Looking Forward – Jahaad’s Journey

Jahaad Johnson had little stability as a youth, moving from New Jersey to Alabama with little choice in the matter, then advocating for his needs to get back to New Jersey. Once back in his home state, stability still didn’t come. He spent time in many different homes before something in him switch -find out what in his What The Foster? podcast!

Sophia is a former New Jersey Foster Care Scholar whose dreams of education got her out of her abusive home. She shared the abuse she experienced in childhood, how she got out of it, and what she has learned from these experiences. Sophia possesses profound insight on how her experiences and healing have shaped her life and appear in her artwork. She is a recent graduate of Maryland College Institute of Art. Check out Sophia’s AMAZING artwork at here website: https://www.cygnusares.com/

This episode we chatted with psychology researcher and professor Dr. Seanna Leath about foster care, her research on racial stereotypes and so much more. Get ready for this info-packed episode!

Eric Liszt had been a foster parent for six years when he met his foster daughter, who we will call Angelica to protect her privacy. She was only four, but she was already experiencing intense psychological distress, and was hospitalized multiple times. It wasn’t long before he was traveling internationally to try to reunify her with her father, hoping that the family connection would be what she needed to thrive.

In this Episode of What The Foster, Alejandra moves to the United States to live with her new family, but it isn’t the ending she imagined for herself.

For more information on foster care in New Jersey, visit www.embrella.org

To hear more true stories from foster care, visit www.futureisfamily.org

Alejandra tells her foster care story, starting in a small town in Colombia where she faces neglect while her mother and father struggle with addiction. She and her brother end up in a foster home, but the neglect and abuse get worse, leading to her brother’s death. When the neighbors notice the physical abuse, they call the police, and she is removed from the home. She moves a few more times before a family from the United States shows interest in adopting her.

For more information on foster care in New Jersey, visit www.embrella.org

To hear more true stories from foster care, visit www.futureisfamily.org

For more information on foster care in New Jersey, visit www.embrella.org

To hear more true stories from foster care, visit www.futureisfamily.org

In foster care after immigrating to the United States, Stephanie was determined to make the most of her life.  After being separated from her mother and siblings, Stephanie wound up in a transitional living home.  In this episode, Stephanie shares with us the ways her time in that group home affected her, and shows how she worked to achieve her dreams despite the setbacks associated with removal.  Listen in to hear about her experiences with prison food, independent living and the beginning of her life after foster care.

For more information on foster care in New Jersey, visit www.embrella.org

To hear more true stories from foster care, visit www.futureisfamily.org

This week, we meet Stephanie, a German immigrant who ended up in the New Jersey foster care system after her arrival in the United States.  Today, Stephanie works for Wells Fargo in public relations, but in 2006, that future seemed distant.  Separated from her family as a teenager, Stephanie found herself in a group home, getting meals from the juvenile detention center next door.  Follow Stephanie as she navigates the foster care system and tries to find success.

For more information on foster care in New Jersey, visit www.embrella.org

To hear more true stories from foster care, visit www.futureisfamily.org

In the last part of his foster care story, Shakree receives a book that inspires and shapes his life’s journey and he navigates state programs to help him pursue his dreams.  Meanwhile, Ananda also heads to college. She doesn’t share her past with her new friends out of fear that it will alter their perceptions of her.

For more information on foster care in New Jersey, visit www.embrella.org

To hear more true stories from foster care, visit www.futureisfamily.org