WEBVTT - HIGHLIGHTS: This State Is Solving The Foster Care Crisis (Here's How) 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:06.120 You literally have one church for every child, So whow 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:09.479 do we still have kids without a foster or adoptive family. 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:13.120 I'm how the heck is that a reality? In my state, 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:14.600 where we have more churches. 0:00:14.360 --> 0:00:20.000 Than gas stations, America has a foster parent deficit. We 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:24.160 meet around one hundred and forty thousand more foster homes 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:27.080 than we have today, and because we don't have enough 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:31.680 home for these innocent kids, there's devastating consequences. 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:34.239 And I get handed to two day old baby with 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:36.800 no place to go, and I didn't know we had 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:38.599 a place that we stuck kids with no place to go. 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:40.879 It's places that we take eighteen year olds and we 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:42.880 move them from the kids shelter to the adult shelter 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:45.000 because we don't have a better plan for them. 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:49.040 And that reality to me was like this is unacceptable. 0:00:49.240 --> 0:00:54.120 Today's guest is Chris Hampbell, executive director of the One 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:58.040 One to One Project in Oklahoma, which partners with churches 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:02.600 to recruit one new foster family a year and help 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:08.200 strengthen one vulnerable family a month so that they can 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:13.080 avoid foster care. Care Portal now operates in all seventy 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:18.040 seven counties and has served over fifty four thousand children 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:22.959 twenty thousand just last year, holy smokes, dude. 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:26.319 And every day gross right, like even since that sixty 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:27.559 one thousand kids. 0:01:27.600 --> 0:01:32.559 As of today, you've reduced the foster system from eleven thousand, 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:35.720 five hundred to six thousand children in foster care. 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:39.720 We created pathways for people to engage and partner and 0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:42.080 what do you know that that makes a difference. 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:45.640 Their success in cutting foster care in half is incredible. 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:48.240 I mean, it's wild. I've never heard of a state 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:53.360 achieving such a reduction until now, and you're about to 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:56.720 learn how so that you can do this in your 0:01:56.720 --> 0:02:00.200 state too. You could do small things from me eating 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:03.320 a need on care portal, which is the largest cair 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:08.720 sharing technology in the country, or significant things like actually 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:13.040 becoming a foster prayer. And if there's an army of 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:17.440 us doing these things together, we can solve this problem. 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:20.000 But I see four million people in the state of 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:22.360 Oklahoma that if we can't figure it out. 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:25.160 I don't know who can, but I believe we can't. 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:29.799 This is the Army of Normal Folks podcast, where our 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:33.239 mission is to make service easier for all of us 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:49.040 and together change this country. All right, everybody, We have 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:54.040 super exciting news coming at you. 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Now let's go 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:22.120 to the episode you guys have helped cut foster care 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:27.360 and PASK in your state in Oklahoma from eleven five 0:04:27.440 --> 0:04:29.160 hundred kids to six thousand. 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:32.440 How yeah, So there's sixty two hundred churches in the 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:35.359 state of Oklahoma. So the big idea was, Man, what 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:38.479 if we got more people involved. There's enough churches, there's 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:41.640 enough families, and there's enough people that want to help, 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:43.680 they just don't know how to help. So how do 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:46.159 we create those pathways for more people to help Because 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:48.560 the government can't do it on their own. So we 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:52.280 created pathways for people to engage and partner and what 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:54.680 do you know that that makes a difference in the 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:56.880 lives of kids and families. That can keep kids out 0:04:56.920 --> 0:05:00.720 of foster care, can help kids reunify faster, It can 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:03.839 support those professionals that work day in and day out 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:07.320 to take care of those families. So that play what 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:09.400 we've gotten to see over the last ten years has 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:12.240 actually led with a whole bunch of collaboration of work 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:15.640 on our government side as well to changing our system 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:16.800 making a difference in it. 0:05:17.839 --> 0:05:21.080 So I love that you're not one of these guys 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:22.600 is just saying government sucks. 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:26.440 Yeah, yeah, you worked with you got to work with government, 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:29.600 you know, like in our state, you know, our state 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:32.840 agencies is some of the largest. I mean, if you 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:35.400 look at capital and investment and staff count, you know, 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:39.960 they're they're doing good work because they care. But sometimes 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:42.760 they have obstacles and red tape that prevents them from 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:45.080 doing it as well as we would all like to 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:48.119 see it done. And so we can either throw rocks 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:50.360 at them and say just get better, or we can 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:53.839 lean in and and try to help learn what needs 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:57.159 to be changed and fill those holes, those gaps in 0:05:57.240 --> 0:05:59.200 the system where they can't they can't function. 