Speaker 1: Here we are back again with another wonderful episode of
Speaker 1: Love Someone, our podcast that I do uh in the
Speaker 1: hopes that I will inspire you to use your energy
Speaker 1: to change the world. That's the goal anyway, to share
Speaker 1: information and to invite guests that are doing just that,
Speaker 1: changing the world, making the world a better place. My
Speaker 1: guest today is just such a person, Jennifer Perry. Jennifer
Speaker 1: is the executive director of the Children's Action Network. Children's
Speaker 1: Action Network CAN. Since its inception, by marshaling the immense
Speaker 1: communication power of the entertainment community they're based in l A,
Speaker 1: CAN inspires the public to take action on behalf of
Speaker 1: kids CAN. Children's Action Network is now involved in a
Speaker 1: national campaign devoted to raising awareness of the one hundred
Speaker 1: and seven thousand children in this country who are legally
Speaker 1: free waiting for adoptive homes, and they help to improve
Speaker 1: the outcomes for almost a half a million kids in
Speaker 1: foster care. Jennifer is also the co founder of Foster More,
Speaker 1: a coalition of media and entertainment companies, nonprofits, businesses, philanthropic
Speaker 1: organizations working together to create greater understanding, greater empathy and
Speaker 1: action to improve the future of kids in foster care.
Speaker 1: Foster More shines a light on the accomplishments and potential
Speaker 1: of foster youth while helping to secure support for their
Speaker 1: academic success and helping to create a pipeline of potential
Speaker 1: foster parents. We have a big shortage of foster parents
Speaker 1: in this country. Under her stewardship, Can has received an
Speaker 1: Adoption Excellent Award from the U S Department of Health
Speaker 1: and Human Services and a Television Academy Honors for a
Speaker 1: Home for the Holidays. Can's annual special promoting foster care adoption.
Speaker 1: Not only does she talk the talks, she walks the walk.
Speaker 1: Jennifer and her husband Andy are the adoring adoptive parents
Speaker 1: of two daughters. We're gonna pause right now. We're going
Speaker 1: to learn more and talk to Jennifer in a moment,
Speaker 1: but we're going to pause right now to hear from
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Speaker 1: for a limited time only. Hello Jennifer, Welcome to Love Someone.
Speaker 1: I am so grateful, Thank you for being with us
Speaker 1: on this podcast. You know that foster care and adoptive
Speaker 1: programs and adoptive kids and building families is more than
Speaker 1: the near and dear to my heart, right, yeah, I do.
Speaker 1: I do. It's remarkable what you've done in the incredible
Speaker 1: family that you've built. So yes, I I do know that. Well,
Speaker 1: you know what I find remarkable. I have a lot
Speaker 1: of resources. I'm very blessed. I have a lot of
Speaker 1: resources my career. My situation allows me to have resources
Speaker 1: that most people don't. I have a nanny housekeeper that
Speaker 1: helps me with the young ones and helps me with
Speaker 1: the laundry, and I can pay tutors to help my
Speaker 1: older kids. What amazes me is people like my friend
Speaker 1: Jan she has two adult daughters that are building their
Speaker 1: families through foster kids and adoption and foster to adopt
Speaker 1: and long term foster placements. And they don't have the
Speaker 1: resources I have. They're doing it all on their own,
Speaker 1: and they're doing an amazing job. I'm like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: you wear me out just thinking about all the hats
Speaker 1: that you have to wear. I'm so proud of men
Speaker 1: and women who don't have the resources that I have
Speaker 1: and still are willing to step up to the plate
Speaker 1: and raise their hand and say I'll do it. I'll
Speaker 1: love a child in need that takes a special kind
Speaker 1: of hero it has and I couldn't agree more. You know,
Speaker 1: I really feel that foster parents are the unsung heroes
Speaker 1: of America because here are people that step up and say,
Speaker 1: you know, I want to give a child what I
Speaker 1: can give them, love, support, stability. I want to help
