Episode Summary
When Jamole Callahan was fifteen, he realized the adults were meeting every few months to decide his future, and he was never in the room. He spent six years in foster care across nine homes and aged out at eighteen into the kind of instability that pushes so many young people straight into homelessness. Twenty years later, the rooms have flipped: lawmakers now invite him in, and he has helped shape the federal housing policy that gives young people leaving care a longer runway of support. He talks with host Micaela Tracy about the meetings he fought his way into, the foster-agency worker who finally leveled with him, the science teacher he now calls dad, and why housing is the foundation everything else depends on. His message reaches past the system to anyone listening: throw the pebble in the pond, because your expertise is someone else's learned skill, and the ripple reaches a shore you may never see.
In This Episode
00:00 Cold open
00:30 Welcome and season framing
01:00 Fifteen years old, and the meetings he was never invited to
04:00 "Nothing about us without us": finding out decisions were made without him
06:00 Boycotting school, and the agency worker who finally leveled with him
07:00 The aging-out plan: an apartment, six months of help, then "you're on your own"
08:00 Practicing decisions while there's still a safety net
09:00 Why youth get left out: caseloads, staffing shortages, and old mindsets
11:00 Throwing the pebble in the pond: grassroots change from the ground up
14:00 Did he have an advocate? The people who took him under their wing
16:00 The lasting impact of one adult showing up for a teen
18:00 Aging out by the numbers, and why housing equals stability
18:30 Helping create the Foster Youth to Independence housing voucher
21:00 Getting housed is one thing, staying housed is another
22:00 The Permanency Pact and building a real support list
23:00 "Just like a CASA": the volunteer who stayed nineteen years
25:00 On connection, broken attachments, and being a gumbo pot of every home
25:30 What he's working on now: housing and a healthy workforce
27:30 How the community can support from the outside
28:00 What any volunteer can give: your time and your expertise
30:00 Making it easy to say yes, and getting back to grassroots outreach
31:00 Donating your small talk
32:00 Find your niche: closing words for the system, parents, and youth
34:30 Reflection and close
About Our Guest
Jamole Callahan spent six years in foster care across nine homes and aged out at eighteen. Today he is a co-founder of ACTION Ohio, a national speaker and trainer known as Mr. Motivator, and an advocate whose work helped advance the federal Foster Youth to Independence housing voucher for young people leaving care.
Resources and Links
Jamole Callahan · [email protected] · @Jamole Callahan on social media
ACTION Ohio (Alumni of Care Together Improving Outcomes Now)
Foster Youth to Independence (FYI) vouchers — HUD
Fostering Stable Housing Opportunities Act (2019)
Permanency Pact — FosterClub
Voices for CASA Children
National CASA/GAL Association for Children
Share Your Voice
This season is about the many different voices in the room when a child is in foster care. If that's you, whether you've been there as a professional, a foster or birth parent, or someone who lived it, and you'd like to share your perspective on the show, host Micaela Tracy would love to hear from you. Reach out at [email protected].
About the Show
By Their Side: Advocating for Children in Foster Care is produced by Voices for CASA Children. Season 3, "Understanding Every Voice in the Room," features practical, human conversations with professionals and people with lived experience. Hosted by Micaela Tracy. New episodes biweekly.
The views and opinions expressed in this episode are those of the guests and host and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of VOICES or its affiliates. Content note: this episode discusses aging out of foster care and homelessness, and includes brief strong language.
Voices for CASA Children | By Their Side: Advocating for Children in Foster Care