CareFREE

A foster care alumni shares her inside views on connection, support and the outcome of homelessness.

The outcomes for youth aging out of foster care are bleak. But are they just a fact of life for our most vulnerable children?

Can we change them? Are they fixable? Tammy sits down with Bill Benson from the Alabama state DHR office to discuss the possibility.

November is National Adoption Month! And National Homeless Youth Awareness Month! 

Adopting youth who are aging out of foster care is the best way we know to combat youth homelessness and change the outcomes for these young adults. 

CareFREE will be sharing the stories of 3 families who chose to adopt older and aging out foster care youth throughout the month. 

In part 2 of this episode we explore the whys, hows and solutions surrounding the real life horror stories from foster care. 

True tales of frightening experiences of abuse, trauma and injustices that happened to children and adolescents who were in foster care.

In this episode Tammy discusses the privilege of permanency with Ebone Kimber the president of Second Shift and former director of the Idependant Living program at Childrens Aid Society in Birmingham Alabama. The conversation focuses on the privilege that is experienced by kids who grow up in a typical, normal, common way with their families intact and their childhoods unmarked by the trauma and loss of foster care versus children in foster care. 

This episode of CareFREE shares the story about the inspiration that led to the creation of Second Shift, the organization that sponsors the podcast. 

Join Tammy as she shares a little about the three young people who inspired her to step out and champion their cause. She talks about some of the circumstances and experiences of three at-risk and aging out foster care youth who struggled with homelessness while trying to become independent adults. 

In this foster-care awareness episode Second Shift responds to some of their most common questions and comments about the aging-out process.

In this first episode Tammy tells what inspired the podcast and what is coming up in future episodes.