WEBVTT - This State Is Solving The Foster Care Crisis (Here's How) 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:04.440 You literally have one church for every child, So whow 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:07.760 do we still have kids without a foster or adoptive family. 0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:11.040 I'm how the heck is that a reality? In my 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:13.160 state where we have more churches than gas. 0:00:13.039 --> 0:00:19.119 Stations, America has a foster parent deficit. We meet around 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:22.880 one hundred and forty thousand more foster homes than we 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:25.880 have today, and because we don't have enough home for 0:00:25.960 --> 0:00:30.000 these innocent kids, there's devastating consequences. 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:32.559 And I get handed to two day old baby with 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:35.120 no place to go, and I didn't know we had 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:36.919 a place that we stuck kids with no place to go. 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:39.199 It's places that we take eighteen year olds and we 0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:41.200 move them from the kids shelter to the adult shelter 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:43.960 because we don't have a better plan for them. And 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:47.360 that reality to me was like this is unacceptable. 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:52.480 Today's guest is Chris Campbell, executive director of the One 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:56.360 One to One Project in Oklahoma, which partners with churches 0:00:57.080 --> 0:01:00.920 to recruit one new foster family a year and help 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:06.520 strengthen one vulnerable family a month so that they can 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:11.399 avoid foster care. Hare Portal now operates in all seventy 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:16.399 seven counties and has served over fifty four thousand children 0:01:16.560 --> 0:01:20.920 twenty thousand just last year, holy smokes. 0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:23.520 Dude, and every day gross right, like even since that 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:25.920 sixty one thousand kids. 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:30.920 As of today, you've reduced the foster system from eleven thousand, 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:34.040 five hundred to six thousand children in foster care. 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:38.080 We created pathways for people to engage and partner and 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:40.399 what do you know that that makes a difference. 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:44.000 Their success in cutting foster care in half is incredible. 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:46.559 I mean it's wild. I've never heard of a state 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:51.680 achieving such a reduction until now, and you're about to 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:55.040 learn how so that you can do this in your 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:58.600 state too. You can do small things from meeting a 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:02.160 need on care Portal, which is the largest air sharing 0:02:02.240 --> 0:02:07.800 technology in the country, or significant things like actually becoming 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:11.679 a foster parent. And if there's an army of us 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:15.760 doing these things together, we can solve this problem. 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:18.360 But I see four million people in the state of 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:21.280 Oklahoma that if we can't figure it out, I don't 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:23.480 know who can, but I believe we can't. 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:28.160 This is the Army of Normal Folks podcast, where our 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:31.560 mission is to make service easier for all of us 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:48.119 and together change this country. All right, everybody, we have 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:53.079 super exciting news coming at you. I mean, Alice is 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:55.960 excited about it, but I'm not sure how excited I am. 0:02:56.440 --> 0:02:59.640 The podcast is now live on YouTube, which means now 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:03.000 you get to see me in case you prefer watching 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:07.120 it there, and we're switching up the audio form out 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:10.320 of the podcast. You can now either listen to the 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:14.880 full version of the podcast on the same episode, meaning 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:17.239 you no longer have to go to part one and 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:21.080 part two to hear a whole episode we got going, 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:25.040 or you can listen to a thirty minute version of 0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:29.760 the podcast that will be labeled as highlights and we 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:33.880 get it. Many listeners who aren't as into long form 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:38.120 podcast or struggle to find the time to listen to 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:42.240 the whole thing each week have requested something like this, 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:46.360 and so Alex got off his button. We finally created it. 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:51.680 We're really not perfect, nobody is, but we really do 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:55.280 try to take in all of your feedback and advice. 0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:59.000 We hope to create a product that makes service easier 0:03:59.000 --> 0:04:03.560 for you and all of us. So check it out 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:07.920 and keep it coming. You can email us anytime at 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:13.120 Normalfolks dot org and we will respond. Now let's go 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:21.479 to the episode Chris Campbell from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, which 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:22.400 is basically Tulsa. 