Episodes
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Welcome back to another thought-provoking episode of Fostering Change. Today, we speak with Jason Green, a friend and amazing filmmaker. Jason’s documentary, Finding Fellowship, is a story of hope about the unlikely merger of three segregated churches in the 1960s. Jason and Rob belong to this same church, which is how they first met, and both have the same passion for community coming together.
We thought today would be a perfect time to share this interview in the spirit of the holiday season.
Following the episode, we encourage you to watch Finding Fellowship. You can find it on PBS, or click the following link to stream it on PBS.org: https://www.pbs.org/show/finding-fellowship/
If you have any comments or questions, please get in touch with us at [email protected]. There is just one more episode before the New Year, which posts on Christmas Eve—with someone we know you will love to meet!
To learn more about Jason and Finding Fellowship:
Instagram: @jg1732
Twitter/X: @jg1732
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasongerardgreen/
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A reminder that through the end of November (National Adoption Awareness Month), when you visit www.BarelyCanadian.com our friend Kelly and her team will donate a Comfort XL Duffle bag for every one of their amazingly plush items purchased.
Today, we go back almost exactly 3 years to revisit a special episode about a remarkable woman, Pam Willis and family. We know you’ll enjoy!
Pam and her husband have been married 36 years, raised 5 biological children (the youngest is 20). 11 years ago they became foster parents and began caring for children in their home. Pam led down a road of foster care and as a surprise to their life plan, 5 years ago they adopted a set of seven siblings from the foster care system. These kids now have a second chance at parenting, and they have a second chance at a family after their first parents passed away in a car accident.
It’s an amazing story we wanted to reshare with you.
Story Key Notes:
🖐️Adopting 7 Sets of Children Siblings
🖐️History of the 7 Children
🖐️Adjusting into a New Home
🖐️5 Biological Children's Reaction to Adopt New Siblings
🖐️Process to Adopt 7 Set of Children Siblings
Learn more at https://www.comfortcases.org/
If you have any questions, comments or guest suggestions, please reach out to us at [email protected].
HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!!
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Missing episodes?
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It is National Adoption Awareness Month, and Comfort Cases is honoring the occasion with special promotions.
Our “Coats for Comfort” Coat Drive, co-sponsored by CNN’s Laura Coates, is in full swing. There are donation boxes throughout the DC Metro area (including Maryland & Virginia), and for those of you outside the district, you can purchase coats and have them delivered directly to Comfort Cases by visiting https://comfortcases.org/lauracoates/
We are thrilled to announce our renewed partnership with Barely Canadian, running through November 30th! Known for their insanely soft sweaters and premium apparel, they have redefined cozy. With every purchase from their beautiful garment collection, Barely Canadian will generously donate a Comfort XL (valued at $148) to a child entering foster care. Explore their collection here: https://barelycanadian.com/
In today’s powerful episode of Fostering Change, we welcome Gretchen Sisson, author of RELINQUISHED: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood. As a researcher at UC San Francisco’s Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, Gretchen has conducted hundreds of interviews with women who have relinquished infants for adoption, especially since Roe v. Wade. Her eye-opening research has been featured on NPR, New York Magazine, VOX, and more.
In this riveting conversation with host Rob Scheer, they dive into the complex and often heartbreaking reasons behind adoption decisions, shedding light on the financial and societal pressures that force mothers to make impossible choices. This timely discussion touches on the profound challenges families face and why it should matter to us all.
This is an important discussion for our community, and we were honored to have Gretchen on Fostering Change to continue it.
For more information about RELINQUISHED or to follow Gretchen on social media, please visit:
Website: https://www.gretchensisson.com/
Twitter/X: @gesisson
Threads: gretchen.sisson
Instagram: @gretchen.sisson
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gretchensisson/
Substack: https://gretchen.substack.com/
#nationaladoptionawarenessmonth #adoptionawareness #fostercare
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“When good people get together, great things happen.” - Jamie Truman
On today’s episode of Fostering Change, we welcome our good friend Jamie Truman. She and her husband Jerry co-founded Truman Charities, an organization that truly exemplifies what our host, Rob Scheer, has expressed over the years: it focuses on helping other local and national charities, hosts events multiple times a year, and covers all costs so that 100% of raised funds go directly to the charity.
