Fracture to Flourish | Aging Out: The Hidden Pipeline

More Than Enough: Bonus Episode

In this bonus episode of Fracture to Flourish, host Bryce Butler sits down for an extended conversation with Philip Pattison, executive director of Foster the City, an organization that equips churches to raise up foster families and wrap them in the kind of community support that makes the difference between giving up and keeping going. Every system tells a story about the people inside it. In Season One, Philip's voice helped anchor the larger conversation about what's missing when young people move through foster care without consistent relationships or stable homes. But the full conversation went deeper than what made it into the season. Here, Philip reflects on how he came to see foster care not as an overwhelming crisis reserved for saints and specialists, but as something ordinary people in ordinary communities are actually equipped to change. He talks about why so many families don't return after a first placement, what motivation has to do with endurance, and what a slashed tire in a county parking lot taught him about the limits of what any one family can do alone. His answer to what actually helps children flourish isn't a program or a policy. It's people showing up for each other. It's a conversation about a system in need of more homes, more help, and more hope, and about what starts to shift when communities decide to be part of the answer.

Selling the Dream: Bonus Episode

In this bonus episode of Fracture to Flourish, host Bryce Butler shares an extended conversation with John Richmond, an attorney who has spent more than twenty-five years working at the intersection of prosecution, policy, and survivor care in the fight against human trafficking. Every system tells a story about the people inside it, and some of those stories are harder to see from the outside. In Season Two, John's voice helped shape the larger conversation about what connects foster care instability to trafficking vulnerability: the isolation, the unmet need, the way certain systems create the exact conditions that exploitation requires. But there was more to that conversation than what made it into the season. In this bonus episode, John reflects more fully on how he came to understand trafficking not as an inevitable byproduct of poverty, but as a choice, one that can be interrupted. He walks through what the grooming process actually looks like, why victims sometimes defend their traffickers, and what twenty-five years of this work has taught him about where real change comes from. His answer to that last question isn't about policy. It's about survivors. It's a conversation about the economics of a system built on exploitation, and about what becomes possible when people decide to stop treating harm as something that just happens.

Proving I Exist: Bonus Episode

In this bonus episode of Fracture to Flourish, host Bryce Butler shares an extended conversation with Ella, a young woman who aged out of foster care at eighteen and began working to change the system before she had fully left it. Ella's story didn't start at eighteen. It started years earlier, in the kind of instability that rarely makes headlines: placements that didn't hold, nights without a permanent place to land, adults who cared but couldn't always show up in the ways that mattered most. When she finally aged out, the system handed her a checklist of things it was supposed to provide. Not a single item was checked off. In this conversation, Ella talks more openly about what daily life inside the system actually felt like, where she found stability when so much else was uncertain, and what it was like to turn a school project into a real attempt at policy change. She was still inside the system when she started writing the Foster Youth Bill of Rights. That detail matters. This episode is about what it looks like when someone who has every reason to walk away decides instead to stay close to the fracture and push back on it. It's a conversation about the gap between what systems promise and what they deliver, and about what becomes possible when the people most affected by that gap refuse to let it be someone else's problem.

