The Adopting and Fostering Home

By Send Relief

What's The Adopting and Fostering Home about?

Whether your family has been on this journey for years, or you’re just getting started, The Adopting and Fostering Home is here to support and encourage you along the way.

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The Adopting and Fostering Home episodes:

11.08.2023
A Better Way for Orphan Care
As millions of children are housed in orphanages around the world, it’s imperative that we ask ourselves, is there a better way? Kristen Lowry, Send Relief’s Consultant for International Orphan Care says, “We cannot adopt our way out of this.” Kristen shares...
05.11.2023
Fostering Champions for Christ
For this Foster Care Awareness Month episode, Michelle Chitwood joins Lynette Ezell in hosting Fostering Champions Founder Bobby Canipe. After Canipe lost his mother to a heart attack and his father to alcoholism, he and his sister were placed in...
01.26.2023
Removing the Barriers
Kelley and Randall Nichols from We Are the ECHO join Lynette this week to unpack the familiar statement, “I could never do what you do.” The Nichols emphasize the vital role of community support and candidly share the enemy's resistance...
12.27.2022
Precious Snowflakes: Adopting Frozen Embryos
The National Embryo Donation Center (NEDC) is a life-affirming, Christian non-profit dedicated to treating surplus frozen IVF embryos with dignity and finding forever homes for their young lives. NEDC’s Marketing and Development Director Mark Mellinger joins the podcast this week,...
11.23.2022
Redefining My Legacy
Although abuse and childhood adversity filled the early chapters of Kristen Thomas’ life, her trust in Christ and the investment of a caring community has enabled her to write a new story. Be encouraged as Kristen shares with Lynette how...
11.11.2022
The Role of the Church in Family Advocacy Ministries
Josh Benton, Vice President at Send Relief, joins Lynette on the podcast this week to share their family’s adoption story and the invaluable role of the local church. Through Family Advocacy Ministry, Josh provides a clear, concise blueprint for ministering...
10.20.2022
Deep Breaths at Home
Lindsey Martin joins the podcast again to continue the conversation of prenatal trauma and creating a home that promotes healing. Join Lynette and Lindsey as they discuss small attainable goals to build relationship and felt safety.
10.04.2022
Prenatal Trauma and Disruption in Early Childhood Milestones
Back from our summer sabbatical, host Lynette Ezell and social worker Lindsey Martin discuss prenatal trauma and its potential effects.
07.14.2022
Beyond Behaviors
Occupational therapist Savannah Alderman joins the podcast this week to discuss proven tools and activities that we can incorporate into everyday living that help children build relationships and trust with their new family unit. Find more resources for...
05.26.2022
When Adoption Calls
Adoption is a lifelong journey of faith, a call that Robbie and Savannah Alderman answered as newlyweds. Despite a world-wide pandemic, the Aldermans trusted the Lord's timing to bring home their three daughters. Find resources for your adoption and foster care...
05.12.2022
They Know My Name!
While serving in their children’s ministry, Terri Raynes and Tia Harwood realized they share a passion to help children in the Arizona foster care system. Soon, the two friends put their crafty skills to work and began Creation Awaits. Their...
04.28.2022
Hope Multiplies
Military wife and mom of 6, Cayela Moody, joins the podcast this week to share her family’s “yes” to foster care and adoption. Learn how her organization, Hope Multiplies, is equipping the Church to embrace and support vulnerable children and families. Find...
04.14.2022
Boards for the Bridges: Seeking Counsel for Transracial Adoptions
Brittany Salmon joins Lynette on the podcast this week to discuss her new book, It Takes More Than Love: A Christian Guide to Navigating the Complexities of Cross-Cultural Adoption. Brittany shares her personal story of transracial adoption and the work required to...
03.17.2022
Unplanned Good
Adoptive mom, Terri Marcroft, shares her family’s open adoption journey and the healing it can provide. At a time when open adoption provoked fear and uncertainty, the Marcrofts chose to build a strong relationship with the birth mom of their...
03.03.2022
Trusting His Silence
Laura Peal joins the podcast again this week to share her family’s journey of adoption and ministry. No matter how hopeless the situation appeared, the Peals realize that Christ is King and His love for us is immeasurable. Find resources for...
02.10.2022
We Share a Name
On this week’s episode, Lynette welcomes Laura Peal, an adoptive mom she met while visiting Send Relief’s Ministry Center in Puerto Rico. When the Peal family was asked to pray for a young life that was vulnerable to abortion, they...
01.27.2022
A Longing for Motherhood
