Latest Child welfare Podcast Episodes
From Rock Bottom to Bringing a Family Together Again: A Foster Care Success Story with Jackie Polk
Fostering Change - April 09, 2024 12:00 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsAfter you listen to today’s episode of Fostering Change, take a moment. Take a breath. Reflect on what you heard, and ponder how you would handle the situations that our guest Jackie Polk faced. Here is part of the note Jackie sent us when she inquired about sharing her story: I'm a boy mom of...
Asking the Right Questions featuring Cindy Dyar
CASA on the Go: Continuing Education for CASA Volunteers - April 03, 2024 14:00 - 39 minutes ★★★★★ - 23 ratingsOne of the CASA guiding principles is respect for the parents we walk alongside, as well as for all parties involved in the case. This episode is brimming with insights from our guest Cindy Dyar, Director of the Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid Family Defense Project, on how we can approach collaborat...
A Foster Care Journey and How Change Must Happen to the Broken System
Fostering Change - March 26, 2024 11:00 - 23 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsJerold Hawkins was introduced to Rob Scheer and Comfort Cases in 2023 when the company he works for, Aptiv, held a “Packing Party,” packing up backpacks filled with new essential items to be delivered to local social service agencies for distribution to youth entering foster care in Michigan. ...
The Importance of Talking About “Reunification” for Youth in Foster Care - A New Visit from Charell Star
Fostering Change - March 12, 2024 11:00 - 22 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsToday, we welcome back a wonderful guest, Charell Star. We first discovered Charell in 2021 from the “Humans of New York” column and video she was featured. We wanted Charell to come back on our podcast to give us an update on her work in the foster care system since then. Charell shares her c...
Creating a Warm and Safe Space for Children Transitioning into Foster Care
Fostering Change - February 27, 2024 12:00 - 19 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsOften times when children are removed from their homes and brought to a social service agency or law enforcement office, they are not placed in a foster home immediately, and have to spend hours, a whole night, or even days sitting on an uncomfortable office chair, a lumpy couch or maybe an air ...
Advocacy for Health and Healing featuring Elizabeth Wendell
CASA on the Go: Continuing Education for CASA Volunteers - February 26, 2024 22:00 - 40 minutes ★★★★★ - 23 ratingsHow can CASA advocacy be more deeply informed by what we know about lifelong health outcomes for youth involved with the CPS system? Research has revealed profound inequalities in adulthood related to the type of care experienced by youth in the foster care system. Joining us to put this importa...
Keeping Marriage Alive and a Strong as a Family with Adoptive Children
Fostering Change - February 13, 2024 12:00 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsHappy Valentine’s Day! (one day early) On today’s special episode, of Fostering Change we bring in two of our favorite married couples: David & Julie Bulitt and Rob & Reece Scheer! Yes, our host and his husband - co-founders of Comfort Cases - discuss relationships, particularly the issues fa...
Illuminating the CASA Difference with Joan Ulsher
CASA on the Go: Continuing Education for CASA Volunteers - January 30, 2024 22:00 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 23 ratingsIn this episode we're delighted to be joined by author, speaker, and CASA advocate Joan Ulsher, a powerful voice for the mission and impact of CASA. Joan shares insights from her work as a deeply devoted advocate as well as from her memoir "Misplaced Childhood: A True Story of Resiliency and Chi...
An Unlikely Journey to Parenthood Through America’s Broken Foster Care System with Mark Daley
Fostering Change - January 30, 2024 12:00 - 24 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsToday, on Fostering Change, Comfort Cases’ founder Rob Scheer has an enlightening conversation with Mark Daley, author of SAFE: A Memoir of Fatherhood, Foster Care, and the Risks We Take for Family. The book offers a deeply personal window into what happens when the universal longing for family...
Feeling Wanted, Love & Safe: Stories to Change the Lives of Children in Foster Care… FOR THE BETTER!
Fostering Change - January 16, 2024 12:00 - 13 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsComfort Cases is so lucky to have many friends and supporters from around the world. In 2022 we opened our first international center, Comfort CasesUK (https://comfortcasesuk.org/). On today’s episode, we welcome a guest from England, our friend Kevin Leslie. Kevin is known for many movie and...