0:05:59.839 --> 0:06:01.440 Just a number on it, it's a lot of people. 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:03.520 From what you told me, it's like three thousand Child 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:05.000 and Family Service So. 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:08.480 Just in the child Welfare division there's about three thousand. 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:11.000 Staff employees employees. 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:14.279 So if you look at it from a corporation, you're right, 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:16.920 it would be one of the largest employers in the state. 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:18.680 Of Oklahoma, you know. 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:21.240 So if you look at these different government enties, they're 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:23.000 they're investing a lot in people. 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:25.520 And we talk about all the time. 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:27.320 You know, a lot of churches will know about their 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:30.000 fire chief and their police chief, but they don't know 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:33.719 nothing about child welfare or some of these other government agencies, 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:36.640 But these are the people that are responsible when when 0:06:37.040 --> 0:06:41.480 it's the ceiling fan, it's it's the government child welfare 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:43.520 folks that are in the middle of the hardest of 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:47.720 the monk with families. And so I have deep respect 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:50.240 for my government counterparts and the work that they do. 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:52.360 I love. I actually love to hear that. I don't 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:54.359 hear that all the time, and I love to hear that. 0:06:54.720 --> 0:06:56.880 What are the things we talk about often? Because it 0:06:57.000 --> 0:07:02.520 is such an effective idea and it's implemented. Implementation has 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:07.039 now been incredibly effective across a broad array of uses. 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:08.440 But you guys, we. 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:11.960 Were the very first implementer of care Portal, were really 0:07:12.160 --> 0:07:15.720 Yeah we were. Yeah, we were Oklahoma, surprise, you know. 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:18.720 So care Portal had done a couple of pilots and 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:21.080 a couple of different locations, and one of those locations 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:21.800 was Oklahoma. 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:25.360 For those who haven't listened to the care Portal episode 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:27.520 or even the care Portal, those that maybe listened to 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:30.440 us for the first time briefly, yep, what is that? 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:33.360 Yeah, you have workers over here that are working with 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:35.560 families that need help, and you've got people over here 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:37.840 that want to help care Portal is the web based 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:41.200 platform that connects the two and really simple to give 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:45.119 opportunity without the red tape to directly serve families through 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:49.400 that worker. And so that platform has now been around 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:52.600 ten years, over five years cell phone, Yeah, on cell phones. 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:56.360 It's a web app and a phone app. Now over 0:07:56.400 --> 0:07:59.640 five hundred thousand kids served through this. Hey, somebody who 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:02.000 knows the family, advocates for the family. 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:04.520 Somebody in the community that cares. 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:06.280 Responds and says, hey, I can help with that, whether 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:10.240 it's a dishwasher to a car seat, to a bed 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:13.600 to utility bill, to advocate for the needs of the family, 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:16.360 to know what the reality is that they that they have, 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:20.320 but also recognizing that there's that worker, there's that government 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:23.200 worker who's saying, hey, here's a family that we think 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:26.280 can make it right. I mean, they could put on 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:28.960 a request for any family, but most likely the families 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:31.000 that they're putting on careport are the ones that they 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:33.760 think have a chance because they're cheering for him too, right, 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:36.120 They're cheering for that dad that's waking up at five 0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:38.559 o'clock in the morning and walking twelve miles to get 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:41.120 to work, but then trying to figure out how he's 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:44.800 going to do his you know, addictive recovery case plan 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:48.640 and his child welfare plans and his kid's visitation right, 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:52.079 but he didn't have a car. But the worker sees 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:54.120 the hard work that dad's doing to try to change 0:08:54.160 --> 0:08:56.920 his life, and she's like, yeah, I want dad to 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:59.960 have a bus pass, you know, like I want dad 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:02.360 to be able to have transportation. I want dad to 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:05.160 have people cheering for him because he's an amazing dude, 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:09.360 you know, but when he's on drugs or when he's 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:13.560 under the influence of alcohol, he's struggled. But he's making 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:16.040 this progress and we all need to be celebrating that. 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:18.000 And we want his kids out of foster care, you know. 