The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission’s Director of Public Policy, Chelsea Patterson, joins the podcast this week to share her passion of advocating for vulnerable children and the importance of trauma-informed counseling. Adopted from Romania as a baby, Patterson shares her personal journey...
01.13.2022
A Legacy of Faith and Family
Sherwood Baptist Church’s former pastor, Michael Catt, and his wife, Terri, join Lynette to discuss how the Holy Spirit softened their hearts to the ministry of adoption and foster care. From the midlife discovery of his own adoption to supporting...
12.02.2021
He Restores My Soul
Reuben Watson joins Lynette to share part two of his personal foster care story. After a childhood of neglect, 13 foster placements and failed suicide attempts, Reuben is introduced to Jesus and discipled at Sunrise Children’s Homes in Kentucky. As...
11.18.2021
The Relentless Love of God
Between navigating 13 different foster placements, suffering physical and verbal abuse and coping with his mother’s illness, Reuben Watson endured a childhood filled with trauma. After battling feelings of worthlessness throughout his adolescence, Reuben found hope in the gospel. He...
11.04.2021
Mr. Larry & Mrs. Robertson
This week, Larry and Beth Robertson join Lynette and continue their story of foster care, adoption and ministry. The Robertsons discuss their temporary foster placement moving to adoption and navigating the court system during COVID-19. The couple candidly shares the...
10.21.2021
Snowballs and Trust and Family
Pastor Larry and Beth Robertson join us this week to discuss the lifestyle pivot of going from empty nesters to a full home again. Join in to hear how the Robertsons navigated a sudden foster placement and how to encourage...
10.07.2021
Planting a Church and a Foster Care Ministry
NorthRoad Community Church’s lead Pastor, Matt Bartig, joins Lynette on the podcast this week to share his family’s unexpected Foster Care journey and the resulting creation of Divine Nest Ministries. Pastor Matt brings along directors Tim Height and Dani James...
09.23.2021
How You Can Empower Adoptive and Fostering Families, Part 2
Not everyone is called to adopt, but everyone is called to support adoptive and foster families. Callie Rich joins us for a second episode to discuss creative ways churches can support the fostering and adoptive communities! Listen to this week’s...
09.09.2021
The Sacredness of the Mundane, Part 1
This week’s guest, Callie Rich, discusses the unexpected twists and turns of the adoption journey and how God’s call to the everyday tasks of parenting is truly a call to invaluable kingdom work. For more resources on your fostering and...
07.15.2021
The Reality of In-Between in Adoptions, Part 2
On this week’s episode of Adopting and Fostering Home with Lynette Ezell, Clint and Jennifer Clinton return to the podcast to share the second part of their challenging journey with a failed adoption, as well as an almost decade-long successful...
07.01.2021
The Reality of In-Between in Adoptions, Part 1
Clint and Jennifer Clifton, 16-year-veteran church planting missionaries, are proud parents of five children and are in the process of adopting their sixth from Puerto Rico. Join Lynette Ezell on this week’s episode to hear their discussion about the hardships...
06.17.2021
The Healing Power of Story Narratives
Just as Jesus taught, parables are a healing tool for rebuilding healthy relationships and fractured personal beliefs. Melissa Nichols, lead counselor of Minnesota’s Family Attachment and Counseling Center, explains the power of Story Narratives for children and teens who have...
06.03.2021
The Next Faithful Step
Foster and Adoptive mom, Mandie Summers, shares misconceptions that many parents may face on the unpredictable journey of adoption and foster care. Having walked through family reunifications and adoption placements, Mandie shares how the Holy Spirit has provided the wisdom...
05.20.2021
Building Towards Family Reunification
Georgia’s 2019 Foster Caregiver of the Year, Jennifer Nolder, has fostered nearly 40 children and recently officially adopted her first child. She joins host Lynette Ezell this week to discuss how to come alongside a family of origin while fostering...
05.06.2021
Invited In and Fully Equipped
In a special National Foster Care Month edition of the podcast, foster mom Ronda Paulson joins host Lynette Ezell to discuss their shared prayer that every child will one day know the love of a family. Paulson’s passion for foster...
04.22.2021
Rewiring Your Brain After Trauma
Dr. Bob Montes, from Trinity Psychological Services, joins us this week to discuss a new, non-medical trauma treatment method called “neurofeedback.” Dr. Bob explains the amazing benefits of neurofeedback and how it can be a helpful alternative to medication for...
04.08.2021
Hope for Every Moment
Melissa Stevenson is a Send Network church planting missionary and mother of five. She shares how the faithfulness of God guided their adoption process through a difficult country and government. Be encouraged as Melissa resonates the promise of eternity despite...
04.01.2021
