Welcome back to The "F" Word: Foster Care!

We are back after a long year and half! We welcomed a new baby into our family, had a house flood and are finally back on track and excited to lift more voices. Enjoy this episode Fall 2021. New recordings coming soon!

We welcome Sasha, a foster and adoptive parent, to the conversation this week. Sasha is an adoptive mother of one, and foster parent to 12 children. She has been part of 9 reunifications with another one just around the corner. Sasha fosters with United Hope, and focuses a lot on partnership parenting. Sasha shares valuable insight and advice for anyone looking to become a foster parent or current foster parents looking at motivation, support and guidance in partnership parenting.

Welcome to the conversation!

If you are interested in joining our podcast please email us below. We are always looking for anyone with experience in the family well-being system (child welfare) from parents, attorneys, case managers, judges, foster parents and more.

Email: [email protected]  [email protected]

Twitter: @families_anchor @FWordFosterCare

Facebook: www.facebook.com/familiesanchor
(Georgia Virtual Parent Support Group information can be found on Facebook)

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

Welcome to The “F” Word: Foster Care! This week we continue our National Reunification Month celebration with Bobby Jo. Bobby Jo is a mother of 3 and she shares her reunification story and her new journey supporting other parents in similar situations as she experienced. Bobby Jo became a Certified Peer Specialist (CPS) in 2019. She completed Trauma Informed Care and Mental Health first aid. She also received her certification in Whole Health Action Management (WHAM). Bobby Jo completed training with the Respect Institute and has received additional training in WRAP, Wellness Recovery Action Plan. We are so excited to have her join us as we conclude our Reunification Month celebration!

Welcome to the conversation!

(We apologize for the delay in releasing our June National Reunification Month episodes)

If you are interested in joining our podcast please email us below. We are always looking for anyone with experience in the family well-being system (child welfare) from parents, attorneys, case managers, judges, foster parents and more.

Email: [email protected]  [email protected]

Twitter: @families_anchor @FWordFosterCare

Facebook: www.facebook.com/familiesanchor
(Georgia Virtual Parent Support Group information can be found on Facebook)

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

We welcome Brittany, a mother of two beautiful boys, story of reunification and how she was able to partner with her Resource Parent (foster parent). Brittany's emotional story shares the ups and downs of child welfare. She shares what it was like to give birth while in the world of foster care and her journey towards recovery. Brittany  shares how the journey towards positive co-parenting started and how she has been able to continue a relationship with her Resource Parent.

Welcome to the conversation!

Email: [email protected]  [email protected]

Twitter: @families_anchor @FWordFosterCare

Facebook: www.facebook.com/familiesanchor
(Georgia Virtual Parent Support Group information can be found on Facebook)

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

(We are delayed in getting our remaining Reunification Month episodes out)

This week we welcome Samantha Walker, Reunification Director for Georgia Division of Family and Children's Services. We discuss reunification month in June, types of reunification, conditions to return and why it's important to not only work and support children but families as a whole.

Samantha N. Walker received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of New Orleans and a Master of Social Work degree from Southern University at New Orleans. After college, she began her career as a CPS investigator. In 2008, Samantha moved to Georgia and began working for the Division of Family and Children Services as a foster care case manager. During her twelve- year tenure with the Division, she has served in many capacities, including: foster care case manager; kinship assessor; permanency supervisor; permanency administrator; and permanency program director. She currently serves as the Division’s Reunification Director.

Samantha is passionate about supporting families in the home whenever possible by exhausting all reasonable efforts prior to requesting legal custody of a child(ren). Providing consistent, quality services to parents along with helping families identify and create their own informal support networks are the cornerstones to supporting and encouraging reunification. She strongly believes in building consensus with the family at the onset of engagement, and that early-on identification of the safety issues leading to out-of-home care will assist in achieving reunification. When conditions for return are clearly
established and communicated with all pertinent entities including families, courts, relatives, and partnership parents, successful reunification for families is highly achievable.

Welcome to the conversation!

Email: [email protected]  [email protected]

Twitter: @families_anchor @FWordFosterCare

Facebook: www.facebook.com/familiesanchor
(Georgia Virtual Parent Support Group information can be found on Facebook)

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

Erin is a mother of four beautiful children. She has lived experience as a parent with child welfare involvement. Her parental rights were terminated and then REINSTATED after a period of incarceration and rehabilitation. She successfully reunified with her son in 2020. She is currently employed by the Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network where she serves as the Training Coordinator for RESPECT Institute of Georgia. Her role is to assist peers in developing their own stories of recovery through a five-day training process. She is a Certified Peer Specialist-Mental Health as well as a Certified Peer Specialist-Addictive Diseases. She is formally trained in both Youth and Adult Mental Health First Aid and has completed trauma-informed care and cultural competency training. She is a Whole Health and Wellness Coach. She is a mentor and advocate for her peers who are experiencing challenges related to mental health and substance use disorders. Erin is part of the GA Parent Advisory Council through GA DFCS.

Erin was award the 2021 National Reunification Hero Award (she's a hero and more in our book!) https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/child_law/erin-thomas-hero.pdf

Her story of reunification is a story of hope, health, faith, healing, resilience and more. You won't want to miss this!

