support the needs of the 20,000 youth who age out of foster care every year without the benefit of a legal, permanent family. It’s called Soul Family.
SOUL Family allows a young person to identify and design their chosen circle of caring adults who have a legal role in their lives. SOUL Family adults provide support, opportunity, unity and legal relationships for young people ages 16 and older as they move from foster care to adulthood. At this critical point of development, young people need the anchor of a nurturing, lifelong family. Patty is working with the Annie E. Casey Foundation to pilot the SOUL Family model.
Welcome back to INNOVATE! for Season Three! This season, host Angela Tucker highlights REFCA Champions who are inspiring a Re-Envisioning of Foster Care in America. These visionary leaders are using their wisdom, expertise and lived experiences in foster care to transform the foster care narrative from Alaska to New York, California to Missouri, the Pacific Northwest to New England.
To learn more about INNOVATE!, the Re-Envisioning Foster Care in America (REFCA) Movement and the Treehouse Foundation, go to treehousefoundation.net. As always, be sure to like and subscribe to the podcast to be notified when new episodes are released.
***
ABOUT THE HOST:
INNOVATE! host, Angela Tucker, is a REFCA Champion and a nationally recognized mentor, entrepreneur, educator and consultant. Angela is a transracial adoptee who, having been adopted from foster care by a white family, grew up in a city that was demographically just 1% Black.
She is the Founder of The Adopted Life, a child-welfare consulting business where she strives to center adoptee stories and bring clarity and truth to narratives about race, class and identity.
Angela is the author of You Should Be Grateful: Stories Of Race, Identity, and Transracial Adoption. She has hosted the previous two seasons of INNOVATE!, and currently works as the Executive Director of the Adoptee Mentoring Society.
***
Angela Tucker - Host & Producer
Nicholas Ramsey - Editor & Producer
Judy Cockerton - Executive Producer
REFCA Champion Patty Chin is a visionary advocate for young people in foster care. Using her lived expertise, she created a compelling new option to support the needs of the 20,000 youth who age out of foster care every year without the benefit of a legal, permanent family. It’s called Soul Family.
SOUL Family allows a young person to identify and design their chosen circle of caring adults who have a legal role in their lives. SOUL Family adults provide support, opportunity, unity and legal relationships for young people ages 16 and older as they move from foster care to adulthood. At this critical point of development, young people need the anchor of a nurturing, lifelong family. Patty is working with the Annie E. Casey Foundation to pilot the SOUL Family model.
Welcome back to INNOVATE! for Season Three! This season, host Angela Tucker highlights REFCA Champions who are inspiring a Re-Envisioning of Foster Care in America. These visionary leaders are using their wisdom, expertise and lived experiences in foster care to transform the foster care narrative from Alaska to New York, California to Missouri, the Pacific Northwest to New England.
To learn more about INNOVATE!, the Re-Envisioning Foster Care in America (REFCA) Movement and the Treehouse Foundation, go to treehousefoundation.net. As always, be sure to like and subscribe to the podcast to be notified when new episodes are released.
***
ABOUT THE HOST:
INNOVATE! host, Angela Tucker, is a REFCA Champion and a nationally recognized mentor, entrepreneur, educator and consultant. Angela is a transracial adoptee who, having been adopted from foster care by a white family, grew up in a city that was demographically just 1% Black.
She is the Founder of The Adopted Life, a child-welfare consulting business where she strives to center adoptee stories and bring clarity and truth to narratives about race, class and identity.
Angela is the author of You Should Be Grateful: Stories Of Race, Identity, and Transracial Adoption. She has hosted the previous two seasons of INNOVATE!, and currently works as the Executive Director of the Adoptee Mentoring Society.
***
Angela Tucker - Host & Producer
Nicholas Ramsey - Editor & Producer
Judy Cockerton - Executive Producer
Previous Episode
S3E6: How Mandatory Reporters Could Become Mandated Supporters
REFCA Champion Jasmine Snell has a dream: to create a primary school that supports two generations of Americans - children and their parents; a community based resource that is available to children experiencing foster care and their peers. While bringing her vision to fruition, Jas uses her lived experience to coach young people living in foster care as well as to mentor young adults experiencing substance dependence or who are on a mental health journey. Her stellar advocacy and visionary leadership are truly inspiring.