Nurture & Nutrition
Dr. Christy Montes returns to the show with practical tools to help parents nourish their own souls, so they are better equipped to nurture children from hard places. Learn three easy steps you can take today to combat nutritional deficits...
03.25.2021
Homeopathic Help with Childhood Trauma
Dr. Christy Montes joins host Lynette Ezell in discussing naturopathic remedies and the role they play in the complicated healing process for children with backgrounds of trauma and neglect. Find more resources for your adoption and foster care journey at SendRelief.org.
03.11.2021
A Family’s Passion to Love their Community
NY parents Steve & Julie Rosati share their story of marrying later in life then embracing foster care and adoption. And when COVID began shutting down services, the Rosati family found innovative ways to meet needs and further the gospel...
02.25.2021
Behavior-Based Therapy for Children Suffering Trauma
Social worker Carol Lozier and host Lynette Ezell discuss the intricacies of coaching adoptive and foster families to parent children who have experienced severe trauma. Discover therapeutic activity ideas for children through Lozier’s recently published activity book and download Carol’s...
02.11.2021
Help Her Be Brave
Co-founder of Embrace Grace Inc., Amy Ford shares her moving testimony of how God redeemed her teenage pregnancy and near-abortion experience to prompt her ministry to women navigating unexpected pregnancies. Delve into this week’s episode for an understanding of how...
01.28.2021
Keep the Conversation Going
Host Lynette Ezell is joined by Michelle Chitwood to interview Krista Grigg about how the Chitwoods inspired her family’s transformation from a unit of three to one of nine! Listen to this week’s episode to learn more abouHost Lynette Ezell...
01.14.2021
Fostering Is a Team Sport
Delving into their 20 year friendship, host Lynette Ezell and guest, Kristin Scroggins, discuss the challenge of navigating closed doors and the importance of entering foster care as a united family team. With the help of their local church, Kristin...
12.31.2020
How Your Church Can Help Ease the Chaos of a Crisis Pregnancy
We miss so many opportunities to serve vulnerable women when we fail to empathize with and educate ourselves about crisis pregnancy situations. This week, experts from Lifeline Children’s Services join host Lynette Ezell in discussing their new curriculum “Worthy” which...
12.17.2020
Unexpected Medical Challenges and Unexpected Blessings
When Shane and Kasi Pruitt’s family answered God’s call to international adoption, they weren’t aware of all the challenges their new infant son would be facing in life. Upon their arrival in Uganda, they quickly realized he would need extensive,...
12.10.2020
The Ripple Effect of “YES”
As the Lord uses us to take the gospel to the nations and across the street, we see things we can never unsee and we are eternally changed. In this Part 2 recording, Michelle Chitwood from the International Mission Board...
12.03.2020
Adopting Later in Life
This week on The Adopting and Fostering Home podcast, Michelle Chitwood from the International Mission Board, shares about her unconventional family of four. With ages ranging from 24 to 8, the Chitwoods have two biological children, one adopted daughter who...
11.19.2020
Lifeline Leadership and the Adoption System in America
This week's episode features an informative discussion with Christie Mac Segars and Karla Thrasher of Lifeline Children's Services. With Host Lynette Ezell, they dive into the topic of Open Adoption and what it looks like for Domestic and International adoptions....
11.05.2020
Purposefully Pursuing Open Adoption
For National Adoption Awareness Month, host Lynette Ezell interviews high school sweethearts Montana and Amanda Jones about their experience as a mixed family, with one biological daughter and one adopted son, and the beginnings of their pursuit of open adoption....
10.22.2020
A Rough Road to Ministry
On this week’s episode of The Adopting and Fostering Home podcast, host Lynette Ezell interviews pastor Shaq Hardy about his childhood and what it was like being in the foster care system until the age of ten.
10.08.2020
Navigating an Open Adoption
Open adoptions may be confusing or daunting when you’re growing your family. On this week's episode, AFH host Lynette Ezell interviews mother and adopted daughter, Karen LaBarr and Christy Harmon, about their relationship with Christy's birth mother and how it...
09.24.2020
Fostering in Your Early 20s
Corey Taylor is a 23-year-old foster parent who has been on the adoption and fostering journey for 10 months now. Each week brings him closer to officially being able to adopt the 6-year-old boy he has grown to love. This...
09.10.2020
Both Brave and Blemished
Host Lynette Ezell interviews author Adrian C. Collins about being both a "brave and blemished" parent as she re-adopted her daughter, whom she surrendered custody of as a newborn. Collins discusses overcoming shame and the hurdles of mother-daughter relationships in...