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:21.640 So sometimes the best family for kids is not a 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:24.080 new one, it's the one that they've always had that 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:26.679 just needs that extra support and extra. 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:27.199 Advocacy for that. 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:29.679 And so she puts that on care portal. Somebody buys 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:32.080 a bus pass and it's great, and that way it's 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:36.440 not somebody that wants something asking is somebody advocating for 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:39.080 someone who needs it. In twenty twenty five, the one 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:42.160 to one one project, I guess it's called celebrated a 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:49.080 landmark Milestone Care Portal now operates in all seventy seven 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:54.080 counties and has served over fifty four thousand children, twenty 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:59.280 thousand just last year, Holy smokes, dude. 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:02.560 Yep, and every day gross, right like even since that, 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:08.120 sixty one thousand kids as of today. And what's been 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:11.920 really cool is, of course, strategically, I think we all 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:13.880 look at and say, hey, where's the greatest amount of 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:14.920 need go go there? 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:21.480 So you've reduced the foster system from eleven thousand, five 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:27.840 hundred to six thousand children in foster care, and Alex says, 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:31.760 there's sixty two hundred churches in your State's right, you 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:36.200 literally have one church for every child. So why do 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:39.440 we still have kids without a falster or adoptive family? 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:42.400 Yeah, it's a great question, And I think part of 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:44.120 that is not by the. 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:47.800 Way that question can be misconstrued, that is, by no 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:56.400 means a criticism. Yeah, that's right, because you've cut in half, yep. 0:10:57.440 --> 0:11:01.240 But it still is an inconvenient fact that there's that many. 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:05.560 So what I guess, I guess what next? Why do 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:06.800 we still have this going on? 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:10.640 I think we all recognize that sometimes we have simple 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:13.840 goals for the sake of communication. But then when we 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:15.880 get underneath, we realize the problem is a lot more 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:18.160 complicated than than any of us want to make it out. 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:23.560 Is that not universal, that's in business, families, anything. 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:26.560 Yeah, So we we want to make it the reality 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:29.480 of it simple, but we would be ignorant to say 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:32.280 it's that simple. And so on the church side, the 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:35.280 reality is a lot of our churches are small, little 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:39.800 family churches. A lot that you know are aging, right, 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:42.880 that are that are of an age that they're like, hey, 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:46.280 we can't, we can't raise kids anymore. But they have 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:48.400 a lot to offer, but it may not be in 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:52.840 opening up their home. We'd also recognize the challenges with 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:55.280 a lot of our kids in the system. Not not 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:58.400 every family is out of the gate equipped. You know, 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:03.320 even even if you've had kids, you probably need some 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:07.600 additional equipping and training and development to make you ready 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:10.320 to parent kids that come from our places, kids that 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:12.920 come from trauma, are kids that come from a different 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:14.320 cultural context that you do. 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:14.880 And so. 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:19.400 What we recognize is is that kids are coming out 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:24.000 of places of need, sometimes of rural poverty and even 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:25.360 sometimes of urban poverty. 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:27.320 But kids in the foster care system come from all 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:28.480 sorts of different scenarios. 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:33.079 So even a blanket foster care is ignorant because it's 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:36.800 as complicated as people are. Right, that's different as people are. 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:40.640 But I think the simple idea is we've got more 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:44.040 than enough people, you know. But it's a lack of 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:48.960 development and it's a lack of connection that keeps people 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:52.320 from saying yes, which ultimately, Bill, I think is fear. 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:56.920 I think I think we have taught foster care a 0:12:57.000 --> 0:12:59.480 fair amount on there. I mean, it's not something that 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:03.959 we just it's not a focus. It's just we'd come 0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:07.720 up right, right, I from all of those interviews and 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:09.840 all of the different faces and all of the different 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:13.440 work being done, I do think fear plays a huge 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:16.600 role in it. And I don't think it's fear of 0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:19.360 opening your home. I think it's it's the fear of, 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:23.120 you know, how how much work is this going to be? 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:27.839 Which is hard to be. Is this child going to 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:32.920 interrupt my already organic nuclear family, and what's that going 0:13:32.960 --> 0:13:34.840 to be on my own children? I mean, and I 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:36.320 think those are legitimate. 