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Jayne Amelia speaks with CASA Cathy Horan Walker. CASA Cathy Horan Walker is from Monterey, California. She promised herself she would become a CASA after her two sons graduated highschool and that’s what she did. Cathy believes it was her calling to become a CASA and her CASA kiddo Ryan Moses says she saved his life many times over. 

“I was a middle school math teacher for 26 years before I moved on to become a Financial Advisor 25 years ago. I have been married to my husband for 45 years and have three boys including Ryan. I met Ryan just after my first Casa child graduated from High School. We believe that a good education is a path that opens doors. All children deserve love and support and that is why I became a CASA.”

CASA of Monterey

@casamonterey 
@fiscalmoses 
@thedugudcollective 
@casamonterey

#CASA #fostercare #adopt #fostertoadopt #volunteersmatter

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Jayne Amelia speaks with former foster youth Ryan Moses. Ryan went into foster care when he was a small child and had 12 placements in 8 different school districts. At 10 he advocated for himself, called the Monterey CASA office and got himself a CASA who changed his life. But he still had to overcome massive challenges including substance abuse that almost took his life; he continues to advocate for himself, and now he does so for other foster youth as well. He’s the Founder and CEO of DoGud Clothing, a streetwear clothing brand that gives back to foster children. “We do this by giving back 10% of the proceeds to foster children through partnering with the organizations that had a huge impact on my life.”

Instagram: @fiscalmoses / @thedogudcollective

www.thedogudcollective.com

National CASA/GAL Association

#BecomeACASAVolunteer
#CourtAppointedSpecialAdvocates
#HelpFosterChildren
#HelpAFosterChild

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Jayne Amelia speaks with Allison Lieberman. Allison is a licensed marriage and family therapist, postpartum anxiety expert, mom of 2, and 2x postpartum anxiety survivor. Part of Allison's early training including treating foster kids at emergency shelters and crisis centers where many of the young women and men are very vulnerable to being sex trafficked, and she describes how that happens in this episode. Allison is the co-founder of Rooted in Harmony Counseling, a California-based group therapy practice dedicated to helping moms with anxiety, relationships, and parenting. She is the host of The New Mama Mentor® Podcast and creator of The New Mama Mentor® Signature Program. She is passionate about helping new moms overcome anxiety by developing confidence, shedding the mom guilt, and building a community. 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-new-mama-mentor/id1615305496

www.instagram.com/thenewmamamentor 

www.instagram.com/rootedinharmonycounseling 

www.rihcounseling.com

www.rihcounseling.com/signature-program 

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Jayne Amelia speaks with CASA volunteer and book publisher, Rachel Malley. Rachel  started volunteering as a Court Appointed Special Advocate in 2019 when she learned about the power of best-interest advocacy for children who have experienced abuse or neglect. During that time she has worked with three wonderful children, and witnessed the ups and downs of Care and Protection cases. At the time of this writing, all the of the three children are in loving and supportive homes. In addition to her role as a CASA, for the last five years Rachel has worked with children’s book author Ty Allan Jackson to promote literacy and financial literacy around the country. Now a co-owner of the small but very impactful publishing company, Rachel is passionate about getting kids excited about reading through Ty’s fun, contemporary books featuring characters of color. Together, they collaborate with educators, non-profits, and cities to reach the children most impacted by illiteracy, and through this work are trying to end the associated cycles of poverty, poor health, and crime. Rachel lives in Western Massachusetts with her wonderful partner and their adorable four-year-old son. 

tyallanjackson.com
IG@ty_allan_jackson
TW@TyAllanJackson

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Jayne Amelia talks with adoptee Maria Harding.  Maria was adopted at birth but always considered a problem child by her mother. Her parents split when she was little and when her mother remarried, she was adopted by her mom's new husband but things only got worse for Maria with her adoptive mother.  Her mother put her in foster care when she was 11 , and she was in and out of foster homes, group homes, and her mother's home for the next seven years. When Maria aged out at 18, she searched for her first father and his wife who she says "took in a troubled and traumatized kid and put her back together." 