Over the past fifteen years, Truman Charities has raised a little over $2 million for several different charities (INCLUDING COMFORT CASES).
Yes, Jamie and Jerry epitomize being “Good Humans.”
Jamie is also the author of “Vanishing Fathers: The Ripple Effect on Tomorrow's Generation," which hit #1 on Amazon's Best New Releases. Of course, 100% of the proceeds from Vanishing Fathers go towards charities that help at-risk youth.
These two themes, giving back to society and the important roles fathers play in that same society, are discussed in a lively interview. We know you will not only enjoy them but also be inspired.
Jamie Truman hosts The Truman Charities Podcast, which you can find wherever you listen to podcasts.
Find out more about Jamie and Truman Charities below:
Order her book, “Vanishing Fathers”: https://www.amazon.com/Vanishing-Fathers-Ripple-Tomorrows-Generation/dp/B0CW3Q1QY8.
Visit the Website: trumancharities.com
Facebook: trumancharites
Instagram: jamie_trumancharities
LinkedIn: jamietruman
Email: [email protected]
Thank you for listening! Of course, if you have any questions or comments about today’s episode or a suggestion for a guest for Fostering Change, please reach out to us at [email protected].
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"If you have nobody, you have yourself." Lillian Colon
When Lillian Colon shared that phrase above with Rob Scheer when he interviewed her recently, there was a pause in the conversation as those words hit home. Reflect on them for a moment.
On today’s episode of Fostering Change, Rob interviews Lillian Colon, who spent more than a decade in a strict New York City orphanage because her father “thought it would be best” to separate from the mother she adored. With restrictions all around her, she strove to be someone better than anyone ever believed she could. Lilly never knew the care and loving attention of a stable family, but she didn’t let obstacles and family tragedies stand in the way of her dreams.
As a child, after the nuns who ran the orphanage took her to Radio City Music Hall to see the famed “Rockettes, “Lilly was driven to become a dancer. A graduate of New York’s prestigious High School of Performing Arts (if you’ve ever seen the movie Fame,” you’ll understand), Lillian became the first Latina Rockette.
Lillian achieved so much more in her career, having performed with some of the great names in Hollywood and on Broadway, including the legendary Chita Rivera. Most recently, she was the oldest dancer in the Hollywood adaptation of Lin Manuel Miranda’s “In the Heights!”
We celebrate this achievement on the last day of Hispanic Heritage Month.
Lillian shares all this in her memoir Lilly: The First Latina Rockette. This is a truly lovely conversation with a wonderful, good human. We know you will enjoy her growing-up stories and her performance success.
To find out more about what Lillian is up to, please visit her website: https://www.lilliancolon.com/
You can purchase her book here: https://www.lilliancolon.com/product/lilly-book/
Thank you for listening! Of course, if you have any questions or comments about today’s episode or a suggestion for a guest for Fostering Change, please reach out to us at [email protected].
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It’s October! Comfort Cases held our annual fundraiser event this past weekend, a “Farm-to-Table Feast.” It was a memorable event, with inspirational speakers, including our keynote speaker, Cowboy Jax, our emcee, the fabulous Jen Lilley, and our founder and host of Fostering Change, Rob Scheer. There’s still time to donate or contribute your most valuable asset - your TIME - to Comfort Cases. Please visit www.comfortcases.org to find out more!
We recorded our show today several weeks ago but intentionally posted it today, as we are featuring not one, not two, but THREE Good Humans: Rob’s special co-host Jill Ross, who is also the President of Comfort Cases’ Board of Directors, and Parker Lopez and Ashley Baker, who were both recent recipients of academic scholarships presented by Comfort Cases at previous fundraiser events.