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:38.240 Fears, are all legitimate fears, and I think for all 0:13:38.280 --> 0:13:42.960 of us, experience and relationship over time is what gives 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:46.360 us the context of the wisdom to say, Okay, I'm 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:49.360 ready for that, right, or there's other ways that I 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:50.960 can be involved, and. 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:53.880 That is just as good, Right, that's just as helpful. 0:13:54.800 --> 0:13:56.760 And so all of us that are in the foster 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:00.360 care space would say, our heart is not to grow 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:01.000 foster care. 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:04.040 Our heart is to keep kids out of foster care. 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:05.959 And so you'd like to work yourself out of there. 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:07.360 Joba, Absolutely right. 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:11.320 And so I think every state, if they're doing the 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:14.040 things that they should be doing, they're thinking more about 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:19.520 going upstream and prevention and community work, and then secondarily 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:23.640 they're thinking about kinship care because like kids should belong in, 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:27.800 if not their immediate family, in this broader family if possible, 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:30.960 And so that work is all work that we're trying 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:33.760 to do. So to say, hey, more families is the 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:37.280 easy answer. Yeah, but it's the right kind of families 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:41.320 that really can provide those kids a thriving environment, whether 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:44.960 it be their complex behavioral needs, whether it be the 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:48.440 disability that they have, or whether it be just the room. 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:50.000 You know, Hey, I've. 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:52.480 Got siblings and we want those kids to all be 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:56.360 placed in a home together. Well, for anybody to take 0:14:56.400 --> 0:14:58.360 on one extra child in their home, but to take 0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:02.200 on three, four or five, that's a significant jump, right, 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:07.240 But we would believe there's more than enough families. It's 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:10.880 finding them, it's equipping them, it's giving them pathways to 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:14.880 have those experiences to get them to a yes, versus 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:17.280 just trying to cherry pick them off and throwing them 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:19.920 in because they saw a picture of a kid and 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:24.800 we're like, oh, you know, I feel empathy, but they're 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:25.360 not ready. 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:28.240 And so I think the big work that even what. 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:30.440 You're talking about on this podcast to do is how 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:33.400 do we develop a community and a culture that gets 0:15:33.480 --> 0:15:37.440 the experiences so that they are ready for those yeses 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:41.359 instead of coming in for the wrong reasons and the 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:42.160 wrong ideas. 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:50.080 And now a few messages from our general sponsors. But first, 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:55.120 earlier this year something we're really proud of, Army members 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:59.880 launched six A and F local service clubs around the country. 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:03.840 Their design is to make service easier for your fellow 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:08.680 community members by really having zero requirements of the club's members. 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:11.920 All you gotta do is just sign up and join 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:15.640 our service activities whenever you can, when it works for you, 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:19.720 and welcome kids to join us for everything and they 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:25.120 cultivate an in person family like tribe. For lack of 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:29.680 a better term, that makes service even more rewarding. We 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:33.400 are now, really, because of the success of these first six, 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:37.640 looking at launching more local service clubs. And if you'd 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:41.040 be interested in either leading or serving on the leadership 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:44.040 team of a new one in your community, email Alex 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:49.680 at Alex at Normalfolks dot org and he'd love to 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:53.920 connect with you about this cool opportunity. We'll be right back. 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:09.159 Alex made a point, all fair, that's an interesting question, 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:13.120 which is how many foster families do you still need 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:16.800 to recruit? And maybe more important than not more importantly, 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:21.280 but equally importantly, what's that gap and what happens to 0:17:21.440 --> 0:17:23.879 kids inside that gap? 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:25.480 Yeah, it's a great question. 0:17:26.440 --> 0:17:30.360 So in foster care, just like any entity, right, if 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:33.480 you're not recruiting new you're dying. 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:35.280 Right, Yeah, because there has to be attrition. 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:38.479 There's always attrition, and a lot of it's fair attrition, 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:43.359 right I, change of seasoned, life circumstances, whatever, moving moving. 0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:47.159 But in Oklahoma and every state we try to not 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:49.400 talk about it too much, but the reality a lot 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:53.120 of children are being adopted, and so every year in Oklahoma, 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:56.040 fifteen hundred to twenty five hundred kids are being adopted 0:17:56.119 --> 0:17:57.720 out of the state of Oklahoma. 0:17:57.320 --> 0:17:59.080 Childwell FIRS system. 