1) Tell us about you! (Family, work, ministry, church, etc)

• I come from a large family in Oklahoma, married to husband Danny and live in OC - love our life group, community, church RHMV, and walks to the beach where our story started.
• part time for AKB as the Trauma Trainer and Director of Organizational Health
• part time in private practice in Newport Beach serving children and families through counseling

2) Can you share about the mission of AKB?

• Activate Government, Business and Faith leaders to end the crisis for kids in foster care.

3) When did you feel called to start serving in this space and how did that feel when you first began?

• I had a heart for children for forever & the fatherless since about 10 years old
• Family’s foster/adopt journey + family mission trips seeing hurting people led me to study social work
• Masters program - clearly interested in working in foster/adopt world
• Felt difficult, beautiful, energizing, sad, overwhelming, and yet “right” for me

4) Something that I found really incredible about America’s Kid’s Belong is how it talks about the collective impact. I love that the Church is included in this. Can you share how the church can help make a lasting impact in regards to this organization?

• That is something I am pretty passionate about too!
• Church/Bride of Christ is the only thing that will last, most sustainable
• Only body of people with biblical mandate to care for & bring justice for & uphold the rights of the orphan/widow (James 1:27 & Psalm 82:3)
• Churches/Faith communities are everywhere- Over 300,000 churches in US- widespread
• Faith communities built for caring for people, supporting family, advocating for wholeness
• RESEARCH: Identify families in your church who are (or have) already fostering. Listen to them. Organize and recognize them as a key ministry team in the church.
• RETAIN: Support them with a “Wrap Around Ministry”
• RECRUIT: Host a “Belong” Sunday and a “Next Steps Event” to recruit new families.
• provide space (video shoots, visitations, meetings, child welfare events)
• host trainings (trauma, WRAP around, child welfare trainings, documentary showings like Resilience Film or REMOVED films)
• start foster care related ministry
• educate self & surrounding community on felt needs
• care for & love on local child welfare workers
• wrap around foster/adopt families
• provide parents night out
• teach/preach on current foster care related issues & needs

5) Can you share a little bit about the in’s and out’s of adoption here in America? What is the timeline, what ages have the hardest time with placements, and what does the need look like?

• U.S.Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau  -- AdoptionandFosterCareAnalysisandReportingSystem
• https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/cb/afcarsreport26.pdf
• 125,422 kids WAITING TO BE ADOPTED (legally free)
• 262,956 kids ENTERED FOSTER CARE
• 437,283 kids IN FOSTER CARE
• 61,901 kids ADOPTED through foster care in 2019 report (25%)
• Home Study approval process anywhere from 3 - 6 months
• Age 12+ high risk for aging out

6) “It’s easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. – Frederick Douglass This quote nearly took my breath away. Is there a story that stands out in your memory of a time The Lord placed a child with a family and a miracle happened within their heart?

• Educate about and advocate for ALL three responses
• Upstream: Provide care for at risk families before child welfare is involved
• In the stream: Provide care for kids in care & foster families
• Downstream: Provide care for aged out youth
• We get to hear of teenagers and young adults in their 20’s being adopted
• Go upstream and catch them before 10 social wounds
• People need People! Stuff without people/relationships is a bandaid.
• First few months of placement honeymoon, then grief/loss hit, then slow adjustment and steps toward healing

7) For someone listening that what’s to get involved with your organization, what can they do to help? Whether financially, prayerfully, or if they are interested in adoption?

• Pray
• Follow social media to stay up to date
• Wrap around families
• Learn/educate watch videos
• GIVE!!

8) The Living With Less Podcast was birthed from John 3:30, "He must increase, but I must decrease.” If someone approached you and asked what they needed to begin living with less of in regards to this what would you tell them and why? 

• What are you carrying that you don’t need to carry anymore?
• Our unresolved pain, loss, & shame prevents us from fully experiencing all that He is and desires for us in relationship with Him
• For Him to increase in our lives, our barriers to him must decrease
• Resolve those things through healthy community, counseling, support groups, reconciliation, and inviting Him to heal wounds.
• Connects to caring for those in pain - How can we lead the hurting to a place of healing if we have never been there ourselves?
• You can’t give a child what you have never received