Beyond Rescue: Reform, Hope & Choosing Joy

In Episode 4 of Fracture to Flourish, host Bryce Butler follows Priscilla Roman’s story to ask what happens after a rescue story ends. Priscilla doesn’t describe herself as “trafficked.” Her story is what it looks like when a former foster youth with almost no safety net steps into the strip club at twenty—and finds her body treated like a commodity. But this final episode widens the lens beyond one life. You’ll hear from survivor leaders, advocates, and policy voices working to close the gaps that let exploitation thrive: laws that stop criminalizing exploited kids, housing and stabilization that keep youth from being easy to access and re‑recruited, and practical reforms that help communities see foster care, homelessness, and trafficking as one connected pipeline. This episode is about moving from rescue to renewal—how people are reshaping systems so kids are not only removed from harm, but given real paths to healing, joy, and generational change. Content advisory: This episode includes frank discussion of abuse and exploitation involving children and families. Please take care as you listen. Guests + Organizations * Priscilla Roman — survivor voice * Lauren — first name only (privacy protected) * John Richmond — Atlas Free (former U.S. Ambassador‑at‑Large) * Jeremy Vallerand — Atlas Free (CEO + founder) * Dani Pinter — NCOSE * Dr. Jeanne L. Allert — Institute for Survivor Care * Dr. Brook Parker Bello — survivor advocate * Tori Hope Petersen — former foster youth and advocate * Rachelle Starr — Scarlet Hope * Dr. Jennifer Jacobs — Connect Our Kids * Ashleigh Chapman — Engage Together / Alliance for Freedom, Restoration, and Justice * Wes Lyons — Eagle Venture Fund and their Freedom Fund Partners * Atlas Free (Season Partner): This season is made possible in part by our partners at Atlas Free, a global movement fighting sex trafficking. Atlas Free supports local organizations helping survivors find freedom and rebuild their futures, and works to stop traffickers where they operate. Learn more at atlasfree.org [http://atlasfree.org]. * Scarlet Hope (Season Partner): This season is made possible in part by our partners at Scarlet Hope, which has been showing up week after week with outreach and restoration for women who’ve been exploited in clubs, on the streets, and online. Learn more at scarlethope.org [http://scarlethope.org]. * Access Ventures (Series Partner): Fracture to Flourish is a production of Access Ventures, a catalyst for change working to build a flourishing society. Access Ventures leverages catalytic capital and partnerships to drive economic prosperity, social equity, and environmental sustainability in communities. Learn more at accessventures.org [http://accessventures.org]. Resources * National Human Trafficking Hotline (US): Call 1‑888‑373‑7888 or text BEFREE (233733) * RAINN (sexual assault support): rainn.org [http://rainn.org] * National Runaway Safeline: 1‑800‑RUNAWAY (786‑2929) or 1800runaway.org [http://1800runaway.org] * NAMI (mental health support): nami.org [http://nami.org] Data + sources Youth aging out (U.S. annual count) * https://www.aecf.org/topics/youth-in-transition [https://www.aecf.org/topics/youth-in-transition] Tennessee youth aging out + outcomes (Belmont Innovation Labs / Every Child TN) * https://belmont.edu/stories/articles/2024/innovation-labs-study-highlights-crisis-in-foster-care.html [https://belmont.edu/stories/articles/2024/innovation-labs-study-highlights-crisis-in-foster-care.html] * https://belmont.edu/stories/articles/2024/innovation-labs-study-highlights-crisis-in-foster-care.html [https://belmont.edu/stories/articles/2024/innovation-labs-study-highlights-crisis-in-foster-care.html] Foster parent retention / attrition (context) * https://archive.legmt.gov/content/Committees/Interim/2021-2022/Children-Families/Studies/HJR-44/may2022-ncsl-paper-foster-parent-retention.pdf [https://archive.legmt.gov/content/Committees/Interim/2021-2022/Children-Families/Studies/HJR-44/may2022-ncsl-paper-foster-parent-retention.pdf] * Note: This supports the magnitude of turnover and is not a first‑year‑only claim Credits * "Fracture to Flourish" is a production of Access Ventures [http://accessventures.org]. * Created, written, and hosted by Bryce Butler. * Editing and production by Jacob Bozarth. * Additional editing and production by Crystal Esquivel and Amelia Witts. * Audio mixing by Pat Kicklighter. * Cover art and design by Justin Esquivel. * Marketing support by Amelia Witts and Madison Butler.