Welcome back to INNOVATE! for Season Three! This season, host Angela Tucker highlights REFCA Champions who are inspiring a Re-Envisioning of Foster Care in America. These visionary leaders are using their wisdom, expertise and lived experiences in foster care to transform the foster care narrative from Alaska to New York, California to Missouri, the Pacific Northwest to New England.
To learn more about INNOVATE!, the Re-Envisioning Foster Care in America (REFCA) Movement and the Treehouse Foundation, go to treehousefoundation.net. As always, be sure to like and subscribe to the podcast to be notified when new episodes are released.
***
ABOUT THE HOST:
INNOVATE! host, Angela Tucker, is a REFCA Champion and a nationally recognized mentor, entrepreneur, educator and consultant. Angela is a transracial adoptee who, having been adopted from foster care by a white family, grew up in a city that was demographically just 1% Black.
She is the Founder of The Adopted Life, a child-welfare consulting business where she strives to center adoptee stories and bring clarity and truth to narratives about race, class and identity.
Angela is the author of You Should Be Grateful: Stories Of Race, Identity, and Transracial Adoption. She has hosted the previous two seasons of INNOVATE!, and currently works as the Executive Director of the Adoptee Mentoring Society.
***
Angela Tucker - Host & Producer
Nicholas Ramsey - Editor & Producer
Judy Cockerton - Executive Producer
Next Episode
S3E8: Healed People Heal People
2023 REFCA Champion Keri Hope Richmond is a change maker, storyteller, and a passionate advocate for children and families. She is the manager of child welfare policy for the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Executive Director of Unbelievably Resilient (UR) - a nonprofit that is fully staffed by professionals with lived experience and works to rewrite the foster care narrative.
Keri helps people with lived experience not let their foster care experience define them. To move through the pain and to find purpose in it. To find hope, to carry hope, and to heal while dealing with the reality of living in foster care.
Keri has been an intern on Capitol Hill and is currently working with the White House and legislators to make meaningful national change for child welfare. She is truly leading the nation forward.
***
We’re excited to let INNOVATE! listeners know we’re going to finish up Season 3 of INNOVATE! at the 9th national Re-Envisioning Foster Care in America conference on November 3rd & 4th in Boston.
For the first time ever, we’ll be on stage in front of a live audience and I’ll be interviewing 2 more visionary REFCA Champions to find out how they are using their wisdom, lived experience, and award-winning ideas to inspire a Re-Envisioning of Foster Care.
We hope you’ll join us!
REFCA2023 is a two-day event that is being planned AND presented by REFCA Champions from across the country. Please come meet us and hear our visions for creating a more just and equitable child welfare system. Together we can create resources that help children, youth & families thrive.
Early Bird Registration will begin shortly. Go to www.treehousefoundation.net for more information.
***
ABOUT THE HOST:
INNOVATE! host, Angela Tucker, is a REFCA Champion and a nationally recognized mentor, entrepreneur, educator and consultant. Angela is a transracial adoptee who, having been adopted from foster care by a white family, grew up in a city that was demographically just 1% Black.
She is the Founder of The Adopted Life, a child-welfare consulting business where she strives to center adoptee stories and bring clarity and truth to narratives about race, class and identity.
Angela is the author of You Should Be Grateful: Stories Of Race, Identity, and Transracial Adoption. She has hosted the previous two seasons of INNOVATE!, and currently works as the Executive Director of the Adoptee Mentoring Society.
***
Angela Tucker - Host & Producer
Nicholas Ramsey - Editor & Producer
Judy Cockerton - Executive Producer
***
The Treehouse Foundation has been leading the Re-Envisioning Foster Care in America (REFCA) movement since 2010. Please visit www.treehousefoundation.net for more information about the award-winning work of the Treehouse Team.
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/innovate-264808/s3e7-soul-family-young-people-choose-their-circle-of-caring-adults-31413871"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to s3e7: soul family - young people choose their circle of caring adults on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy