Fostering Change

April Dinwoodie is an Adoption Activist, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Consultant, and Parent Coach.  Dinwoodie’s podcast Born in June, Raised in April: What Adoption Can Teach the World helps facilitate an open dialogue about identity, family, and differences of race, culture, and class.  As a transracially adopted person (Black/bi-racial, adopted into a white family), April is fiercely dedicated to sharing her experiences to audiences of varied spectrums.  In this week’s Fostering Change, April shares with host Rob Scheer her thoughts on helping individuals get a better understanding of people with similar backgrounds.  She often consults with companies and organizations to develop stronger and more astute teams, and ultimately find even more purpose in our individual and collective work.  In addition to consulting with corporations, schools, and government grants, and keynote speaking and training,  April serves as Executive Director of Transracial Journeys.

Story Key Notes: 

🖐️  Adoptment – Mentoring Program

🖐️ The calendar as a practical tool for conversation and action supporting the needs of youth separated from family of origin. 

🖐️ Mothers’ Day – the realities of complicated holidays in adoption and foster care

You can find out more about April by visiting:

Website: www.juneinapril.com

April’s Podcast: Born in June, Raised in April: What Adoption Can Teach the World

Facebook: @juneinapril

Twitter: @juneinapril

Instagram: @juneinapril

LinkedIn: April Dinwoodie

YouTube: April Dinwoodie

Tilktok: @juneinapril

Learn more about how you can affect change to the lives of youth in foster care by visiting https://www.comfortcases.org/

🎥 Watch the full video episodes on YouTube!

Head over to Comfort Cases on YouTube to catch every inspiring conversation:

👉 youtube.com/@comfortcases

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In today’s podcast Rob Scheer and his guests discuss the needs of families looking to adopt. This includes creating paths for families who need extra support for safety and stability. They look at what is working and what can be done differently to help children and families thrive.

Adoptions Together supports children and families formed through adoption, guardianship, foster care, and kinship care with specialized services offered at locations in Maryland, Virginia and DC. Support is available to every family for a lifetime of guidance, education, and counseling to ensure that each family stays strong together. 

Janice Goldwater is the founder and CEO of Adoptions Together. With an attachment focused, trauma informed lens, the agency provides a broad spectrum of clinical, educational and transformational services to strengthen relationships in first families, kinship, foster and adoptive families and the communities who support them. Janice founded the organization in 1990 and has been primarily responsible for its growth and development. As an adoptive parent of an older child who experienced maltreatment for ten years of life, Janice has utilized community-based services to support her child and family into effectively reaching adulthood. 

Lisa Dominguez, LICSW, LCSW-C, joined Adoptions Together in 2022 in the role of Chief Program Officer. She has over 20 years of experience working with children and families impacted by trauma and loss and has specialized training in working with foster and adoptive families. Ms. Dominguez has been trained in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) and has a certificate in Advanced Trauma Treatment from the Ferentz Institute. In addition to her direct service with children and families and contract oversight experience, she is a seasoned supervisor and trainer.

Story Key Notes: 

🖐️  National Foster Care Awareness Month gives us the chance to reflect on practice

🖐️  How do we define safety and stability for children as a society

🖐️  What are the short-term and long-term possible psychological implications for children who experience abuse and neglect

You can find out more about Adoptions Together by visiting:

Website: www.adoptionstogether.org 

www.familyworkstogether.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adopttogether/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AdoptTogether

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adoptionstogether/?hl=en

LinkedIn! https://www.linkedin.com/company/adoptions-together/

Learn more about how you can affect change to the lives of youth in foster care by visiting https://www.comfortcases.org/

🎥 Watch the full video episodes on YouTube!

Head over to Comfort Cases on YouTube to catch every inspiring conversation:

👉 youtube.com/@comfortcases

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Stacy Huston is Executive Director of Sixdegrees.org, The award-winning nonprofit founded by Kevin Bacon with a mission rooted in connecting people to resources. Six Degrees supports impactful initiatives to sustain and enrich local communities by developing partnerships and solutions working collaboratively with local leaders, residents, and celebrities, on increasing youth empowerment, justice and equality, and improving a sustainable living environment. 

The organization prioritizes the lived experiences of communities that are commonly underserved and under-resourced. They reach their audiences through video, content and Public Service Announcements about subjects that are meaningful to the community, with a big focus on youth: particularly early education, arts programming and early literacy.

Stacy received the 2022 Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award for her work with SixDegrees related to Hunger. She has overseen social media campaigns such as “l Stay Home For”, garnishing more than 1.2 million posts and 2.1 Billion engagements globally, winning 4 Webbys and A Shorty Social Good award. 

