National Foster Care Awareness Month is May and over the years Parent Footprint listeners have asked us for more shows about foster care, foster parenting, adoption, and foster-to-adoption. Today on the podcast, Dr. Dan interviews adoptive parent and advocate Jenell Jones about foster care, adoption, and the foster-to-adoption journey as well as her personal experiences chronicled in her book Shattered.

Jenell Jones is an early education entrepreneur specializing in providing high quality learning experiences for children who have experienced trauma in low-income areas. In addition, Jenell provides advice and experience to foster and adoptive parents based on her own experiences as an adoptive mother.

In today’s interview with Dr. Dan, Jenell shares the joy and pain navigating the foster-to-adoption system for her daughter, Mercy. By the time she found a place in Jenell's family at 8 years old, Mercy had been bounced around with more than 20 placements, and her history of abuse and mental illness was not disclosed. 

Jenell is a biological, adoptive, and foster mother, and these experiences shaped her ideas of motherhood and her parenting journey. Her honest reflections on the adoption and foster care system, mental health, and non-traditional families will help and inspire others  navigating this journey.

For more information about Jenell please visit her website www.jenelljones.com.

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