DEBBIE AUSBURN, a former teacher, then social worker, and now an attorney from the Atlanta area, will join us to discuss all that she has done in the world of foster parenting and stepchildren.

FROM HER WEBSITE:

I make my living as a lawyer, but what I do is take care of other people’s children. For more than 40 years, I have been working with traumatized children, starting when I was a preteen helping my parents with their summer camp and church ministries. In the years since, I have served as a juvenile court probation officer/social worker, group home parent, criminal prosecutor, non-profit volunteer and Board member, and attorney defending youth-serving organizations. 

‍My most important roles have been foster parent and stepparent. I never had biological children, but I have managed to collect 7 children and 10 grandchildren. Along the way, my foster children, stepchildren, and grandchildren have taught me the life lessons that are the core of my speaking and writing — the lessons that I wish I could have learned from a parenting manual rather than trial and error.

Parenting other people’s children has been the greatest challenge and the greatest joy of my life. I have made many mistakes, but I cannot imagine my life without them. Most important, I know that if I can do it, anyone can.

I never intended to help raise so many children. I started in social work, burned out, and went to law school. I did not fall in love until my 40s, when I finally married. In the interim, I channeled my social worker passion into volunteering with youth organizations and fostering abused children and teenagers. I deliberately never kept count of how many children I fostered in short-term placements, but two teenage girls stayed with me long-term and became part of my family.

https://www.debbieausburn.com