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:25.640 Basically Tulsa. Yeah, we would probably be offended, you know, 0:04:25.800 --> 0:04:28.440 but be Broken Airs part of Tulsall. 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:29.239 Welcome to Memphis. 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:29.920 He would love it. 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:32.880 Chris is the executive director of the One One One Project, 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:36.440 which very briefly that you're about to get into is 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:39.039 the idea of one church for one family, for one 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:45.040 purpose and that that can change everything. So explaining that 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:49.560 and getting into it, you guys have helped cut foster 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:54.560 care in half in your state in Oklahoma from eleven 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:56.680 five hundred kids to six thousand. 0:04:57.360 --> 0:05:00.320 How Yeah, so there's sixty two hundred church in the 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:03.240 state of Oklahoma. So the big idea was, Man, what 0:05:03.240 --> 0:05:06.320 if we got more people involved. There's enough churches, there's 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:09.479 enough families, and there's enough people that want to help, 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:11.560 they just don't know how to help. So how do 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:14.039 we create those pathways for more people to help Because 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:16.440 the government can't do it on their own. So we 0:05:16.520 --> 0:05:20.120 created pathways for people to engage and partner and what 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:22.560 do you know that that makes a difference in the 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:24.760 lives of kids and families. That can keep kids out 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:28.560 of foster care, can help kids reunify faster, it can 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:31.719 support those professionals that work day in and day out 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:35.200 to take care of those families. So that play what 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:37.280 we've gotten to see over the last ten years has 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:40.120 actually led with a whole bunch of collaboration and work 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:43.720 on our government side as well to changing our system 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:44.720 making a difference in it. 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:48.919 So I love that you're not one of these guys 0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:50.479 is just saying government sucks. 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:54.279 Yeah, yeah, you worked with you got to work with government, 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:57.480 you know, like in our state, you know, our state 0:05:57.520 --> 0:06:00.719 agencies is some of the largest. I mean, if you 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:03.240 look at capital and investment and staff count, you know 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:07.799 they're they're doing good work because they care. But sometimes 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:10.640 they have obstacles and red tape that prevents them from 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:12.919 doing it as well as we would all like to 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:16.000 see it done. And so we can either throw rocks 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:18.200 at them and say just get better, or we can 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:21.760 lean in and and try to help learn what needs 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:25.039 to be changed and fill those holes, those gaps in 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:27.760 the system where they can't they can't function. But just 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:29.279 put a number on it. It's a lot of people. 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:31.440 From what you told me, it's like three thousand Child 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:32.840 and Family Service, So. 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:35.280 Just in the child Welfare division. There's a there's about 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:40.320 three thousand staff employees employees. So if you look at 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:42.760 it from a corporation, you're right, it would be one 0:06:42.800 --> 0:06:46.240 of the largest employers in the state of Oklahoma. 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:46.520 You know. 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:49.119 So if you look at these different government enties, they're 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:52.880 they're investing a lot in people. And we talk about 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:54.680 all the time. You know, a lot of churches will 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:57.400 know about their fire chief and their police chief, but 0:06:57.440 --> 0:07:00.400 they don't know nothing about child welfare some these other 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:03.800 government agencies. But these are the people that are responsible 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:09.360 when it's the ceiling fan. It's the government child welfare 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:11.400 folks that are in the middle of the hardest of 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:15.640 the muck with families. And so I have deep respect 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:18.160 for my government counterparts and the work that they do. 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:20.240 I love. I actually love to hear that. I don't 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:22.280 hear that all the time, and I love to hear that. 0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:25.480 So I think it was two thousand and one, this 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:29.440 idea of one one one it started to become a 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:32.200 thing kind of take me through what you were doing 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:35.800 and why and what happened, and just give us, give 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:38.120 us a little bit of a foundation before we go forward. 