Parker and Ashley share how these scholarships have profoundly impacted them and how they could advance their academic pursuits.
Beyond academics, they also are giving back to the community:
Parker is involved with “First Star” Academies (https://eoss.asu.edu/access/first-star-academy) a long-term college-prep program for high school students in foster care, while Ashley works with “It’s On Us” (www.itsonus.org) a non-profit campaign in the United States aimed at raising awareness about sexual assault and promoting a culture of consent.
Jill also shares more about Comfort Cases’ Pathway Program, which is designed to provide additional resources to our scholarship recipients. You can learn more about Pathways by visiting https://scheerfocus.com/pathways-program/
We hope you feel inspired and hopeful after listening to these fantastic young people. It is people like them who will make all of our futures brighter.
If you have any questions or comments about our interview with Jill, Parker, and Ashley or have a guest suggestion, please feel free to email us at [email protected].
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Welcome back to Season 6 of Fostering Change!
We hope you enjoyed our first episode of the season with Andrew Bridge. This is a reminder that if you order his book before its publication date, a portion of the sale will go to CASA chapters nationwide. Please visit AndrewBridgeAuthor.com and select the CASA chapter of your choice.
In today’s episode, we have two exceptional guests - one is making her second appearance on our show. Donna Biase co-founded BEST FOOT FORWARD Foundation, a Florida-based organization whose mission is to empower foster care and at-risk youth to become self-sufficient adults and positive contributing members of society through academic achievement.
Having survived the deadly and horrific earthquake that ravaged his home country of Haiti, Elie Merisier was in the foster care system in High School when Best Foot Forward reached out to him to provide assistance with his academic studies. We’ll let you listen to the show for more details, but you should know that despite attending five different high schools, Elie graduated from Florida Atlantic University with a degree in accounting. Today, he is a licensed real estate agent.
We hope you enjoy today’s episode of Fostering Change as much as we think you will. Of course, if you have any questions or comments about our interview with Elie and Donna or have a guest suggestion, please email us at [email protected].
More about Donna and Elie:
To learn more about Elie, please follow him on social media:
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092082848694
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/elie_merisier/
LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/eliemerisier/
To learn more about Best Foot Forward:
Facebook
facebook.com/bestfootkids
Instagram
instagram.com/bestfootkids
Twitter/X
twitter.com/bestfootkids
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Welcome to Season 6 of Fostering Change!
Following 220 amazing episodes, we are so excited for what’s to come this season. We have special and moving guests, and throughout the season we are inviting some of Comfort Cases’ friends to co-host episodes with Rob Scheer. That includes today’s episode, as we are so lucky to have Rita Soronen, CEO of the Dave Thomas Center for Adoption join Rob to interview our first guest of the season, Andrew Bridge, author of The Child Catcher: A Fight for Justice & Truth.
If you have a suggestion for a guest, or questions or comments about today’s episode, please reach out to us at [email protected].
About today’s first episode of our new season: Rob and Rita have a riveting conversation with Andrew Bridge - about his time in foster care, and the battles he has fought for youth in foster care. His new book, The Child Catcher, is the true story of the fight to rescue the children confined to a violent and secretive institution in the rural South.
Proceeds from the book will go to CASA National, State, and local county chapters. Buyers should go to AndrewBridgeAuthor.com and select the CASA chapter of their choice, and 50% of pre-sale royalties will go there.
More About Andrew: Andrew spent 11 years in Los Angeles County foster care. After aging out, unlike so many in foster care he made it to college: Wesleyan University, and then graduated from Harvard Law School and was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship.
He began his legal career representing children against the State of Alabama, where his work resulted in the closure of one of the country’s most notorious psychiatric institutions, the Eufaula Adolescent Center.
Returning to Los Angeles, he became CEO of The Alliance for Children’s Rights, representing children in the foster care system where he grew up.