Story Key Notes: 

🖐️  “Cake it Like a Kid” - in support of Pediatric Cancer Awareness

🖐️  SixDegrees.Org produced Play On

🖐️  Getting People Moving the Right Direction

You can find out more about Stacy by visiting:

Website: SixDegrees.Org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sixdegrees.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sixdegreesofkb/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sixdegreesofkb?lang=en

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stacybradford/

Learn more about how you can affect change to the lives of youth in foster care by visiting https://www.comfortcases.org/

🎥 Watch the full video episodes on YouTube!

Head over to Comfort Cases on YouTube to catch every inspiring conversation:

👉 youtube.com/@comfortcases

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Angela Featherstone - model, actress, philanthropist: Founder of the organization Fosteringcare.org, a nonprofit trauma-healing and trade school for youth aging out of foster care in Los Angeles.

The school is contributing to halting the negative outcomes that so many youth who age out of foster care experience, including homelessness, incarceration, and human trafficking. Moreover, the school is also very importantly training young people in healing modalities, so that they leave school with a trade/occupation that will enable them to achieve self-sufficiency.   They are now working with Jae Canas from UCLA Behavioral Sciences who is now creating a trauma-healing template from our paradigm for the Dept of Mental Health.

Who is Angela?  

Within a year of emancipating herself from foster care at 17, Angela Featherstone became Canada's top model when her September, Flare magazine cover broke all previous records for sales. 

She quickly expanded upon her success and left for New York where she signed with the illustrious Click agency. She would travel the world as a top fashion model, working with such great photographers as Oliviero Toscani, Piero Gemelli, Irving Penn, Albert Watson, David Bailey, and Bruce Weber. 

But for her life's work of acting, she downplayed her striking features to play unlikely roles, emerging as an actress with exceptional versatility. She is best known for playing Chloe in Friends and the fiancé (Linda) who left Adam Sandler's character (Robbie) at the altar in The Wedding Singer. 

Most recently she played the role of Maggie on Showtime’s Ray Donovan and Jame on Girls for HBO. She has created sitcoms for Sony, DreamWorks, and NBC television, and written nonfiction for Time, Jane, Flare, The Huffington Post, Dame, and Zoomer. 

Her essay about childhood trauma, God Said No, was published in the 2014 edition of Gargoyle Magazine and nominated for the Pushcart Prize. In 2011, she curated Fuck Pretty, a show at the Robert Berman Gallery featuring important and emerging female photographers, and recorded “Coattail Glide” with Raymond Pettibon and the band The Niche Makers. 

Angela, a committed advocate for children in foster care, volunteers with the Children's Action Network curating their Heart Gallery from 2011- 2019 and served on their Winter Wonderland committee 2014 & 2015. She has also mentored a child in foster care through Kidsave from 2011-2020. In 2014, she lectured at the ICAN Nexus Conference; Violence Within the Home and its Effects on Children and continues to lecture and write about healing PTSD, child abuse, human trafficking, and intimacy. Her 2015 essay on child sex trafficking for DAME was picked up by Salon.org and MSN and exposed to over 7 million viewers. That year she was also an adjunct lecturer at the UCLA Professional Producing Program. 2022 marked her 14th year studying Moral and Spiritual Psychology with Rabbi Mordecai Finley, Ph.D. 

Recently, Angela served as a consultant on the important documentary about the effects and healing of trauma, Cracked Up.

You can find out more about Angela by visiting:

Website:  www.Fosteringcare.org

Instagram: @thefosteringcarehealingshool

Twittter: ​​@ppp_healing

Learn more about how you can affect change to the lives of youth in foster care by visiting https://www.comfortcases.org/

🎥 Watch the full video episodes on YouTube!

Head over to Comfort Cases on YouTube to catch every inspiring conversation:

👉 youtube.com/@comfortcases

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Diaper Bank, Covering South Florida, has been operating for 11 years and has distributed over 5 million diapers, serving 3500 families each month. We are members of the National Diaper Bank Network- a collaboration of over 300 diaper banks around the nation working to end diaper inequity.

We PARTNER with local non-profits who serve families that fall at or below the federal poverty level to help eliminate the diaper need in Palm Beach and Broward Counties.

We EDUCATE the community on the importance of ending diaper need.

We ADVOCATE for federal assistance to families to provide diapers. 

We provide COMPASSION as a  dedicated resource to so many partners and families in our community.

We work to ELEVATE the awareness of diaper need and provide families and children the opportunity to ELEVATE and shine. 

Story Key Notes: 

🖐️ Defining Diaper Need

🖐️ The Diaper Bank, Covering South Florida mission and how we do it-

To give children the opportunity to shine

🖐️ How to help/ get involved.