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:39.120 So we understand that. 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:41.640 Yeah, so even in the state of Oklahoma, which is 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:44.560 traditionally more of a red state, more of a faith community. 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:47.720 I think what the child welfare people recognized is when 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:51.720 we're having these government round tables and problem solving, there's 0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:54.920 not church people sitting at this table. And that's a problem, 0:07:55.120 --> 0:07:59.320 right because they bring so much connection and favor and 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:04.600 relationship and resource, both tangible financial resource but people resource, 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:08.240 and they're not here and they don't care or seemingly 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:12.480 care as their perspective. So, Oklahoma had a lawsuit related 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:17.040 to some child dust that happened, and that lawsuit required 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:20.240 the government to partner in the community better. That was 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:24.120 one of the required outcomes from the settlement. But it 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:27.400 also was the felt reality that hey, we're alone in 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:31.600 this work. We're doing these visits with these families that 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:34.280 somebody called in on and it's the worst of the 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:38.240 worst situations, and we don't have anybody to support us, 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:41.840 let alone to support these families because we've not invited 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:45.080 them or there's not pathways for that. So that was 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:47.920 kind of the environment that it was like, enough is enough, 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:51.040 Let's figure out how to partner. And some of the 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:55.080 leaders at the agency were like, Hey, this can't beat government, right, 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:57.719 because government smells like government, it looks like government. It's 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:01.160 going to be received as government is to be some 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:05.080 entity or something out here that's separate. And so one 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:07.800 one One Project was created through some government people, some 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:11.080 church people, some community advocates that said, hey, what would 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:13.400 it look like to create a nonprofit that's its sole 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:17.559 focus was community faith mobilization in the state. 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:21.880 And the idea of one church for one family, for 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:25.240 one purpose, the purpose supporting foster ko. 0:09:25.320 --> 0:09:28.000 Yeah, foster kids. And so at the time, we had 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:30.760 eighty two hundred kids in care. Actually the first event 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:34.360 that happened was the eighty forty six conference because there 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:36.480 was eight thousand and forty six kids in care on 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:40.400 January first of twenty eleven. Well, we did this conference 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:43.959 and then the numbers continued to rise and they rose 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:45.840 to a level that they begin to get out of control, 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:48.880 almost twelve thousand kids in care. So it's kind of 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:50.319 one of those things where you have a great idea 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:52.520 thing is going to work, and it seems like, actually 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:56.280 the opposite happened, right, And it really wasn't until twenty 0:09:56.360 --> 0:09:58.960 fifteen where we implement and I think you guys have 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:00.720 had care Portal on on the show. 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:03.960 One of the things we talk about often because it 0:10:04.080 --> 0:10:09.640 is such an effective idea and it's implemented. Implementation has 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:14.080 now been incredibly effective across a broad array of uses. 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:17.560 But you guys, we were the very first implementer of 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:22.480 care portal, were really yeah we were. Yeah, we were Oklahoma, surprise, 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:25.240 you know. So care Portal had done a couple of 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:27.439 pilots and a couple of different locations, and one of 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:28.880 those locations was Oklahoma. 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:32.480 For those who haven't listened to the care Portal episode 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:34.559 or even though what care portal is that maybe listened 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:37.640 to us for the first time briefly, Yep, what is that? 