Here's the link we discuss in the podcast:

https://voice-for-adoption.org/family-portrait-project

Schylar, a Montanan, joined Voice for Adoption in May 2016. Schylar has dedicated his professional and volunteer life to the belief that children and youth in the child welfare system need respect, support, and family. Schylar has a bachelor’s in professional and technical communications from Montana Tech and a master’s in public administration from the University of Montana.

He has served as president of the board of Montana Court Appointed Special Advocates, secretary of the boards of ChildWise Institute, and FosterClub, and as a commissioner on the governor appointed Protect Montana’s Kids Commission. Schylar is a nationally recognized leader; in 2008, he received FosterClub. Inc’s Outstanding Young Leader award for his work with the Kids Are Waiting Campaign and the passage the Fostering Connections to Success and Increased Adoptions Act. In 2018, Schylar was selected as an American Express NGEN Fellow. That same year, during his time at Voice for Adoption, Schylar was recognized in the congressional record for his work with the passage of the Family First Prevention Services Act.

Schylar’s commitment to improving the futures of children and youth in care is due, in large part, to his own life experiences. He spent 11 years in foster care before aging out without a family. When he was 25, his mentor and sixth-grade teacher adopted him. Schylar explained, “I always longed for a place to call my own and, at one point, was told that I was too old to be adopted.” Schylar remembers the stigma and trauma from his years in foster care and fights for his peers, believing that no child should be told that they are unadoptable.

As the executive director of Voice for Adoption, Schylar continues his life’s work of serving vulnerable—but resilient—young people. “I am blessed with the opportunity to be a voice for children in foster care that are often feeling alone the dark, feel that no one hears them, feel that no cares and that no one is on their side. I believe every child needs the benefit of a permanent and loving place to call home.”

https://www.linkedin.com/in/schylar-baber/

Voice for Adoption advocates, educates, and collaborates to advance federal policies that promote and sustain permanence for children and youth in foster care. Here's more from their website:

All children and youth in foster care in the U.S. will have a safe, loving, supported and permanent family.

We work with members of congress, policy makers, partner organizations, and agencies to encourage sound policies that are in the best interest of our nation’s waiting foster children.

Voice for Adoption (VFA) advocates for the safety and well-being of children in foster care.

VFA holds briefings on foster and adoption issues on Capitol Hill.

VFA works on special projects focused on raising awareness around the needs of foster and adoptive youth, and the families that adopt them.

VFA strives to ensure the foster care and adoption issues remain at the forefront our policy maker's attention.

Voice for Adoption was established in 1996 to provide a permanent mechanism to shape the public debate regarding:

the needs of children who are growing up without families of their own;

• the lifelong consequences for the development of these children and their later functioning as adults when they continue to be forgotten;
• the positive potential of adoption to meet the needs of these children; and
• the benefits to the community of providing ongoing support for families who adopt the children

VFA is a bi-partisan force, which shapes the future by providing accurate information on adoption issues, encouraging prompt adoption of waiting children, and supporting sound public policy in adoption.

Find out more at:

https://voice-for-adoption.org/

https://www.facebook.com/Voice4Adoption

https://twitter.com/Voice4Adoption

https://www.instagram.com/voiceforadoption/

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.