Foster care is one of those topics people say they care about until the details feel too heavy. That’s exactly why I wanted this conversation with Dr. John DeGarmo and Jen Lilley to be unfiltered, practical, and full of hope, because foster parenting is hard, kids in care are real, and vague inspiration is not enough when a placement call comes at 10:30 at night. John brings decades of foster care advocacy and training, and Jen brings the raw, lived experience of fostering and adoption while raising kids and using her public platform to shine a light on child welfare.

We talk about their book, Call to Foster: An Honest Guide to Getting Started, and who it’s for: the person quietly wondering “Could I do this?”, the foster parent on the edge of burnout, and the social worker who needs a resource that tells the truth without scaring good people away. We name the myths that hurt families, especially the “you must be a superhero” narrative, and why it can pile on shame when you’re already stretched thin. We also dig into why awareness equals advocacy, how trauma impacts kids for years, and why this work deserves urgency in every community.

Faith is woven through the conversation in a way that stays honest about suffering and big emotions. We share what foster care has taught us about control, surrender, resilience, and finding support that actually helps. If you’re considering fostering, already in the trenches, or looking for a concrete way to support foster families, you’ll walk away with language, perspective, and next steps you can use today. Subscribe for more real foster care conversations, share this with a friend, and leave a review telling us what stood out to you.

Called to Foster: https://a.co/d/00WC1p2e

Visit The Foster Care Institute:  https://www.drjohndegarmofostercare.com/index.html

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Jen Lilley Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jen_lilley?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw== 

Jen Lilley’s Website: https://www.jenlilley.com/ 

Halo Project: https://haloprojectokc.com/ 

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The hardest seasons are the ones we want to hide, and they are often the ones other foster parents most need to hear about. We are coming to you from the messy middle, where trauma meets puberty, where kitchens are loud, and where you can love the people under your roof with your whole life and still feel like you have nothing left to give. If you have ever thought, “I cannot encourage anyone right now because I am barely surviving,” this conversation is for you.

May is National Foster Care Awareness Month, and we wrestle with a real question: how do we recruit, advocate, and invite others in without selling a highlight reel? Polished foster care advocacy can isolate families who are struggling and can give future foster parents unrealistic expectations. We talk about a faith-filled “both and” framework: foster care is hard and holy, grief and gift, exhausting and sacred. We also name the reality underneath adoption and reunification, and why telling the truth can actually build trust and reduce shame.

You will leave with practical, trauma-informed ways to advocate without oversharing: tell one true thing, reframe the ask so people can support through respite care, meal trains, rides, tutoring, mentoring, court advocacy, and donations, and invite questions instead of applause. We also get honest about sustainability, because rest is advocacy, and a burned-out foster parent is not a recruiter. If you are considering fostering, we share the clearest counsel we know: expect cost, expect Jesus, and do not do it alone.

Subscribe to the Foster Parent Well Podcast, share this with one person who needs it, and if it helped, leave a review so more foster, kinship, and adoptive families can find steady support.

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Five parenting “truths” get repeated so often they start to sound like gospel: let them be bored, they should sit through church, eat what I make, obey right away, and don’t worry because kids are resilient. But when you are fostering, adopting, or parenting children impacted by trauma, those messages can pile on pressure and leave you wondering why your home feels harder than everyone else’s. I share why that disconnect is not proof you are doing it wrong. It is often proof the advice was not made for your child’s nervous system, history, or needs.

We talk about why boredom can feel like a lack of safety, how structure and predictability can reduce chaos, and what scaffolding unstructured play can look like in real life. We also dig into faith spaces, including the unspoken expectation that kids should “perform” in big church. I explain why church should be a place of connection, how movement breaks and gradual exposure can be wise, and how spiritual formation happens far beyond the sanctuary. You will also hear a personal story that reframes what growth and sanctification can look like over time.

Then we move into two everyday battlegrounds for many foster and adoptive parents: food and obedience. We explore why food is often about trust, control, and sensory needs, plus practical ways to offer safe foods without turning dinner into a war. Finally, we challenge the idea that resilience is automatic and replace it with a trauma informed view: resilience is built through consistent care, safe relationships, and support. If you are craving permission to parent differently and still feel confident you are doing good work, press play, then subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review so more foster and adoptive parents can find this space.

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Quiet, unseen moments often carry the greatest weight in foster care: packing lunches, sitting in courtrooms, driving to visits, and praying in the dark when no one’s clapping. We open with a moving reunification story—a true sending where a mom and baby are wrapped in prayer, gifts, and a promise of ongoing community—and use it to reframe what impact actually looks like over the long haul.

Pastor James Griffin of Cross Point City Church joins us to share why their church mobilized around foster care and adoption through a biblical, personal, and local lens. We talk about the call to care for the vulnerable, the role of grandparents and spiritual family in breaking cycles, and the practical reality that hundreds of kids nearby need trauma-aware, loving homes. James lays out a path for anyone discerning their role: start with prayer, seek wise counsel, and consider joining a care community to support a foster family before taking the licensing plunge. Along the way, he returns to a simple but freeing reset—our job is faithfulness; God’s job is fruitfulness.