Andrew is the co-founder of National Adoption Day and New Village Girls Academy for pregnant and parenting teens. As Chair of Los Angeles County’s Blue Ribbon Task Force, he called for an end to the disproportionate removal of Black babies from their mothers.
His memoir Hope’s Boy was a New York Times bestseller and Washington Post Best Book of the Year. Most recently, he was a member of the executive management team for Illinois DCFS, and with Arizona as his home, he now serves on the Arizona Foster Care Review Board.
His second book about that fight against Alabama, The Child Catcher, will be released in September.
To find out more about Andrew, please follow him on social media:
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/andrew.bridge.9041/
Instagram
andrewbridgejd
Twitter/X
@AndrewBridgeJD
Threads
AndrewBridgejd
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You’ve made it! It’s the end of August and our final “Best of Season 5” episode of the season, and we’ve saved a very special episode just for you.
Just a note that Season 6 will debut next week, Tuesday, September 3. We have some amazing guests lined up, and are doing something new this season: on several episodes, we are bringing in special guests to Co-Host interviews with Rob Scheer. You’ll recognize some of the names as previous guests, and there will also be some new names for you - who we know you will love as much as we do.
Now, for our final “Best of” we needed to do something special. When we booked Emily Cole on Fostering Change last December for our 200th episode, we knew that we would hear all about the amazing Savannah Bananas baseball team (maybe you’ve been lucky enough to see them in person this season, or at least on ESPN?) as well as their philanthropic effort Bananas Foster, dedicated to Bringing Families Together by focusing on celebrating those who are doing amazing things in the foster care world while educating and inspiring others to get involved.
Because of all that Emily, her husband Jesse, and the team do for our foster youth, Comfort Cases will award them our special Barbara Harrison Award at our Farm-to-Feast Annual Fundraising event on September 28. This award is given annually to someone who truly is changing the lives of those in the foster care system.
If you would like to celebrate Emily, Jess and many other “Good Humans”, we would love for you to join us on September 28. Tickets are available at https://comfortcases.org/feast/. If you have an item you would like to donate for our live auction, you can also find information on the site. Our annual fundraiser is held on a beautiful farm in the Maryland countryside. There will be entertainment by our friends, the Como Brothers, fabulous food and wine, and other surprises.
Emily shares her story with Rob on today’s podcast. We hope you will find it inspiring and motivated to become involved in your community, be it foster care or some other form of charitable act.
To learn more about Bananas Foster, please visit: https://bananasfoster.org/ and visit https://thesavannahbananas.com/ to learn more about the Savannah Bananas Baseball team!
You can follow Emily and the Bananas on Social Media:
Instagram: @EmCole3 @thesavbananas @bananasfosterinc
TikTok: @SavBananas
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheSavBananas
To listen to previous episodes of Fostering Change, please visit: www.comfortcases.org/podcast or your favorite podcast outlets.
If you have any comments, questions, or guest suggestions, we’d love to hear from you! Please write us at [email protected] you for listening and we’ll see you next Tuesday for the start of Season 6 of Fostering Change!!!
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Welcome back to the “Best of Fostering Change: Season 5.” Today, we revisit what was our final episode of our season - our interview with our good friend, Sarah Fraser. Sarah is not just a friend - she’s an extremely talented broadcaster as the host of one of the most popular podcasts out there, the eponymously titled, “The Sarah Fraser Show.”
On her show, Sarah talks about reality TV, interviews unique guests and talks about her own fun life. She has so much more going on, we highly recommend you follow her on social media (links below) to keep up-to-date!
Many first became aware of Sarah’s talents when she was the co-host of Hot 95.5’s “The Kane Show” in Washington, DC and then on DC’s 107.3’s “Sarah, Ty, and Mel”. She was also an entertainment contributor for FOX 5 in DC for 13 years!
Sarah is also looking to become a foster parent. She and Rob have a lively discussion about the hoops many need to go through to become a foster parent - and Rob also offers a possible solution to Sarah that she hadn’t considered before. (You’ll have to listen to the end for this!)