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:40.440 Yeah, you have workers over here that are working with 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:42.640 families that need help, and you've got people over here 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:44.920 that want to help. Care Portal is the web based 0:10:44.960 --> 0:10:48.320 platform that connects the two and really simple to give 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:52.199 opportunity without the red tape to directly serve families through 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:56.480 that worker. And so that platform has now been around 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:59.240 ten years, over five years. Cell phone, Yeah, on cell 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:03.440 phones it's web app and a phone app. Now over 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:06.760 five hundred thousand kids served through this. Hey, somebody who 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:10.160 knows the family advocates for the family. Somebody in the 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:12.760 community that cares responds and says, hey, I can help 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:16.319 with that, whether it's a dishwasher to a car seat, 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:18.680 to a bed to utility bill. 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:20.920 Yeah. One of the best stories I've ever heard is 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:24.560 this lady gets a job, but she has to get 0:11:24.600 --> 0:11:27.840 her kids to daycare. The job helps pay for daycare, 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:31.840 but she doesn't have a car seat. Some family knows 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:34.520 about it, puts it on care portal, and somebody on 0:11:34.559 --> 0:11:36.560 a phone that's just sitting there and they say, hey, 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:38.760 this woman needs a new car seat so she can 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:41.880 go to work. And you just have your care Portal 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:44.160 app and you see the needs and anything you like, 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:47.280 you click done and you buy a car seat and 0:11:47.320 --> 0:11:50.240 that's It takes ten minutes and you change somebody's way. 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:54.040 Absolutely, yeap one hundred percent. And to advocate for the 0:11:54.040 --> 0:11:56.320 needs of the family, to know what the reality is 0:11:56.320 --> 0:12:00.120 that they that they have, but also recognizing that there's 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:03.320 that worker, there's that government worker who's saying, hey, here's 0:12:03.320 --> 0:12:06.800 a family that we think can make it right. I mean, 0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:08.920 they could put on a request for any family, but 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:11.559 most likely the families that they're putting on careport are 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:13.680 the ones that they think have a chance because they're 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:16.520 cheering for him too, right, They're cheering for that dad 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:18.440 that's waking up at five o'clock in the morning and 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:21.480 walking twelve miles to get to work, but then trying 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:23.640 to figure out how he's going to do his you know, 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:27.880 addictive recovery case plan and his child welfare plans and 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:31.880 his kid's visitation. Right, but he don't have a car. 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:34.680 But the worker sees the hard work that dad's doing 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:37.360 to try to change his life, and she's like, yeah, 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:39.480 I want dad to have a bus pass, you know, 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:42.720 like I want dad to be able to have transportation. 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:45.240 I want dad to have people cheering for him because 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:49.280 he's an amazing dude, you know, but when he's on 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:53.480 drugs or when he's under the influence of alcohol, he's struggled. 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:56.440 But he's making this progress and we all need to 0:12:56.440 --> 0:12:58.360 be celebrating that. And we want his kids out of 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:01.560 foster care, you know. So sometimes the best family for 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:04.000 kids is not a new one, it's the one that 0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:07.040 they've always had that just needs that extra support and 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:08.480 extra advocacy for that. 0:13:08.600 --> 0:13:10.920 And so she puts that on care portal. Somebody buys 0:13:10.920 --> 0:13:13.360 a bus pass and it's great, and that way, it's 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:17.679 not somebody that wants something asking, is somebody advocating for 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:21.040 someone who needs it. So great. So in twenty fifteen, 0:13:21.080 --> 0:13:22.559 there's this thing called care port. 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:24.719 Yeah, we launched it first time, and it was it 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:27.720 was horrible. I mean it was really it was not good. 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:31.000 I mean I could pick on Adrian in the room, 0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:34.120 but I mean it was pragmatically a newsletter an email list, right, 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:36.080 it was like here you have somebody over here putting 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:38.120 it on okay, email that out to everybody that's on 0:13:38.160 --> 0:13:41.320 our contact list, right. And then over time, I mean 0:13:41.679 --> 0:13:43.600 I joke, I've seen care Portal have like five or 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:46.839 six brain surgeries and again, normal folks, I mean, these 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:49.040 are some guys in Kansas City that have never built 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:52.600 any kind of technology platform, just you know, like, hey, 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:54.640 what can we do for the kids in our backyard? 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:58.760 And an idea came from that and now this really 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:03.880 cool platform and tool and partnership among thousands of churches 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:07.640 and thousands of nonprofits and government entities all across the country. 