We also get honest about the grind. Why do so many families burn out? Isolation. Together we unpack habits that protect endurance: prayer as a daily confession of weakness, leaning on a church community that refuses to let families carry the weight alone, and embracing the long game of Galatians 6:9—do not grow weary in doing good, because a harvest will come. From baptisms across foster, adoptive, and biological families to ministries reshaped by trauma-informed care, we trace how quiet yeses ripple into visible change and generational restoration.

If you’re on the fence, this conversation offers tangible first steps and a vision big enough to overcome fear. If you’re exhausted, it’s a reminder that you are seen, supplied with daily grace, and never meant to do this alone. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a review to help more families find hope and practical support.

Crosspoint's Website

Instagram: @pastorjamesgriffin and @crosspointcity

Facebook: Crosspoint City Church

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What if the hardest conversation in your home could become one of the most healing? We sat down with licensed clinical social worker and adoptive mom Susan Paa to talk about how to speak with kids about their biological families in a way that is honest, compassionate, and hopeful. No scripts that erase pain. No platitudes that glamorize harm. Just grounded wisdom you can use tonight.

We unpack the core lens that changes everything: compassion. When we learn the wider context behind addiction, domestic violence, mental health, poverty, and generational trauma, our language shifts from blame to dignity without excusing unsafe behavior. Susan shares why phrasing like recovery is possible matters, how to honor birth family humanity, and simple ways to affirm kids daily—You have your mom’s eyes; your dad’s creativity is in you—so trust is present before heavy truths arrive.

Timing matters, too. Drawing on Erikson and Piaget, we explore why ages eight to ten can be the best window to share a child’s full story: before abstract thinking blooms and identity turbulence hits, facts land as facts and integrate with less shock. We cover how to address sexual trauma wisely by first teaching a healthy framework for bodies, consent, and God’s design, then layering detail with care. Along the way, we model both-and thinking: you can love your first family and name what wasn’t safe; you can miss them and feel secure here.

You won’t get every word right. You can still create a home where every person in your child’s story is spoken of with truth and honor. Listen for concrete language, timing cues, and a faith-shaped posture that holds dignity and safety together. If this served you, subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a foster or adoptive parent who needs fresh courage today.

Find Susan on IG: @paasusan1

Replanted Conference: https://replantedconference.org/

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A tender, necessary conversation about where infertility, foster care, and faith collide—and how to walk that road with honesty and hope. We welcome writer and foster/adoptive mom Cristiana Amato (The Feathered Nest Blog) to share what seven years and 39 placements have taught her about grief, reunification, adoption, and the kind of love that stays when outcomes aren’t ours to control.

We start by naming the ache of infertility and why healing needs to come before fostering. Cristiana explains how an infertility diagnosis initially pointed her toward adoption, and how pre-service classes and prayer shifted her family toward fostering with open hands. Together we unpack why foster care isn’t a cure for infertility, how unprocessed grief can unintentionally sabotage reunification, and why comments like “Just adopt and you’ll get pregnant” miss the mark for families with complex medical realities.

We close with practical guidance for those considering fostering after infertility: commit to prayer and therapy, clarify motives, prepare to champion reunification, and build support systems before saying yes. If you’ve ever wrestled with calling, grief, and what’s best for kids, this conversation offers candor, nuance, and hope. If the episode speaks to you, share it with a friend, leave a review, and join us as we keep learning to foster parent well.

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Imagine standing shoulder to shoulder with women who carry the same holy weight you do—joy, heartbreak, and the unseen moments that never make a post. That’s the backdrop for a candid conversation on why self-care isn’t a luxury for foster and adoptive parents; it’s spiritual warfare that keeps us present, steady, and able to love when the storm rises.

We unpack how cultural “self-care” got hijacked by indulgence and numbing, and replace it with a clear, workable definition rooted in both faith and physiology. From the biology of stress—cortisol spikes, dopamine dips, and oxytocin drains—to the very real load of secondary and primary trauma, we name what’s happening in your body so you can train, not just try harder. Think rowboat self-care: practices you can do in the middle of meltdowns, school calls, and court dates. With scripture as your compass and community as your lifeline, small habits become supply lines for a mission that matters.

You’ll hear practical rhythms for spirit, soul, and body: short bursts of scripture and worship that anchor truth, gratitude and friendship that lower the emotional temperature, and simple body care that rebuilds capacity—hydration, three balanced meals, daily walking, and strength training to metabolize stress. We also talk about planned refuels outside your environment and how to beat the “start Monday” myth by doing the next right thing today. This is a warm, honest, first-person guide to guarding your temple and refusing the quiet drift into burnout.

If this conversation serves you, share it with a friend who needs strength for the storm, subscribe for more faith-filled tools, and leave a quick review so others can find the show. Your steady presence matters, and with the right supply lines, you can keep rowing with hope.