Our final “Best of” episode will post August 27 - we then kick-off Season 6 in September.
If you have any guest suggestions, please let us know. Please each out to us at [email protected].
You can always catch up on previous episodes of all 5 seasons of Fostering Change by visiting www.comfortcases.org/podcast or your favorite podcast outlets.
Thank you again for being such supportive listeners!
Follow Sarah here!
Facebook
@thesarahfrasershow
Instagram
@thesarahfrasershow
Twitter/X
@sarahfrasershow
TikTok
@thesarahfrasershow
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Today we continue our “Best of Season 5” Series with an interview Rob conducted in May with friend of Comfort Cases, Benjy Grinberg. Benjy is an award-winning record producer, who has worked with superstars including Mac Miller, Wiz Khalifa, KT Tunsall and more. But he discovered he had another calling, and that was to become a CASA.
Benjy and Rob discuss why he chose to take on this wonderful opportunity to help our youth in foster care and what he’s expecting to gain from the experience.
To learn more about becoming a CASA, please visit: https://nationalcasagal.org/
To learn more about Benjy:
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/benjybenjy
LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjy-grinberg-ba85653/
Thank you again for listening, and please remember to send in any comments or questions to [email protected].
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We hope you’ve been enjoying our “Best of Season 5 episodes, and have been able to catch up on other episodes of Fostering Change you may have missed.
Today, we revisit an episode that aired back in November: 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 single adoptive father of three and foster dad to many (34 as of this date!), Mutabazi is a former street kid originally from Uganda who has worked for World Vision, Compassion International, and the Red Cross, and has appeared on media outlets such as the BBC and The TODAY Show.
Rob and Peter discuss his book, Now I Am Known: How a Street Kid Turned Foster Dad Found Acceptance and True Worth, how Peter’s organization is helping countless youth in foster care, and what it takes to be a single parent / foster parent.
To learn more about Peter and Now I Am Known, please visit:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fosterdadflipper
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fosterdadflipper/
Website: https://www.nowiamknownfoundation.org/
As a reminder, you can listen to previous episodes of Fostering Change, by visiting: www.comfortcases.org/podcast or your favorite podcast outlets.
If you have any comments, questions, or guest suggestions, we’d love to hear from you! Please write us at [email protected].
Thank you for listening and we’ll see you again on July 30th!
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Welcome back to our “Best of Season 5” series. Maybe you’ll be listening to this on the beach as you celebrate Independence Day, in your car on your way to work, or at home. Wherever you listen, we thank you for your support!
Today we revisit our interview with Laura, 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 discuss how the “cracks of child welfare are deep”, from misplaced birth certificates to wrong names of the child, and without knowing the right types of questions to ask, you run the risk of not knowing these things and have to play catch up - which is not the situation a new foster parent - or their child - wants to be in!
In this insightful conversation, you will hear:
What sweeping changes need to be made in the foster care systemWhat should be considered when setting up your home for a foster childHow every state has different rules and regulations and how that affects parents and youthHow we should be moving from “mandated reporting” to “mandated supporting”You can learn more about Laura by visiting her here:
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/foster.parenting
Website: https://www.fosterparentpartner.com/
Instagram: @foster.parenting
TikTok: @fosterparenting
YouTube: @foster.parenting
Storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/influencer-a74dff14
Our next “Best of” episode will air July 16. As always, you can find an archive of all 5 seasons of Fostering Change here: https://comfortcases.org/podcasts/.
If you have any questions, please feel free to send us an email at [email protected].
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Welcome to our first episode of Fostering Change’s “Best of Season 5”. Today, we revisit Rob’s interview with Mark Daley, author of SAFE: A Memoir of Fatherhood, Foster Care, and the Risks We Take for Family. We knew right away that this interview would be in our “Best of” series, and we think you’ll agree. So whether this is your first, second or third time listening to this interview, please enjoy!