From Maria : “Four score and seven years ago…. STOP!  WAIT… Nope, that’s not my story!  
I was born in ‘71 in Vermont.  Adopted at 3 days old… and that’s when it starts - my beginnings. 
Adopted by my parents… I moved to NY City, Governors Island  on day three of my life.  Quickly many things happened or became real issues 
One, born with a click hip… I had to wear a saddle to let my hips continue to develop. Who new, but I’ve been told this made for a very unhappy baby… I cried a lot due to thisTwo, as the story goes, my mother prophesied that I was nothing but a problem, and would be from that day forward
My parents divorced around kindergarten for me and that is when I started moving houses like many kids did due to divorce.  That’s not what was the difference.  
The difference was I was throne out of my mothers house for the first time around 5 years old because ‘I was a bad kid’.  Off to stay with my dad, that became the punishment for not meeting my mothers expectation. 
I grew up a little different that most from here forward.  11 came among and I then moved onto foster home because ‘I was a bad child’ per mothers opinion.  I bounced around homes and more homes until I aged out.  
The state realized that I was not a bad child and that the issue was my mother but by then I was almost 16/17.  
Graduation came and … the state was done overseeing my care!  No plans, tools, no nothing … Luckily I had additional family that helped and stepped in to help me become the adult that I am today.
Today I work for a National Builder, on the senior management team in the division, leading  a  department. … not bad for a ‘Bad Kid’.  
BAD by my mother was; dyslexic, can’t spell, didn’t make expected grades and apparently don’t know how to load a dishwasher.  All of these things I am ok with.

SO, if you see a punctuation error in this or spelling issues that are not quite right. I’m 100% ok with it … cause it’s me.”

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Jayne Amelia talks with Hank Fortener, the founder of AdoptTogether,  "who understands the burdensome blessing that is the adoption process". His family fostered 36 children and adopted 6 from 5 different countries while he was growing up. He knows firsthand how painful & euphoric adopting a child can be, and it is this experienced heart for adoption that drives AdoptTogether. In the past 10 years they've helped over 5,000 families raise over 30 million dollars to adopt children from 67 countries. 

And to find out more about adopting or supporting families
who want to adopt please check out:
AdoptTogether.org
AdoptUskids.org
KidSave.org

Baby Ball is October 15, 2022
World Adoption Day is November 9

"Adoption provides children a loving and supportive home, equipping them with the resources needed to overcome the challenges faced with foster care. Adopting at birth puts in place the support system that many children otherwise lack." - AdoptTogether.org

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Jayne Amelia talks with Megan Elizabeth Ward.  Megan and her wife,  Amanda McMillan, started fostering in the Fall of 2017 as a kinship family via ICPC. Following a successful reunification, Amanda and Megan transitioned to a DFCS partnership home and haven’t looked back since. Fast forward almost 5 years and 40+ placements, Amanda and Megan have provided a loving home to kiddos of all ages, backgrounds, and needs – sometimes for just a few hours and sometimes for many years. They have been most dedicated to a sibling set of toddlers and a sibling set of teenagers that have been with them long-term and who will always fill their hearts – even when they no longer fill their home. Amanda and Megan believe in the importance of reunification and partnership parenting and build incredibly strong bonds with the biological families.   

The Region 5 Foster Care Community is incredibly important to Amanda and Megan and so they have recently joined forces with other local families to launch The Five Hive – a partnership initiative with DFCS. The Five Hive aims to establish a peer support network for foster families and a swarm of support for the entire Region 5 Foster Care community. Long-term, Amanda and Megan hope to not only impact the lives of the children in their care but also find ways to strengthen the Foster Care community throughout the state of Georgia.

"Originally from Jupiter, Florida, Megan fled the gator state to be a double-dawg, earning both her Bachelors and Masters in Public Relations from Grady College at the University of Georgia. A New Media Institute alumna herself, Megan has worked with the NMI since 2011 and has served in a variety of capacities. Currently, Megan serves as the Administrative Director of the NMI, overseeing all daily operations for the largest undergraduate certificate at UGA. She also teaches undergraduate and graduate courses for both the NMI and the Emerging Media Master’s concentration. As TEDxUGA licensee, Megan has served as mama to all things TED on the UGA campus since 2013. Megan leads all organization and curation efforts for the annual TEDxUGA event in March."

Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC)
The Five Hive on Facebook
Want to learn about becoming a foster parent? - click here
National Foster Parent Association

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Jayne Amelia talks with Peace4kids.org Co-Founder and Executive Director Zaid Gayle.

During his tenure at Peace4Kids, Zaid has had the opportunity to blend his experience in the film industry as a Coordinator and Assistant Director to ensure that media is an integral part of improving the lives of foster youth. Most specifically, Zaid was the lead in designing and launching the Peapod Music & Arts Academy in 2008 at the Watts/Willowbrook Boys & Girls Club. The Peapod Music & Arts Academy was the vision of Black Eyed Peas band leader will.i.am and created a state of the art music studio and production facility for foster and at risk teens.

Zaid’s unique strategy of branding youth advocacy with media has yielded some very positive results. In 2010, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law AB12 which is landmark legislation that increased the legal age of foster care from 18 to 21 in the state of California. The passage of this landmark legislation was in part influenced by a campaign that Zaid developed with his youth advocates called “All I did was turn 18”. This campaign received national attention in the press and is also being featured in a local documentary which was co-produced by Peace4Kids youth.