Speaker 1: them realize their potential. And they are taking a child,
Speaker 1: you know, the they've barely ever met, into their own home,
Speaker 1: making a pledge to that child, sometimes a short term,
Speaker 1: sometimes a lifetime pledge. It is a remarkable thing to
Speaker 1: step up and do. And I truly feel that we
Speaker 1: should create some kind of a mechanism to seeing the
Speaker 1: phrases that these foster parents get them the support they
Speaker 1: need and recognize the extraordinary work to your point that
Speaker 1: everyday people are doing every day on behalf of you
Speaker 1: within foster care. So walk us through how does a
Speaker 1: child end up in our foster care system? How? How
Speaker 1: I mean we got almost five hundred thousand kids in
Speaker 1: foster care? How did they get there? A child goes
Speaker 1: into foster care when an adult in their life. It
Speaker 1: can be a teacher, a doctor, or a neighbor, a
Speaker 1: friend is concerned that they are in danger um that
Speaker 1: that their their lives may be at risk given their
Speaker 1: home situation, and frequently that danger arises from substance abuse
Speaker 1: on the part of the parents. We've sadly seen an
Speaker 1: uptick in use in foster care because of the opioid crisis.
Speaker 1: And when someone is concerned, they alert the authorities and
Speaker 1: they come to investigate, and if the authorities deemed that
Speaker 1: the child is in danger or at risk, they are
Speaker 1: removed from the homes and placed with a foster parent
Speaker 1: or in an emergency foster platement until the situation can
Speaker 1: be assessed. And it's always important to remember that a
Speaker 1: child is placed in foster care through no faults of
Speaker 1: their own. Uh, they've been in a dangerous situation and removed,
Speaker 1: and you know, the hope is always to reunite that
Speaker 1: child with their parents. That doesn't always happen, but that
Speaker 1: is always That is the first step in foster care
Speaker 1: is to say, are these parents, if they're given more
Speaker 1: support and wrap around services, will they be able to
Speaker 1: get their lives together so that they can support and
Speaker 1: take care of their kids. So you've been at this
Speaker 1: a while how has foster care or kids in foster care,
Speaker 1: how has it changed. I got my first foster license
Speaker 1: in eight six and everything has changed since then. What
Speaker 1: do you see some of the biggest changes are I
Speaker 1: think one of the biggest wholesale changes has been a
Speaker 1: tremendous uptick and awareness about youth in the foster care system.
Speaker 1: They truly truly lived in the shadows UM at the
Speaker 1: time when you first went on your journey UM, people
Speaker 1: just did not know about using foster care. They had misperceptions,
Speaker 1: misconceptions about the youth. And what's happened, thanks to the
Speaker 1: work of many, many good groups over the last twenty
Speaker 1: or so years, is there's a tremendous optick and awareness
Speaker 1: about youth in foster care and hence to the services
Speaker 1: and supports that are needed. And some of the changes
Speaker 1: are small but so important. For a long time, when
Speaker 1: children replaced in foster care, there wasn't a concerned to
Speaker 1: keep siblings together. Then there was a recognition that children
Speaker 1: will rive more if they are, you know, have a
Speaker 1: sibling that goes into foster care with them some semblance
Speaker 1: of their former family. And that's a small change. At
Speaker 1: the larger level, two there's been a much greater recognition
Speaker 1: of what happens to the youth who leave foster care
Speaker 1: when they age out at eighteen or twenty one, depending
Speaker 1: on the states they're in. There was not a lot
Speaker 1: of awareness about the outcome for those youths, which were
Speaker 1: not good, somewhat dire in fact, and a lot more
Speaker 1: services have been created to support that particular part of
Speaker 1: the foster youth population. So how many states now continue
Speaker 1: to support kids till they're twenty one? That is a
Speaker 1: good question. I honestly don't need answer how many states?