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:02.400 About fifty percent of kids go home in the state 0:18:02.440 --> 0:18:05.480 of Oklahoma, but about fifty percent of the kids will 0:18:05.560 --> 0:18:09.200 never go home, And so those families adopt those kids 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:11.359 that the foster families that love those kids, who knew 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:14.359 those kids, who have fought for those kids, tried to 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:17.160 get them reunified with their families. When that doesn't work out, 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:20.440 ninety five percent of the time, it's the foster. 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:22.159 Family that adopts that child. 0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:25.080 And we want to celebrate that, but the reality is 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:30.120 that work is still not done at adoption. We want 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:35.200 to say, hey, this moment, check gets done right and 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:38.320 everything's great, and when in reality that we know some 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:42.440 of the toughest work actually happens post adoption, right when 0:18:42.480 --> 0:18:45.639 a child goes through those teenage years and they're dealing 0:18:45.680 --> 0:18:47.880 with the realities of how can my mom and dad 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:51.119 do these things right? Like when that weight begins to 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:53.840 hit and the emotions and the feelings, even in the 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:56.679 best of homes, that can really rock a young person 0:18:57.240 --> 0:19:00.480 and create some really tumultuous years, and that family doesn't 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:04.160 need to be fostering more kids as they're walking through 0:19:04.160 --> 0:19:05.480 that with that child. 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:07.920 Right, that makes so much sense. So as they adopt 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:11.639 and as they move on the number of foster kids, 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:14.680 if we haven't gone up stream far enough and stopped it, 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:18.480 they keep coming. So if you're not constantly developing families, 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:19.439 you're losing. 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:23.760 You're always your numbers are ratio wise, are going down. 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:25.920 So if you look at the math, you know, I 0:19:25.960 --> 0:19:29.320 didn't love algebra, but you know you got numerator denominator, 0:19:29.320 --> 0:19:31.159 that kind of thing, right, you can you can impact 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:33.080 one of the two sides. You get more foster families 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:36.600 and your ratio looks better, or you help prevent less 0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:38.040 kids going into the system. 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:40.840 You know, and so both both are worthy causes. 0:19:42.000 --> 0:19:44.240 Both you don't have a whole lot of control of 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:48.560 if you're doing the work right, other than how can 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:51.760 we provide more supports for these kids and families from 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:53.920 different communities to make sure kids don't go in care? 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:58.480 So so in Oklahoma, you know, we have zero point 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:03.000 five five families for every child in the system. Yeah, 0:20:03.119 --> 0:20:06.720 so one family for every two kids, pragmatically right. 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:10.480 You know what's interesting, Also, as you said, there were 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:14.440 three thousand people working for the government and there's about 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:17.439 six thousand. That also means you have one worker for 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:20.960 every two kids. You would think with one worker for 0:20:21.000 --> 0:20:24.840 every two kids and one family for every two kids, 0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:27.880 that y'all would have this thing under wraps. 0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:30.440 Right, And from the outside looking in the data makes 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:32.760 it seem like, well, there's a lot of waste there, right, 0:20:32.880 --> 0:20:33.440 or a lot. 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:34.600 Of Fluff's what it feels like. 0:20:34.720 --> 0:20:37.040 What it feels like, So let me unpack that even 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:39.520 a little bit, because I think this is really important, 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:41.720 and I would say every day I learned something new. 0:20:41.920 --> 0:20:43.960 I've been doing this now ten years, and I could 0:20:44.080 --> 0:20:46.159 share part of my story. I had a friend invite 0:20:46.200 --> 0:20:48.240 me to a local shelter. I was a church leader 0:20:48.240 --> 0:20:49.760 of a really large church. 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:51.920 What's a church leader a minister? 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:52.919 I was a minister. 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:56.320 I was a paid vocational pastor, and my job at 0:20:56.320 --> 0:20:59.320 this big church was to help people serve in the 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:03.159 community and be connected in community outreach. I was the 0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:05.600 outreach small group's pastor. I was in charge of all 0:21:05.640 --> 0:21:09.440 things adults for a church of about six to ten 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:12.520 thousand at the time. It was a big church, lots 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:15.120 of people, and I had a friend that said, hey, 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:17.760 I love God was doing some really cool stuff with 0:21:17.800 --> 0:21:20.160 adoption in our church. A lot of families were adopting. 0:21:20.320 --> 0:21:23.000 People were saying, hey, man, our kids ministry looks like 0:21:23.040 --> 0:21:26.639 the un right that because these kids were coming in 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:28.200 from all over the world, and it was really cool. 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:29.000 That's just Chris. 0:21:31.080 --> 0:21:32.000 It was beautiful. 0:21:33.000 --> 0:21:34.679 But one of my good friends comes knocking on my 0:21:34.720 --> 0:21:37.600 door one day and she's got an idea. And as 0:21:37.640 --> 0:21:40.679 a leader, you know, ideas are a diamond dozen, right, 0:21:40.680 --> 0:21:43.520 everybody's got an idea, right. But this is a really 0:21:43.560 --> 0:21:45.240 good friend, a really smart friend, a friend that I 0:21:45.280 --> 0:21:46.960 deeply respect. And she's like, hey, I want to take 0:21:46.960 --> 0:21:48.920 you some place. And I'm like, absolutely, Rachel, where do 0:21:48.920 --> 0:21:49.879 you want to go? And she's like, I want to 0:21:49.880 --> 0:21:53.520 take you to our local kids shelter. But I didn't 0:21:53.560 --> 0:21:56.600 know we had a kids shelter. I'm a you know, 0:21:57.240 --> 0:21:59.560