Parents: Today we Give you “Permission to Rest”!
Fostering Change - January 02, 2024 12:00 - 19 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsWelcome to 2024! The entire team at Comfort Cases hopes you had a festive, and happy holiday season. Note that we didn’t write “restful”, as we know the past few weeks are generally the busiest time of year. This is why we are starting off our 2024 season right, with an interview with Ashley N...
Cultivating Resilience and Compassionate Presence with Christa Mayfield
CASA on the Go: Continuing Education for CASA Volunteers - December 29, 2023 17:00 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 23 ratingsWhat are some tangible ways CASA advocates can cultivate resilience and keep our compassion game strong when engaged in advocacy work that can sometimes weigh heavily on our hearts and minds? The wonderful and wise Christa Mayfield of Good Sustained shines a light on strategies for mitigating bu...
Bananas Foster: Making a positive impact, and spreading joy throughout the foster care community to inspire others
Fostering Change - December 26, 2023 12:00 - 27 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsToday is a special episode of Fostering Change (well, all our episodes are special, but this one has a very special significance!) It’s the final episode of 2023 AND, today’s episode marks the 200th Episode of Fostering Change. Amazing that we’ve reached this important milestone in our 5th sea...
Adopting Through Foster Care: What to Consider, and Why it May Change Your Life for Good!
Fostering Change - December 19, 2023 12:30 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsIf you’ve watched or listened to Fostering Change before, or you’ve seen Rob Scheer speak at an event or a Comfort Cases “Packing Party”, you know that he loves to promote people who are doing great things for others - what he calls “Good Humans.” Well, on today’s episode you’ll meet one of the ...
A Coming-Of-Age Story of Tenacity, Hope and Impact!
Fostering Change - December 12, 2023 12:00 - 24 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsPrepare yourself for an interview with a woman who defines the term “resilience.” Regina Calcaterra’s memoir Etched in Sand, A True Story of Five Siblings Who Survived an Unspeakable Childhood on Long Island is a #1 international best-seller and a New York Times best-seller. As a result of Etc...
Lifting Each Other Up to Make the World a Better Tomorrow for Youth in Foster Care
Fostering Change - December 05, 2023 12:00 - 24 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratings“Understand there is more of a reality out there than you’ve been living through.” Today’s episode of Fostering Change will truly inspire you! Rob Scheer interviews Lisa Cohen, someone he shares much in common. They were both in foster care, both from Washington, DC and following foster care,...
Hope-Focused Advocacy with Cortney Jones
CASA on the Go: Continuing Education for CASA Volunteers - November 30, 2023 20:00 - 37 minutes ★★★★★ - 23 ratingsIn this episode, we're thrilled to be in conversation with Cortney Jones, founder of Change 1, an organization that aims to support young adults with foster care experience in realizing their full potential. Cortney draws on examples from the work she leads at the intersection of restorative jus...
A Truly Corporately Responsible Organization and How they Support Youth in Foster Care
Fostering Change - November 28, 2023 14:11 - 18 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsCorporate Responsibility. You hear that phrase often. But how many businesses truly follow through on being good corporate citizens? On today’s episode of Fostering Change you will meet one organization that does just that: Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s Indiana Medicaid Health Plan. In ...
Changing the Narrative: Questions About Race & Other Challenges a Single Black Father Who Adopts & Fosters Children of Various Races Faces
Fostering Change - November 21, 2023 12:00 - 21 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsWe hope you are ready for an especially inspiring episode of Fostering Change. Today, Rob Scheer interviews Peter Mutabazi: entrepreneur, international advocate for children, and the founder of Now I Am Known, a nonprofit that supplies resources that encourage and affirm children and families. A...
Exploring the Passion in Being a Resilient Caregiver
Fostering Change - November 14, 2023 12:00 - 23 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsIn a discussion that covers everything from medicare filings to the resources necessary for caregivers of all kind to thrive, today Rob Scheer speaks with Mike and Kristin Berry, the co-founders of The Resilient Caregiver, a global initiative that helps foster and adoptive caregivers build resil...
