Fostering Hope with Jen Lilley

Adoption through Wendy’s Wonderful Kids

Rita Soronen returns from the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, along with a panel of recruiters from their Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program to learn more about how their signature adoption program works. Rita and Jen will be joined by: Shantell Lewis -a Wendy’s wonderful kids adoption recruiter from New York City. Tasha Rihm- a Wendy’s wonderful kids adoption recruiter from Indianapolis. And Chelsey Winegar -Wendy’s wonderful kids supervisor overseeing recruiters in Utah.

Jason Johnson

On today’s podcast, we talk to Jason Johnson, author of ReFraming Foster Care [https://jasonjohnsonblog.com/reframing-foster-care] (for families and support groups), Everyone Can Do Something [https://jasonjohnsonblog.com/everyonecandosomething] (for church and ministry leaders), ALL IN Orphan Care [https://jasonjohnsonblog.com/allin] (small group based study for those considering), Effectively Engaging Churches [https://jasonjohnsonblog.com/engagingchurches] (for organizational leaders and advocates) and regularly blogs at Jason Johnson | Blog [http://www.jasonjohnsonblog.com/]. Find Jason on Instagram @JasonJohnson

Rebekah Weigel, Care Portal

Care Portal Director, Film Producer, and foster and adoptive mom, Rebekah Weigel comes on to chat about how we can all rise up to meet the needs of our community and children in foster care. Plus, a brief introduction about Olive Crest’s Safe Families Program. CarePortal.org [http://CarePortal.org]

Season 2 premiere: Dr. John DeGarmo - on premature reunification

Dr. John DeGarmo is back and we’re discussing how to save a child’s life by stopping premature reunification. Putting a child’s safety and mental health over a timeline.   In the summer of 2020, after taping this episode, Dr. DeGarmo and I lobbied Congress about this issue and while we had wonderful bi-partisan support, we quickly realized that legislation wasn’t the best way to accomplish our goal of fixing the system and went on to co-author our book, Called to Foster?  An Honest Guide to Getting Started [https://amzn.to/4mM0kBq] to help recruit more quality foster parents.

Single Foster Mom, Beth Schneider

On this week’s episode, I’m joined by foster mom extraordinaire, Beth Schneider who proves you can be single and foster well!  https://schneiderladies.com/