Today, 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 crashes up against the unique madness and bureaucracy of a child protection system that often fails to consider the needs of the most vulnerable parties of all—the children themselves.
You will hear Rob share that he believes that SAFE is an important resource for anyone who is interested in learning more about, or is actively participating in our foster care system. You will hear Rob and Mark discuss how having a community of support all around you is so important. In fact, finding community is “Step Number 1!” - be that community family, church, neighbors or others who can support you as you work to juggle this new lifestyle.
Mark shares some important tips for new foster parents, including:
Go in with your eyes open. Do your homework.Don’t rush to judgment on the families of the child/children you’ve brought into your home. You likely do not know the “whole story.” Be empathetic.Speak up and be “the voice” for your child/childrenTo purchase SAFE, please visit your local independent bookstore or purchase online on sites including:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Bookshop.org
You can follow Mark on Social Media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markdaley00/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/markdaley00
Our next “Best of” episode will air July 2nd. Stay tuned!
You can always catch up on previous episodes of Fostering Change by visiting www.comfortcases.org/podcast or your favorite podcast outlets.
If you have any comments, questions, or guest suggestions, we’d love to hear from you! Please write to us at [email protected].
As always, thank you for listening!
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Welcome to the Final Episode of Season 5. Thank you for joining us on this journey - whether you’re a new listener or if you’ve been with us all five seasons.
Season 6 will debut in September, but following today’s episode, we will air some of our favorite episodes from the past season once again bi-weekly. So stay tuned!
And for our final episode of the season, we wanted to go out on a HIGH NOTE, and couldn’t have looked any further than today’s guest, Rob Scheer’s good friend, Sarah Fraser.
Many first became aware of Sarah’s talents when she was the co-host of Hot 95.5’s “The Kane Show” in Washington, DC and then on DC’s 107.3’s “Sarah, Ty, and Mel”. She was also an entertainment contributor for FOX 5 in DC for 13 years!
But DC couldn’t hold a talent like her, and she recently moved to the Bright Lights of Los Angeles, and is the host of “The Sarah Fraser Show,” one of the top-trending pop culture podcasts in the country. (More than 15 MILLION downloads!) Sarah covers reality TV, interviews unique guests and talks about her own fun life. She has so much more going on, we highly recommend you follow her on social media (links below) to keep up-to-date!
Sarah is also looking to become a foster parent. She and Rob have a lively discussion about the hoops many need to go through to become a foster parent - and Rob also offers a possible solution to Sarah that she hadn’t considered before. (You’ll have to listen to the end for this!)
What a terrific way to end the season.
A reminder that our first “Best of” episode will air Tuesday, June 18. And then episodes will air on alternate Tuesdays until the start of Season 6.
Thank you again for being such supportive listeners!
Follow Sarah here!
Facebook
@thesarahfrasershow
Instagram
@thesarahfrasershow
Twitter/X
@sarahfrasershow
TikTok
@thesarahfrasershow
Our next episode will be the start of our “Best of Season 5”. The first “Best of” will post on Tuesday, June 18. We’ll then stay on our schedule of alternate weeks until Season 6 debuts in September.
You can always catch up on previous episodes of all 5 seasons of Fostering Change by visiting www.comfortcases.org/podcast or your favorite podcast outlets.
If you have any comments, questions, or guest suggestions, we’d love to hear from you! Please write to us at [email protected].
As always, thank you for listening!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Welcome to the final episode of Fostering Change for National Foster Care Awareness Month. We hope you have done something meaningful to help our youth, the fantastic people who work in social services, our teachers… and yourself. This is the month they “give us,” but as Rob often shares, “when you invest in a child, you invest in YOUR future… because they are the leaders of tomorrow.”
We end this month with a very special guest: Emi Nietfeld. Emi is the author of an amazing book that we highly recommend you purchase right now: Acceptance. In her memoir, Emi shares how she did something that only 3% of youth in foster care do: she went to college—and not just any college, but Harvard!