Steps to Youth Can Take to Overcome Bullying
Fostering Change - November 08, 2023 19:18 - 15 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsToday, Rob Scheer talks with a real “go-getter”. Someone who doesn’t take no for an answer and truly reaches for the stars. Haley Marguerite is a motivational speaker, a publisher and an author. In fact, she published her first book at the age of 11! Haley is the talented author behind the belo...
Overcoming the Challenges of Youth Exiting Foster Care
Fostering Change - November 07, 2023 15:55 - 16 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsComfort Cases is thrilled to be working with the team from Amerigroup Georgia Families 360 on a powerful new initiative. Launched at the start of National Adoption Awareness Month, Comfort Cases and Amerigroup Georgia Families 360 are committing to get a Comfort Case(™) to every youth in foster ...
Collaborative Child Advocacy: Partnering with Attorney Ad Litems Featuring Lori Duke
CASA on the Go: Continuing Education for CASA Volunteers - November 01, 2023 16:00 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 23 ratingsOur guiding principles emphasize collaboration with and respect for all parties involved in the case. What can CASA advocates do to build effective working relationships and increase collaboration with attorney ad litems? For this conversation, we're honored to be joined by the deeply insightful...
Zion Clark: Learning to Leverage Struggles to Survive and Thrive at the Highest Levels
Fostering Change - October 31, 2023 11:00 - 10 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsYou may know the name Zion Clark, whose catchphrase is: “You Don't Need Legs To Leave A Footprint On Earth” Did you watch his documentary on Netflix? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRvGlB1-Ku8 Maybe you saw him on America’s Got Talent? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRA3t_9hX50 Or, you re...
Becoming “Indomitable” and Fixing the Flaws in the Foster Care System
Fostering Change - October 24, 2023 11:00 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsSocial justice advocate Di Ciruolo is on a mission to shed light on these systematic injustices in the foster care system and provides a step-by-step approach to personal recovery and guidance for survivors and those who seek to support them in her new book, “Indomitable”, a true story of how s...
Helping Youth Who are Aging Out of the Foster Care System
Fostering Change - October 10, 2023 12:10 - 23 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsToday on Fostering Change, Rob Scheer speaks with Monica Pantoja, the dynamic Executive Director of the nsoro Educational Foundation. Founded in 2005, The nsoro Educational Foundation believes not one young person aging out of our nation's foster care system should have to navigate the world al...
What We Can Do To Ensure that Youth in Foster Care Succeed in Life!
Fostering Change - October 03, 2023 11:00 - 24 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsIn today’s episode of Fostering Change, Rob Scheer speaks with a true “angel”: Susan Ramirez, the founder of National Angels, a non-profit organization whose mission is “to walk alongside children, youth, and families in the foster care community by offering consistent support through intentiona...
Strengthening a Web of Supports for Teens and Young Adults in Foster Care
CASA on the Go: Continuing Education for CASA Volunteers - September 28, 2023 15:00 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 23 ratingsIn this episode, we’re delighted to be in conversation with Laura Villarreal, the Neurodevelopmental Program Specialist with the Texas Workforce Commission Vocational Rehabilitation Services. Laura shines a light on the web of services and supports that the Texas Workforce Commission offers for ...
Experience a Truly Good Human: A NICU Nurse Adopts the Teen Mom of Triplets
Fostering Change - September 26, 2023 10:00 - 23 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsThis true story will inspire you like none you may have ever heard. Rob Scheer interviews Katrina Mullen. You may have seen Katrina on The Today Show, or in People Magazine. This unassuming NICU (NeoNatal Intensive Care Unit) Nurse has received universal praise for how she stepped up where other...
Talking Practical Support for Becoming a Foster Parent & More with Laura Foster Parent Partner
Fostering Change - September 19, 2023 13:05 - 27 minutes ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsOn today’s episode of Fostering Change, Rob speaks with Laura Foster Parent Partner, whose mission is to educate and support people about the foster care system. Often, new foster parents are not prepared for everything they need to know before their first children come to them. Laura discusses...
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