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:11.880 Okay, So in twenty twenty five, the one one one 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:17.720 project I guess it's called celebrated a landmark milestone. Care 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:23.080 Portal now operates in all seventy seven counties and has 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:28.560 served over fifty four thousand children, twenty thousand just last year, 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:31.680 holy smokes, dude. 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:34.800 Yep, and every day grows, right like even since that, 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:40.400 sixty one thousand kids as of today. And what's been 0:14:40.440 --> 0:14:44.200 really cool is, of course, strategically, I think we all 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:46.120 look at and say, hey, where's the greatest amount of 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:50.960 need go go there? And so you know, surprisingly Oklahoma 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:55.080 City is twentieth fish and top largest metros in the country. 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:56.880 A lot of people don't know about Oklahoma. Oh there's 0:14:56.880 --> 0:14:59.560 people there. Yeah, there's a lot of people. Guess some 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:02.080 bits a great I mean, but it's a big city 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:05.640 and has all the big city challenges in Tulsa's very similar. 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:09.720 But we're also very rural. I mean, Oklahoma has the 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:13.040 same land mass as Florida does, right Like, it's just 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:16.240 as big of a state, more coastline actually than Florida 0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:20.160 than because of all of our lakes, right, but very rural, 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:23.720 very rural. And so you can drive three four hours 0:15:24.280 --> 0:15:26.360 and still be in Oklahoma and a lot of tribal 0:15:26.440 --> 0:15:28.240 lands to a lot of tribal lands, a lot of 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:32.920 rural poverty because of that lot of isolation. And we 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:35.400 joke in some of our communities there's more cows and people, 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:38.920 you know, but there's kids there, there's families there, and 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:41.040 those families are just as important to us as the 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:44.760 ones in the urban core, but they're just as disconnected 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:47.800 because of the isolation in those communities. Sometimes it's just 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:51.200 the distance and the lack of knowledge, or the stereotypes, 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:55.160 or you know, just the challenges that our rural communities face. 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:57.000 And so it was really important for us that we 0:15:57.080 --> 0:16:00.960 just didn't show up for the metros, you know, especially 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:03.360 in day and age, post COVID and even with Amazon 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:06.320 delivery and all these other services. A family can be 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:10.960 in their isolated community and never go into town right 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:14.520 and sometimes even with some of the rules on schooling, 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:17.000 never go to school right. They're they're doing everything in 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:21.800 their little isolated spot, and so when things boil up 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:24.600 and there's a crisis, they have no one to call, 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:29.080 have no one that knows about their situation. And yet 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:32.320 oftentimes that's child Welfare is interacting there for the first time, 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:36.680 and oftentimes it's some sweet, you know, young caseworker, you 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:40.440 know twenty three, twenty four stepping into this really difficult situation. 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:44.080 And there's no nonprofits that are in this community. There's 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:49.080 no food bank or services, and so it's really isolating 0:16:49.360 --> 0:16:51.640 you when you don't know what to do, how to 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:54.680 help where who are you going to call? But yet 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:58.040 there's churches and every one of those communities more churches 0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:00.760 and gas stations. In the state of Oklahoma, there's a 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:04.680 church that somebody planted way back in the nineteen hundreds 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:08.840 in every little county seat in town, not far away. 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:12.600 And so it would make rational sense that that would 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:14.520 be the network. If you could figure out how to 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:18.000 engage that could really change a lot of things in 0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:21.000 those communities, acting at as a as a hub for 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:23.720 service and connection and resource. 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:26.960 Flow, which is the whole idea behind project one one one. 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:30.359 And then you have this cool tool called care Portal 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:34.440 that you implement in supports that network twenty fifteen, the 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:40.480 sports network and the connectivity starts. That's right, and now 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:42.840 a few messages from our general sponsors. 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:46.159 But first, earlier this. 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:50.520 Year something we're really proud of, Army members launched six 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:54.520 A and F local service clubs around the country. Their 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:58.600 design is to make service easier for your fellow community 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:02.960 members by really having zero requirements of the club's members. 