As a homeless teenager writing college essays in her rusty Toyota Corolla, Emi Nietfeld was convinced that the Ivy League was the only escape from her dysfunctional childhood. But upward mobility required crafting the perfect resilience narrative. She had to prove that she was an “overcomer,” made stronger by all that she had endured.
In her interview with Rob, Emi shares the life lessons she’s learned, particularly of challenging our ideas of what it means to overcome - and find contentment on your own terms.
To learn more about Emi and her memoir, please visit https://www.eminietfeld.com/
You can also find and follow Emi on social media:
Substack:
https://eminietfeld.substack.com/
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/eminietfeld/
LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/emi-nietfeld
Twitter/X
https://twitter.com/eminietfeld
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/eminietfeld
TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@eminietfeld
Our next episode is our final episode of Season 5 and will air June 4.
Throughout the rest of the Summer, we will be sharing some of our favorite episodes of Season 5. Stay tuned!
You can always catch up on previous episodes of all 5 seasons of Fostering Change by visiting www.comfortcases.org/podcast or your favorite podcast outlets.
If you have any comments, questions, or guest suggestions, we’d love to hear from you! Please write to us at [email protected].
As always, thank you for listening!
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Today we share the story of an amazing woman who has the biggest heart - the epitome of what we love to call a “Good Human”.
We’ll learn how in the period of just 3 years, Kate Rapier quickly went from being single, to becoming a foster mom, soon an adoptive parent of two and then married to a man with 3 wonderful kids from a previous marriage!
Kate was single when she first began the process of becoming a foster parent in 2020. And like many parents who take this journey, her life changed with a phone call that there was a child coming into custody that day and would she be able to take her? Just about 5 hours after stating an emphatic “YES”, a caseworker arrived with 1-week old “Gigi”.
After having adopted Gigi in 2021, she was just six weeks into dating her now husband when she received another life-changing phone call. This time about baby Ryland.
You’ll hear Kate share more about her life with Gigi, Ryland and her new family and this amazing journey she is on.
Kate is one of the loveliest people you’ll meet. We know you’ll agree and will enjoy her story as much as we have.
You can learn more about Kate on her Instagram feed: @katerapier
Our final episode during National Foster Care Awareness Month will drop on May 28! You can always catch up on previous episodes of Fostering Change by visiting www.comfortcases.org/podcast or your favorite podcast outlets.
If you have any comments, questions, or guest suggestions, we’d love to hear from you! Please write to us at [email protected].
As always, thank you for listening!
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As you likely recall, in Season 5, we moved to posting new episodes of Fostering Change bi-weekly. Well, we’ve just met so many amazing humans that we thought we’d make an exception during National Foster Care Awareness Month, so we have four episodes running this month!
Before we get on to today’s show with the amazing Benjy Grinberg, just a suggestion to visit the Comfort Cases website - www.comfortcases.org, and see all of the programs we are working on this month, with some genuinely unique organizations. Thanks.
And now, as they say… “On with the Show!”
On today’s episode, Rob Scheer speaks with Benjy Grinberg - yes, a GOOD HUMAN.
Benjy is the Founder and CEO of Rostrum Records, an independent record label known mainly for developing artists early in their careers and championing their vision. Grinberg started in the music industry at Arista Records as an assistant to record executive Antonio “L.A.” Reid.
A career-long champion of the indie community, he leads the labels’ well-recognized, innovative, artist-centric approach driven by his commitment to ensuring the long-term success of his artists. Over the course of two decades, the label has had a diverse roster of chart-topping artists, including Mac Miller, Wiz Khalifa, DC The Don, The Bird and The Bee, 24hrs, Mod Sun, Rockie Fresh, Problem, KT Tunstall, and more.
How does this relate to Foster Care? Well, Benjy recently became a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate)! CASAs are everyday community members appointed by a judge to advocate for children in need of care. On today’s show, Benjy speaks with Rob about why he chose to become a CASA and what it means to him.
