The Forgotten Podcast

During the month of June, applications to become a TFI Advocate are open! TFI Advocates bridge the gap between churches and agencies right in their local community. Get the details and apply right here.

We cover many topics here on The Forgotten Podcast from how to know when to start fostering, real stories of people throughout the foster care community, how churches can get involved, and more.

But in this episode, we are talking about an aspect of foster parenting we don’t often address: What happens when you reach the end of the journey of active foster parenting? How do you know when you should be done fostering and begin providing wrap-around support?

My guest, Lisa Robertson, knows all about this journey as her family made the hard choice to stop fostering in October of 2023 after many years of active foster parenting. She has been a foster and adoptive parent and is the Executive Director for Hope Bridge, a non-profit that advocates for change in the Ohio foster care system by mobilizing churches and equipping communities to serve. Lisa has many years of experience in advocacy, biological family relationship preservation, and the preventative work of keeping families together.

It's never easy to let go of something that is so close to your heart. In this conversation, we discuss what questions foster parents should consider before closing their license, how to identify when it is time to stop fostering, the heaviest parts of letting go of such a large part of your life, the opportunities to still serve the foster care community after foster parenting, and much more.

Find links to resources mentioned and more in the show notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/lisa-robertson-238/

Trigger Warning: We want to let our listeners know that this episode includes mentions of physical abuse. If you are sensitive to this topic, we recommend you listen with caution.

Trauma is one of the hardest challenges to navigate in life. Whether it’s impacting you or someone you love, it can be easy to wish that trauma could be erased in an instant. But our latest guest’s powerful story reminds us that healing doesn’t happen with the snap of a finger. It takes the steady presence of others, the patience to water seeds we can’t yet see growing, and the courage to keep seeking God—even in the darkest moments.

After fifteen years of abuse and a childhood riddled with trauma, Austin Ludwig ended up in the foster care system until he aged out at 18. As he wrestled with the broken pieces of his past, he encountered the transformational love of Jesus and the opportunity for healing and restoration through the Gospel.

Today, Austin is a musical artist, writer and speaker who serves on staff with the WinShape Foundation.

In this episode, he shares about the brokenness in his childhood as well as the hidden beauty, why every person has an opportunity to respond to the trauma they have experienced, encouragement for foster parents who may currently have a tumultuous relationship with a child in their care, and much more!

Find resources mentioned and more in the show notes for this episode: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/austin-ludwig-267/

Like so many families, Eric and Diana Powell entered into adoption with the best intentions. After their first international adoption from Thailand, they quickly started the paperwork for their second, knowing that the process is often long and fraught with delays.

What they couldn’t know is that the next few years of their adoption journey would include physical aggression, episodes of emotional dysregulation, marriage tension, a phenomenon known as “blocked care”, and an overwhelming sense of isolation. During this challenging period, they often didn’t know where to turn next or what to do to help their family heal and connect.

Blocked care is a response that can occur when a person rejects your attempts to provide for them, no matter how loving or compassionate those attempts may be. Over time, this pattern can lead to feelings of rejection, hostility, anxiety, and even compassion fatigue in the caregiver.

Eric and Diana’s story has been one of incredible challenges, but it is also one of tremendous growth. Today, the Powells are passionate about being a listening ear for others on their fostering or adoption journey.

In this episode, they explain how they learned what blocked care is and how to navigate it, the importance of finding a supportive community as a foster or adoptive parent, where to find hope when reality doesn’t match your expectations, and much more.

Find resources mentioned and more in the show notes for this episode: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/eric-diana-powell-265/

When you decide to become a foster parent, you are asked a wide range of questions about what kind of placements you are willing to accept. What ages will you take? What ages won’t you take? Are there any special needs you will or won’t be able to accommodate? What about sibling groups?

Even when your agency is doing their best to reach out to you about children that fit your criteria, the reality is that sometimes all of the information about a child is simply not known. They may not know the specific behaviors a child presents, every piece of their history, or additional challenges that you may face. There are times where, despite everyone’s best intentions, a placement needs to be disrupted, which can be a decision filled with guilt, shame, and deep heartache.

My guest today has firsthand experience navigating a placement disruption and all the emotions that come along with it. Kamrie Smith is a mom to three biological children and a current foster mom to one. In total, she and her husband have fostered 21 children over the years. She is a founding committee member of Foster Montana, an organization that provides support to children entering foster care and the families who say “yes” to them.

In this episode, you’ll hear why it can be challenging to navigate a placement that feels like it isn’t going well, how to navigate the emotional aftermath of a disruption, how to make peace with the difficult decision of accepting or denying a potential placement, and more.

Find resources mentioned and more in the show notes for this episode: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/kamrie-smith-255/

Join us for this Encore Episode of Jami’s conversation with Emma Williams. Emma lived in several foster homes, shelters, and adoptive family situations as a child. Her story will give you amazing insight into the sometimes hard realities facing children in foster care.