Zaid and the youth advocates he has trained have been called on throughout the country and internationally to address the issues facing youth aging out of foster care. They have given testimony in Sacramento and met with federal law makers to inform legislation, all with the intent of educating the public on the unique culture of foster care and to improve services for a vulnerable population of nearly 400,000 foster youth in the United States. They have produced art poetry and written screenplays to give an authentic voice to the foster care journey for public awareness. To provide empirical data about the unique needs and culture of foster youth, Zaid has been instrumental in negotiating a youth led research project with Loyola Marymount University where youth, and alumni, impacted by the foster care system define the strengths inherent in their cultural experience. The project was piloted in 2010 and yielded some positive data and has been revised through an online platform that will further provide evidence of the unique strengths developed by youth in foster care.

Zaid has also received numerous awards and nominations for his work. In 2013 he was a finalist for the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award. His most prestigious accomplishment was the receipt of the Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leaders Award in 2008. Zaid was one of eight Community Health Leaders who received this honor nationwide out of over 700 nominees.

Peace4kids.org
Mitigating the Impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences: The Peace4Kids Approach in the Post-Pandemic Era
Changing The Narrative 

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Jayne Amelia Larson talks with Dave Hudson who was born in Watts and adopted at birth. Later as an adult, with the help pf Pam Slaton,  he met his biological father and siblings but unfortunately his mother had passed before he could find her.

David  is an Emmy® Award-winning creative executive with more than two decades of experience in creating content for both television and digital platforms. 

Hudson is Head of Original Programming for the new Scripps Networks (ION, Bounce, Laff, Court TV, Court TV Mystery, Grit, Defy TV, TrueReal, Newsy), which includes oversight and creation of movies, scripted series, limited series, and specials. Prior to his current role, Hudson served as Senior Vice President for TBS and TNT, developing and overseeing late night (CONAN), reality, and special event programming (Screen Actors Guild Awards®). He has also produced alternative programming and specials for the likes of HBO, FOX, Paramount Studios, NBC, and TLC.

Hudson is a graduate of Emerson College in Boston and The John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management's Executive Leadership Development Program at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is credited with a Primetime Emmy® for Outstanding Variety Special and was named a Next Generation Leader by NAMIC in 2010.

Pam Slaton - investigative genealogist 

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Jayne Amelia talks with amazing, astounding and ever persistent Gay Courter.

Gay Courter is the author of 7 bestselling novels with over three million copies in print worldwide including The Midwife, The Midwife’s Advice, Code Ezra, River of Dreams, Flowers in the Blood, and The Girl in the Box.  Her non-fiction works include The Beansprout Book and How To Survive Your Husband’s Midlife Crisis, and I Speak for this Child: True Stories of a Child Advocate, which was nominated for a Pulitizer Priz for non-fiction.  She is also a distinguished travel writer.   www.gaycourter.com  

Gay has served as a volunteer in the Florida Guardian Ad Litem program since 1989 in which she acts as the court appointed advocate for neglected and abused children.  Her book about her experiences, I Speak For This Child: True Stories of a Child Advocate, brought national attention to the cause.  She has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, Day One, NBC Weekend Edition, and in Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitorand other national publications as an expert on these issues and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.  Gay has also received the Child Advocate of the Year award in Florida for her work as a Guardian Ad Litem, the Sharon Solomon Child Advocate Award from the Florida Center for Children and Youth, and special recognition from the Florida Chapter of American Women in Radio and Television, Inc. for her work on Where’s My Chance? The Case for Our Children, which also won an Emmy.  Gay received her second Emmy from the National Academy of Arts and Television Sciences, Suncoast Chapter, for a series of public service announcements called Solutions for America’s Children.  She has been selected as one of the 10 most admired women in Citrus County twice—in the community service and arts categories.

In 2004, Gay, her husband, Philip, and daughter, Ashley, jointly won the Angels in Adoption from the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute and nominated by Congresswoman, Ginny Brown-Waite.  

Gay is married to her collaborator in documentary films, Philip Courter.  They have produced almost hundred films on child welfare topics and specialize in media about children’s issues and strengthening family.  Clients include National CASA, the National Council of Family and Juvenile Judges, the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, and the North American Council on Adoptable Children.  The Courters have two sons, Blake, a specialist in computer design development and engineer; and Joshua, an ethnographic filmmaker and builder/designer.  In 1998, they adopted Ashley, then age 12, who spent 9 years of her life in Florida’s foster care system in 14 different homes.  Ashley’s bestselling book about her experiences is called Three Little Words and is in development as a feature film.

Together the Courters continue to work professionally and personally so that other children will not be lost in the system like their daughter was.

For more information see
gaycourter.com
courterfilms.com

National CASA/GAL Association For Children

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