Definitely an inspirational conversation.
To learn more about becoming a CASA, please visit https://nationalcasagal.org/
To learn more about Benjy:
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/benjybenjy
LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjy-grinberg-ba85653/
Our next episode will air on May 21. You can also catch up on previous episodes of Fostering Change by visiting www.comfortcases.org/podcast or your favorite podcast outlets.
If you have any comments, questions, or guest suggestions, we’d love to hear from you! Please write to us at [email protected].
As always, thank you for listening!
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May 1 was the first day of National Foster Care Awareness Month. The team at Comfort Cases wants to take a moment to thank and recognize all of the foster parents, foster families, youth who are currently in foster care and those who have “aged out”. Thank you to the CASAs and the social service agencies and workers who are doing their best.
And thank you to YOU, our faithful (and new) listeners of Fostering Change. We produce this podcast for you and in support of all you are doing. Thank you for your comments and sharing episodes with friends, family and colleagues.
We couldn’t have asked for a better guest for this first episode airing during National Foster Care Awareness Month. Award-winning journalist Rob Henderson vividly recounts growing up in foster care, enlisting in the Air Force, and surprisingly attending elite universities in his raw coming-of-age memoir, Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family and Social Class.
Rob’s book was an instant USA TODAY Best Seller. In the book and in his interview with Rob Scheer (who is a Navy veteran), he discusses his pioneering concept of “luxury beliefs”: ideas and opinions that confer status on the Upper Class while inflicting costs on the less fortunate.
Rob Henderson was born to a drug-addicted mother and a father he never met, ultimately shuttling between ten different foster homes in California. When he was adopted into a loving family, he hoped that life would finally be stable and safe. Divorce, tragedy, poverty, and violence marked his adolescent and teen years, propelling Henderson to join the military upon completing high school.
An unflinching portrait of shattered families, desperation, and determination, Troubled recounts Henderson’s expectation-defying young life and juxtaposes his story with those of his friends who wound up incarcerated or killed. He retreads the steps and missteps he took to escape the drama and disorder of his youth. As he navigates the peaks and valleys of social class, Henderson finds that he remains on the outside looking in.
Rob Henderson is a columnist at The Free Press and his weekly newsletter is sent to more than fifty thousand subscribers. Learn more at RobKHenderson.com.
To find out more about:
Visit Rob’s Website and Subscribe to his newsletter: https://www.robkhenderson.com/
Twitter: @robkhenderson
To learn more about or purchase Troubled, please visit: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Troubled/Rob-Henderson/9781982168537
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Today’s episode of Fostering Change is an in depth discussion with Susan Rich, founder and president of 7th Generation Foundation, about FAS: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
FAS is close to home to our host, Rob Scheer, as one of Rob’s children has FAS. And although the diagnosis for Rob’s son was that he may never walk, or even talk, his son has achieved amazing things in his life, including being the President of his Student Government in High School, and has been accepted into the college he’s loved for years.
Susan and Rob discuss the importance of animal therapy on those diagnosed with FAS (one reason Rob and his husband Reece moved his family to a farm!) 7th Generation Foundation operates an inclusive, sustainable green care farm animal sanctuary with programming for children and youth.
Author of The Silent Epidemic: A Child Psychiatrist’s Journey Beyond Death Row, Susan and Rob also discuss the thousands of inmates on Death Row who were in Foster Care and diagnosed with FAS at a young age. This is not a coincidence, and there is much that our society can do to curb this horrifying statistic.
To learn more about or to purchase Susan’s book, please visit: www.prenatalalcoholexposure.com
To learn more about 7th Generation Foundation, please visit:
Website: www.7thGenerationFoundationInc.org or www.dreamcatchermeadows.org
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TheDreamCatcherFarm
Blog: www.bettersafethansorryproject.com
Book: www.prenatalalcoholexposure.com
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