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:06.160 All you gotta do is just sign up and join 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:09.920 our service activities whenever you can, when it works for you, 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:13.199 and you welcome kids to join us for everything, and 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:19.240 they cultivate an in person family like tribe for lack 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:23.000 of a better term, that makes service even more rewarding. 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:26.920 We are now really, because of the success of these 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:30.520 first six, looking at launching more local service clubs and 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:34.600 if you'd be interested in either leading or serving on 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:37.040 the leadership team of a new one in your community, 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:42.920 email Alex at Alex at Normalfolks dot org and he'd 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:47.560 love to connect with you about this cool opportunity. We'll 0:18:47.600 --> 0:19:03.000 be right back. So you've reduced the foster system from 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:06.920 eleven thousand, five hundred to six thousand children in foster care, 0:19:07.800 --> 0:19:13.440 and Alex says, there's sixty two hundred churches in your state, right, 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:18.600 you literally have one church for every child. So why 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:22.000 do we still have kids without a foster or adoptive family. 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:24.960 Yeah, it's a great question, and I think part of 0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:26.720 that is not by. 0:19:26.560 --> 0:19:30.160 The way that question can be misconstrued, that is, by 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:38.160 no means a criticism. Yeah, that's right, because you've cut 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:42.000 it in half. Yep, but it still is an inconvenient 0:19:42.119 --> 0:19:46.840 fact that there's that many. So what I guess, I 0:19:46.840 --> 0:19:49.360 guess what next? Why do we still have this going on? 0:19:49.760 --> 0:19:53.200 I think we all recognize that sometimes we have simple 0:19:53.240 --> 0:19:56.399 goals for the sake of communication, but then when we 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:58.440 get underneath, we realize the problem is a lot more 0:19:58.440 --> 0:20:00.719 complicated than any of them want to make it out. 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:06.120 Is not universal, that's in business, families anything. 0:20:06.280 --> 0:20:09.119 Yeah, So we we want to make it the reality 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:12.040 of it simple, but we would be ignorant to say 0:20:12.040 --> 0:20:14.840 it's that simple. And so on the church side, the 0:20:14.880 --> 0:20:17.840 reality is a lot of our churches are small, little 0:20:17.920 --> 0:20:22.360 family churches. A lot that you know are aging right, 0:20:22.440 --> 0:20:25.440 that are that are of an age that they're like, hey, 0:20:25.440 --> 0:20:28.840 we can't we can't raise kids anymore. But they have 0:20:28.880 --> 0:20:30.960 a lot to offer, but it may not be in 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:35.399 opening up their home. We'd also recognize the challenges with 0:20:35.440 --> 0:20:37.840 a lot of our kids in the system. Not not 0:20:38.000 --> 0:20:40.960 every family is out of the gate equipped. You know, 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:45.720 even even if you've had kids, you you probably need 0:20:45.760 --> 0:20:49.720 some additional equipping and training and development to make you 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:52.760 ready to parent kids that come from our places, kids 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:55.199 that come from trauma. Are kids that come from a 0:20:55.200 --> 0:20:59.399 different cultural context that you do. And so what we 0:20:59.520 --> 0:21:03.560 recognize is that kids are coming out of places of need, 0:21:04.640 --> 0:21:07.920 sometimes of rural poverty and even sometimes of urban poverty. 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:09.880 But kids in the foster care system come from all 0:21:09.880 --> 0:21:13.280 sorts of different scenarios. So even a blanket foster care 0:21:13.400 --> 0:21:17.920 is ignorant because it's as complicated as people are, right, 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:21.560 it's different as people are. But I think the simple 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:24.760 idea is we've got more than enough people, you know. 0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:29.000 But it's a lack of development and it's a lack 0:21:29.160 --> 0:21:34.080 of connection that keeps people from saying yes, which ultimately, Bill, 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:34.840 I think is fear. 0:21:36.200 --> 0:21:39.560 I think I think we have talked foster care a 0:21:39.560 --> 0:21:42.040 fair amount on here. I mean, it's not something that 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:47.480 we just it's not a focus. It's just come up right, right, 0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:50.720 I from all of those interviews and all of the 0:21:50.760 --> 0:21:53.400 different faces and all of the different work being done. 0:21:53.880 --> 0:21:56.560 I do think fear plays a huge role in it. 0:21:56.600 --> 0:22:00.159 And I don't think it's fear of opening your home them. 0:22:00.240 --> 0:22:03.160 I think it's it's the fear of, you know. 0:22:03.080 --> 0:22:06.400 How how much work is this going to be, which 0:22:06.440 --> 0:22:08.439 is to. 0:22:09.320 --> 0:22:14.360 Is this child going to interrupt my already organic nuclear family, 0:22:14.480 --> 0:22:16.520 and what's that going to be on my own children? 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:18.880 I mean, and I think those are legitimate. 0:22:18.480 --> 0:22:20.800 Fears, are all legitimate fears, and I think for all 0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:25.520 of us, experience and relationship over time is what gives 0:22:25.600 --> 0:22:28.919 us the context of the wisdom to say, Okay, I'm 0:22:28.960 --> 0:22:31.919 ready for that, right, or there's other ways that I 0:22:31.960 --> 0:22:35.320 can be involved, and that is just as good, Right, 0:22:35.320 --> 0:22:38.680 That's just as helpful. And so all of us that 0:22:38.720 --> 0:22:41.720 are in the foster care space would say, our heart 0:22:41.880 --> 0:22:45.159 is not to grow foster care. Our heart is to 0:22:45.280 --> 0:22:46.600