My friends Tami Carson (married mother of 7, active LDS, employee at Utah Foster Care) and Marshall Shearer (married transgender man, foster parent, adopted 5 children) joins us to talk about Utah Foster Care and LGBTQ youth. Marshall starts with his story of being a transgender man and his journey to love and accept himself. Marshall then talks about the decision with his wife to become foster parents and eventually adopt 5 children—two are LGBTQ. Marshall talks about the principles of strong parenting which included the ability to nurture, care, stability, and open communication. We talk about how LGBTQ parents are just as effective parents as straight parents.

Tami shares her story of parenting a LGBTQ child and how initial fear led to love and support including this line “after fear love is all that is left”. Tami talks about how she loves and supports her friend Marshall and his ability to be an effective employee at Utah Foster Care and a wonderful parent. This is a beautiful story inviting us (including people like me) to put aside past assumptions and be open to better understanding how LGBTQ people can and are successful parents, members of our community and all-around wonderful people.

We conclude with a discussion about the need for and process of becoming foster parents.

Thank you, Tami and Marshall, for your work to bring us together in unity to help meet our community need to provide safe and healthy home for children in foster care.

Links:

Utah Foster Care: www.utahfostercare.org

Utah Foster Care LGBTQ Info: www.utahforstercare.org/lgbtq

Richard Ostler books/bio/etc: www.papaostler.com

Index of Podcasts: listenlearnandlove.org/podcasts

Ministering to LGBTQ Latter-day Saints Support Group: www.facebook.com/groups/1433556613672143