Self Care Reset Guide- https://nicoletbarlow.myflodesk.com/selfcarereset

Throw the First Punch book- https://a.co/d/00J30SJo 

Taryn Smith IG- https://www.instagram.com/tarynsmithmovement/ 

FILLED- https://www.filledretreat.com/ 

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Teen boys who’ve bounced through dozens of placements don’t need another bed; they need a family that endures. We sit down with Stacey Cooper, executive director of Goshen Valley Boys Ranch, to unpack a hybrid model that feels like home and delivers the services that help healing stick. Instead of rotating shift workers, married house parents live with the boys, building daily rhythms around school, chores, sports, and shared meals. It’s a peaceful campus with fishing ponds, basketball courts, and even a couple of donkeys—but the real difference is trauma-informed care rooted in TBRI, faith, and consistency.

Stacey walks us through the first 72 hours—medical check-ins, school placement, counseling, and a simple yet powerful ritual: boys choose their own bedding and essentials from community-made welcome baskets. That early voice and choice matters. We dig into why teens sometimes struggle in traditional foster homes, how repeated disruptions damage attachment, and how thoughtful matching places each boy with house parents whose strengths fit his needs—from career coaching and trades to special education expertise. The conversation also opens the hood on caregiver support: weekly training, respite rhythms, extra staffing, and a culture of adult connection that prevents burnout and stabilizes kids.

Faith runs through the work in everyday ways—gentle words, patient correction, showing up again tomorrow. Youth group nights, church camp, and weekly Compass Groups add community ties beyond campus. Whether permanency comes through reunification, adoption, or enduring relationships with the ranch into adulthood, the target never changes: help each young man learn to give and receive love. Curious how to help? There are many on-ramps: house parenting, respite care, fostering siblings, tutoring, therapy roles, Second Saturday service, or building welcome baskets.

If this conversation moved you, follow the show, share it with a friend who cares about foster youth, and leave a review to help more listeners find these stories. Your steady support helps boys find belonging.

GOSHEN VALLEY:  www.goshenvalley.org 

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What if the outbursts, shutdowns, or “mixed signals” you see aren’t defiance at all, but a nervous system trying to survive? We pull back the curtain on how trauma reshapes a child’s brain and body, why trust feels dangerous, and what it actually takes to build safety that can be felt, not just promised. Drawing from lived experience as a foster and adoptive mom and the lens of TBRI-informed practice, I break down acute, chronic, and complex developmental trauma in simple, practical terms you can use today.

We explore how survival mode steals energy from learning and language, why a nine-year-old may function like a four-year-old socially, and how that gap should change our expectations, routines, and school plans. You’ll hear a clear explanation of stress chemistry—cortisol, adrenaline, digestion, sleep, and cravings—and why bathroom issues, sugar seeking, and mood swings persist when the body never gets the “all clear.” I share how habits like control, hoarding, or rejecting comfort are often survival strategies, not character flaws, and how repetition, predictability, and co-regulation slowly rewire the brain toward trust.

This conversation also centers the caregiver’s wellness and faith. Regulated adults regulate kids, so we walk through small, repeatable rhythms that lower stress and sustain your presence: steady routines, protein and hydration, sensory tools, movement, and time with God that refuels patience and hope. Progress is real but rarely fast; safety becomes believable only when it’s experienced over and over. If you need language to explain what you’re seeing, permission to lower demands, and encouragement to keep showing up, you’ll leave with practical steps and renewed courage for the long road of healing.

If this resonates, subscribe, share with a friend who needs it today, and leave a review so more caregivers can find the support they’re searching for.

The Body Keeps the Score: https://a.co/d/9nMc4UC

The Connected Child: https://a.co/d/e9yEOnh

The Out-of-Sync Child: https://a.co/d/4BKYkTq

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What happens when a church stops outsourcing “foster care ministry” and starts treating it as discipleship at the core of its life together? We sit down with Callie Priest, Director of Strategic Partnerships at WinShape Homes, to map a clear path from pews to practice- one that helps leaders move past hype and into habits that actually sustain families and heal kids.

We talk candidly about the real challenges pastors face: fear of the unknown, volunteer fatigue, and the myth that a few passionate advocates can carry the whole load. Callie lays out a simple framework any church can adapt—raise awareness from the pulpit, appoint a point leader, set a modest budget, and wrap each fostering household with a care team for meals, rides, respite, and prayer. Just as important, she shows how children’s and student ministries can become trauma-informed with predictable routines, calmer transitions, and volunteers who know how to co-regulate. That quiet competence makes a sanctuary feel like a sanctuary for kids from hard places.

If you’re a pastor, ministry director, or parent longing for your church to show up wisely, this conversation gives you language, tools, and next steps to begin. Subscribe, share this with a leader in your life, and leave a review so more churches can find practical, gospel-shaped help for foster and adoptive families.

Self Care Reset Guide: https://nicoletbarlow.myflodesk.com/selfcarereset 

• WINSHAPE HOMES WEBSITE: https://homes.winshape.org/
• WINSHAPE HOMES INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/winshapehomes 
• WINSHAPE HOMES PODCAST: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-winshape-homes-podcast/id1843219550 

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