Resources for this week's episode:
Georgia Mental Health Consumer Network

www.gmhcn.org

Georgia Council on Substance Abuse

www.georgiasubstanceabuse.org

CARES Warm Line *Substance Abuse 

1-844-326-5400

Peer2Peer Warmline *Mental Health

1-888-945-1414

www.peer2peer.center

Welcome to the conversation!

Email: [email protected]  [email protected]

Twitter: @families_anchor @FWordFosterCare

Facebook: www.facebook.com/familiesanchor
(Georgia Virtual Parent Support Group information can be found on Facebook)

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

Carmen is the owner of Families Advocating for Voices of Resilience, Inc. (FAVOR) she is a mother of four and a grandmother of two. Through her experience being a mother of children living with serious emotional disorders, she helps families maximize their fullest potential and empower them to have a voice in their treatment, education, and daily life. Carmen collaborates with numerous child service agencies which provides communities with different resources. She is a member of the GA Parent Advisory Council, part of the DeKalb Family Policy Council, co-chair of the Youth and Family workgroup. Carmen is also one of the founding parents of the DeKalb Access and Resource Center. She was also a founding parent and worked for the Youth Matters Program. Carmen uses her faith and resilience to serve youth and families throughout Georgia.

*Due to technical difficulties we were not able to release this episode last month during Mental Health Awareness Month.

Join our conversation as we dig deeper into resources for youth with mental health, and Carmen shares her family's journey through child welfare, mental health struggles, and how it empowered her to bring change to Georgia.

https://favorfamilies.com/

Welcome to the conversation!

Email: [email protected]  [email protected]

Twitter: @families_anchor @FWordFosterCare

Facebook: www.facebook.com/familiesanchor
(Georgia Virtual Parent Support Group information can be found on Facebook)

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

Mistin is a momma of three beautiful children. Her children were removed outside of her care. She shares her journey of finding her voice and sobriety. Sadly, not all parents have great representation. Many times parents are lost in the system. Their personal faults are exposed publicly and in ways that belittle them. Their strengths are minimized and their progress ignored. Mistin shares her story of how the system took her voice away, but  how she turned her story around and found empowerment which led to her founding her voice. If it wasn't for her voice and strength she may not have reunified with her children.

Mistin's story shines a light on what many parents experience in the foster care system. And shares how words of encouragement and support from Case Managers and GALs can shift a parent's mindset. We hope through her story we can shine a light on the importance of listening and getting to know the parents in child welfare. And how letting parents speak their truth can impact reunification.

Welcome to the conversation!

Email: [email protected]  [email protected]

Twitter: @families_anchor @FWordFosterCare

Facebook: www.facebook.com/familiesanchor

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com 

!!!!Child Abuse Prevention Month 2021!!!!

Join us today as we discuss what child abuse prevention truly is. Our guest today, Natalie Towns, shines a light on child abuse prevention, different levels of prevention, services, hopes for our families and how we all can prevent child abuse in our own homes, neighborhoods and communities. Today may be the last day of Child Abuse Prevention Month, but prevention is important every day!

Natalie Towns is the Director of the Prevention and Community Support (PCS) Section within the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services.  In addition to working in child abuse prevention, Natalie has experience in juvenile justice program financing and health policy research in Georgia. Natalie has also worked in research, evaluation and fiscal analysis related to child welfare at the NC legislature and The Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University.  As the Director of PCS, Natalie manages the state’s efforts around primary and secondary child abuse prevention.

www.PCAGeorgiahelpline.org or 1-800-CHILDREN (244-5373)

www.belongingforhope.org

Welcome to the conversation!



Email: [email protected]  [email protected]

Twitter: @families_anchor @FWordFosterCare

Facebook: www.facebook.com/familiesanchor

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com 

Christina is a mother with lived experience. She has three beautiful children ages 9, 7 and 4. Christina is a parent in leadership through her community and state. She is a member of the Georgia Parent Advisory Council through the Department of Family and Children Services. Christina works with local non-profits as a Parent Peer Advocate. She is a TBRI Practitioner. And was awarded the 2021 George Pullen Community Leadership Award by Rome Floyd County Commission of Children and Youth.
 
Christina joins the conversation today discussing her reunification story and her position of parent leadership in her community. We also discuss ways we can support parents and families in foster care and insight of what it is like to be peer support for families. 
 
Welcome to the conversation!

Email: [email protected]  [email protected]

Twitter: @families_anchor @FWordFosterCare

Facebook: www.facebook.com/familiesanchor

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com 

"I couldn't be a foster parent, I'm worried I'll get too attached"

This week we end our conversation with Crystal Casey discussing more about attachment and working with the families of her foster children. Crystal, her husband Ryan, and their two daughters welcomed their 48th foster baby into their home little over a year ago. They are respite and long term foster parents.

Make sure you listened to PART ONE before you jump into this episode!

We do apologize something went wrong with the audio with Zoom towards the end. Some of the audio is distorted but the conversation was too important not to share. 

Email: [email protected]  [email protected]

Twitter: @families_anchor @FWordFosterCare

Facebook: www.facebook.com/familiesanchor

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com