What's The Adopting and Fostering Home about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The Adopting and Fostering Home episodes:

A Better Way for Orphan Care

Fostering Champions for Christ

Removing the Barriers

Precious Snowflakes: Adopting Frozen Embryos

Redefining My Legacy

The Role of the Church in Family Advocacy Ministries

Deep Breaths at Home

Prenatal Trauma and Disruption in Early Childhood Milestones

Beyond Behaviors

When Adoption Calls

They Know My Name!

Hope Multiplies

Boards for the Bridges: Seeking Counsel for Transracial Adoptions

Unplanned Good

Trusting His Silence

We Share a Name

A Longing for Motherhood

A Legacy of Faith and Family

He Restores My Soul

The Relentless Love of God

Mr. Larry & Mrs. Robertson

Snowballs and Trust and Family

Planting a Church and a Foster Care Ministry

How You Can Empower Adoptive and Fostering Families, Part 2

The Sacredness of the Mundane, Part 1

The Reality of In-Between in Adoptions, Part 2

The Reality of In-Between in Adoptions, Part 1

The Healing Power of Story Narratives

The Next Faithful Step

Building Towards Family Reunification

Invited In and Fully Equipped

Rewiring Your Brain After Trauma

Hope for Every Moment

Nurture & Nutrition

Homeopathic Help with Childhood Trauma

A Family’s Passion to Love their Community

Behavior-Based Therapy for Children Suffering Trauma

Help Her Be Brave

Keep the Conversation Going

Fostering Is a Team Sport

How Your Church Can Help Ease the Chaos of a Crisis Pregnancy

Unexpected Medical Challenges and Unexpected Blessings

The Ripple Effect of “YES”

Adopting Later in Life

Lifeline Leadership and the Adoption System in America

Purposefully Pursuing Open Adoption

A Rough Road to Ministry

Navigating an Open Adoption

Fostering in Your Early 20s

Both Brave and Blemished