You can find out more about Ashley by visiting:

Website:  https://diaperbankcoveringsofl.org/

Instagram: @diaperbankcoveringsofl

Facebook: The Diaper Bank, Covering South Florida

Learn more about how you can affect change to the lives of youth in foster care by visiting https://www.comfortcases.org/

Listen to previous episodes of Fostering Change at https://www.comfortcases.org/podcast

🎥 Watch the full video episodes on YouTube!

Head over to Comfort Cases on YouTube to catch every inspiring conversation:

👉 youtube.com/@comfortcases

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sharlee Jeter is president of the Turn 2 Foundation, a non-profit established by her brother, baseball legend Derek Jeter, and their father, Dr. Charles Jeter, to motivate young people to turn away from drugs and alcohol and "Turn 2" healthy lifestyles.  They provide help for youth to reach their full potential by creating and supporting initiatives that promote leadership development, academic achievement, positive behavior, healthy lifestyles and social change. 

She also serves as vice president of strategy & development for Jeter Ventures, which encompasses Derek’s full portfolio of business operations. She is the co-author with Dr. Sampson Davis of the powerful book, The Stuff: Unlock Your Power to Overcome Challenges, Soar and Succeed . It was inspired by the authors’ own personal challenges and is intended to inspire readers to recognize their own strength and potential to succeed. Sharlee received her Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Spelman College. She resides in New Jersey with her son, Jalen. 

ALSO:

Congratulations to #Turn2 President Sharlee Jeter for being honored by One Hundred Black Men during its 60th Anniversary Gala. Recognized for her commitment to creating positive change, Sharlee received the Jackie Robinson and Community Impact Award. Held at Lincoln Center, the special event celebrated One Hundred Black Men's 60-year legacy and profound impact on the Black community.

Story Key Notes: 

🖐️ Giving kids a platform and an opportunity to succeed and live their maximized lives

🖐️ There are so many synergies that can be discussed during this podcast

🖐️ We have a responsibility to provide youth the opportunity to find & use their voices

You can find out more about Sharlee by visiting:

Website:  www.turn2foundation.org

Instagram: @sjeter2

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sharlee.jeter.7 

Twittter: ​​@sjeter2

Learn more about how you can affect change to the lives of youth in foster care by visiting https://www.comfortcases.org/

Listen to previous episodes of Fostering Change at https://www.comfortcases.org/podcast

🎥 Watch the full video episodes on YouTube!

Head over to Comfort Cases on YouTube to catch every inspiring conversation:

👉 youtube.com/@comfortcases

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Megan & Lindsay have a combined 30 years of legal experience and help clients create custom estate plans that last the test of time. They work with clients to protect their assets so that they leave behind a legacy of love and not a mess.

Using Estate Planning for Charitable Giving, their firm also creates a complimentary Kids Emergency Support Plan for families with minor children that is designed to keep kids out of the foster care system if their parents become temporarily or permanently unable to care for them.

Story Key Notes: Megan Campbell & Lindsay Warnes

🖐️ What is estate planning and why is it important? 

🖐️ Why use estate planning for charitable giving?

🖐️ How can you use an estate plan for charitable giving?

You can find out more about Megan & Lindsay by visiting:

Website:  www.willowlegalgroup.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/willowlegalgroup

Learn more about how you can affect change to the lives of youth in foster care by visiting https://www.comfortcases.org/

Listen to previous episodes of Fostering Change at https://www.comfortcases.org/podcast

🎥 Watch the full video episodes on YouTube!

Head over to Comfort Cases on YouTube to catch every inspiring conversation:

👉 youtube.com/@comfortcases

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amanda Simoneta and Myra Scheer have been involved with The Felix Organization since its inception in 2006. Both have watched the mission come to life and expand its reach to provide life-changing opportunities to youth in foster care for over 177 years.

The mission of The Felix Organization is to provide inspiring opportunities and new experiences to enrich the lives of children who are growing up in the foster care system.

Co-Founders, Darryl "DMC"​ McDaniels (Run DMC AND Rock and Roll Hall of Famer) and Sheila Jaffe, (Emmy Award winning Casting Director of "The Sopranos"​ and "Entourage"​) are both adoptees who have searched for their birth families. As they pursued their journey of discovery, they realized how fortunate they were, having been raised by loving families. Things could have gone very differently had they not been adopted. Darryl and Sheila decided to start THE FELIX ORGANIZATION/ Adoptees For Children in February 2006.