Designed to Fail: Lost in the System

In Episode 3 of Fracture to Flourish, host Bryce Butler follows a single composite case file to show how a foster care system not designed around children can leave youth invisible, unprotected, and easy to traffic. Instead of starting with a trafficker, this episode starts with the paper trail: routine notes, missed court dates, closed runaway reports, copy‑pasted case notes, and the quiet ways warnings can die in separate inboxes. Along the way, you’ll hear how placement instability, isolation, and unmet basic needs can create the space where exploitation takes root. You’ll also hear from people who have watched these patterns up close: survivor voices, practitioners working with schools and foster care systems, policy leaders, and advocates pushing for practical reforms like integrated data systems, specialized missing‑from‑care units, and multidisciplinary teams that keep information from staying siloed. Content advisory: This episode includes frank discussion of abuse and exploitation involving children and families. Please take care as you listen. Guests + Organizations * Crystabella Ryder — Season 1 guest * Ashlee Lucas — The Tebow Group * Dr. Jeanne L. Allert — Institute for Survivor Care * John Richmond — Atlas Free (former U.S. Ambassador‑at‑Large) * Ricky Lynn — law enforcement (KY) * Ashleigh Chapman — Engage Together / Alliance for Freedom, Restoration, and Justice * Dani Pinter — NCOSE * Tori Hope Petersen Partners * Atlas Free (Season Partner): This season is made possible in part by our partners at Atlas Free, a global movement fighting sex trafficking. Atlas Free supports local organizations helping survivors find freedom and rebuild their futures, and works to stop traffickers where they operate. Learn more at atlasfree.org [http://atlasfree.org]. * Scarlet Hope (Season Partner): This season is made possible in part by our partners at Scarlet Hope, which has been showing up week after week with outreach and restoration for women who’ve been exploited in clubs, on the streets, and online. Learn more at scarlethope.org [http://scarlethope.org]. * Access Ventures (Series Partner): Fracture to Flourish is a production of Access Ventures, a catalyst for change working to build a flourishing society. Access Ventures leverages catalytic capital and partnerships to drive economic prosperity, social equity, and environmental sustainability in communities. Learn more at accessventures.org [http://accessventures.org]. Resources * National Human Trafficking Hotline (US): Call 1‑888‑373‑7888 or text BEFREE (233733) * RAINN (sexual assault support): rainn.org [http://rainn.org] * National Runaway Safeline: 1‑800‑RUNAWAY (786‑2929) or 1800runaway.org [http://1800runaway.org] * NAMI (mental health support): nami.org [http://nami.org] Data + sources Missing children context (NCMEC) * Runaways are still missing and still in danger (2024): https://www.missingkids.org/blog/2025/theyre-missing-too-why-runaway-children-need-our-help [https://www.missingkids.org/blog/2025/theyre-missing-too-why-runaway-children-need-our-help] * NCMEC 2024 totals: https://www.missingkids.org/ourwork/impact [https://www.missingkids.org/ourwork/impact] * Missing from foster care context: https://www.missingkids.org/theissues/missingfromcare [https://www.missingkids.org/theissues/missingfromcare] Familial/caregiver trafficking (Dr. Jeanne Allert) * Allert, Jeanne L. (2022). Domestic Minor Familial Sex Trafficking: A National Study of Prevalence, Characteristics, and Challenges across the Justice Process. Institute for Shelter Care. https://bcfstrafficking.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Familial-Trafficking-Study.pdf [https://bcfstrafficking.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Familial-Trafficking-Study.pdf] * Summary: https://www.c7htc.org/familial-trafficking/ [https://www.c7htc.org/familial-trafficking/] Credits * "Fracture to Flourish" is a production of Access Ventures [http://accessventures.org]. * Created, written, and hosted by Bryce Butler. * Editing and production by Jacob Bozarth. * Additional editing and production by Crystal Esquivel and Amelia Witts. * Audio mixing by Pat Kicklighter. * Cover art and design by Justin Esquivel. * Marketing support by Amelia Witts and Madison Butler. * To listen to past episodes, check out fracturetoflourish.com [http://fracturetoflourish.com]. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you for listening!