As adoptees, "We were taken home. We wanted to give back to those children who didn't get taken home or who are growing up in the foster care system."​

Since 2006, THE FELIX ORGANIZATION has sent nearly 4,000 children to CAMP FELIX for one or two week sessions. Our goal is to continue to send an increasing number of children to CAMP FELIX each year and to nurture and encourage them throughout the year with additional, inspiring opportunities.

Story Key Notes:

🖐️ Our 3rd Annual Walk This Way Walkathon Fundraiser on Sunday, May 21st!

🖐️ The Need - Back Story on Foster Care Community and How Felix Meets the Needs of Young People in the Foster Care System.

🖐️ Origin Story of The Felix Organization

You can find out more about Amanda and Myra by visiting:

Website:  

• www.thefelixorganization.org 
• Walk This Way Fundraiser in May: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/thirdannualwalkthisway

 Instagram: @felixorganization

Twitter: @felix4change

 Facebook: @felixorganization

 Linked in: The Felix Organization

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thefelixorganization8034

🎥 Watch the full video episodes on YouTube!

Head over to Comfort Cases on YouTube to catch every inspiring conversation:

👉 youtube.com/@comfortcases

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mike Thorne’s focus of work is Human Transformation. He accomplishes this through an association with Vistage Worldwide, the largest Peer Advisory firm, and his work as Chairman of the National Council for Adoption.

As the author of the new book, Hustle With Heart: Unlocking Self-Worth Through Personal Trust Communities, he works to help people transform and thrive - at home and at work - to find a better way forward with their lives.

Mike is the former President of Yankee Candle and Russell Athletic and most recently CEO of Challenger Turf. He is a father of 3 adult daughters and has been married to his best friend for over 32 years. He invests his time with high integrity growth oriented leaders (and/or their leadership) who care about humanity and the environment

At age 46, Mike met his biological Mom and siblings, but not his dad. He was told that his dad didn't like successful people, but was talented at breaking and entering. Sitting in a living room with people he shared blood with but had never known until then was a turning point - Grateful vs resentful.

Mike shares so much in this interview with Rob Scheer, including these messages:

• Take care of your thoughts when alone. Take care of your words when with other people.
• The struggle of believing to belong: Belong. Build. Believe

Other Key Story Notes:

🖐️ Know and Own Your Own Story

🖐️ Define Your North Star

🖐️ Build Your Personal Trust Community Across All Aspects of Your Well Being

You can find out more about Mike by visiting:

Website: mikethorne.co

Instagram: @ptctransformer

Twitter: @ptctransformer

Linkedin:  linkedin.com/in/michaelbthorne

YouTube:@mikethorne3768 You Tube

You can purchase Mike’s book, Hustle With Heart, by clicking THIS LINK.

Learn more about how you can affect change to the lives of youth in foster care by visiting https://www.comfortcases.org/

Listen to previous episodes of Fostering Change at https://www.comfortcases.org/podcast

🎥 Watch the full video episodes on YouTube!

Head over to Comfort Cases on YouTube to catch every inspiring conversation:

👉 youtube.com/@comfortcases

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael leads the executive efforts of the national nonprofit organization, Childhelp – a national leader in the prevention, intervention, and treatment of child abuse. 

Childhelp believes that every child has a unique contribution to make to the world.

Prior to his role with Childhelp, Michael has served in executive leadership roles with other national and international nonprofit organizations such as Easter Seals and Project CURE. Currently pursuing a PhD in Education from Seattle Pacific University, Michael is looking to advance the education, vocational, and communal support of children who have experienced, or at risk of experiencing abuse; as well as children and youth who are a part of our national foster care system

Childhelp has just launched the Courage First Hotline – a national hotline staffed with professional counselors to assist athletes, parents, coaches, and anyone in the athletic communities who are concerned about emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. 

Childhelp has also established the first evidence-based prevention education curriculum designed to educate students preK-12th grade on not only the signs and symptoms of abuse, but what to do when they witness or experience abuse. This curriculum has now included a new module around Human Trafficking.

Story Key Notes:

🖐️ About Childhelp

🖐️ A foundation to assist youth in foster care; as well as youth at risk for, or experiencing abuse

🖐️ The First Evidence Based Prevention Education Curriculum

You can find out more about Michaeli by visiting:

Website: www.childhelp.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/childhelp

Instagram: www.instagram.com/childhelpf

Twitter: www.twitter.com/childhelp

Learn more about how you can affect change to the lives of youth in foster care by visiting https://www.comfortcases.org/

Listen to previous episodes of Fostering Change at https://www.comfortcases.org/podcast

🎥 Watch the full video episodes on YouTube!

Head over to Comfort Cases on YouTube to catch every inspiring conversation:

👉 youtube.com/@comfortcases

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.