Speaker 1: It's a growing number, and uh, I don't know. I'm
Speaker 1: happy to get back to you. Um, I don't know.
Speaker 1: If aout my head. Well, last time I checked, it
Speaker 1: was like twelve, and in most states that's what the
Speaker 1: foster care system does still to this day. Okay, you're eighteen,
Speaker 1: you're out of our jurisdiction. By you're on your own.
Speaker 1: That is correct. And if you think about a child
Speaker 1: who grew up in a supportive family, no one says
Speaker 1: them an agent can see later, you know, go forth
Speaker 1: and prosper um. So you can imagine a youth who
Speaker 1: has had a traumatic childhood hasn't been mentored, hasn't learned
Speaker 1: all of the basic sort of life skills that you
Speaker 1: do sometimes just by watching a parent or supportive adults. Uh.
Speaker 1: So the move to continue to support youth in foster
Speaker 1: care to age twenty one and even even past that.
Speaker 1: There are some areas that are looking at up to
Speaker 1: the age of six. We know so much more about
Speaker 1: the way you brains developed and their coping skills, and
Speaker 1: how someblars aren't fully developed into late six. And also
Speaker 1: because fosters use typically end up a couple of years
Speaker 1: behind at an academic level, it takes them longer to
Speaker 1: get through the education process, so we need to continue
Speaker 1: to support them this they pursue higher education as they
Speaker 1: get older. So uh, there's twelve million reasons it's it's
Speaker 1: vitally important to support this youth population. So, Jennifer, what
Speaker 1: is Foster More? Tell me about your organization? How did
Speaker 1: you birth this? What what inspired you? What? What was
Speaker 1: that aha moment where you said, you know what, I
Speaker 1: can use my gifts and talents and skills and I
Speaker 1: can change the world for these kids. Tell me about
Speaker 1: Foster More and and how that was born. I've been
Speaker 1: working in the foster care Arena quite some time an
Speaker 1: organization cult Children's actually network that has a number of
Speaker 1: projects that worked to improve outcomes for youth and foster care,
Speaker 1: and we came to the growing realization that a significant
Speaker 1: part of making a difference for these youths was shifting
Speaker 1: attitudes and perceptions, was making people realize that youth and
Speaker 1: foster care are the epitome of resilience. They are a
Speaker 1: resource and a need all the supports we can give
Speaker 1: them to thrive and prosper. And we realized in order
Speaker 1: to do that, in order to change mind and move
Speaker 1: the needles on people's perceptions and awareness, we had to
Speaker 1: launch a broad scale public awareness campaign aimed at moving
Speaker 1: hearts and mind, enabling people to really see who these
Speaker 1: youth are. So that was the sort of the core
Speaker 1: of our Foster More effort, and we launched a broad
Speaker 1: scale public awareness campaign again aimed at saying youth and
Speaker 1: foster care are resilient and will strive if they're given
Speaker 1: the supports they need. One of our first p s
Speaker 1: a S was called I am Amazing and was about
Speaker 1: this that foster you're talking about. I am amazing. I
Speaker 1: need I just need an adult to guide me along
Speaker 1: the way to realize who I am. So over the
Speaker 1: past several years, we have continued this broad scale public
Speaker 1: awarness campaign and one of the things that drove it,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry this was a long answer, but we had
Speaker 1: that in the general public attitudes about youth in foster care,
Speaker 1: people either didn't know who they were or they had
Speaker 1: misperceptions that I've referenced. And we did focus groups and
Speaker 1: it was very interesting because it shows that at a
Speaker 1: free focus groups, no one even knew a foster parents
Speaker 1: and their attitudes about foster youth they were scared of them.
Speaker 1: And it really drove this campaign to shift the paradigm
Speaker 1: and get people to think entirely different about foster youth,
Speaker 1: because that's the only way that people thinking differently that
Speaker 1: people are going to step up and assist these youth
Speaker 1: and the resources are going to be directed towards the youth.
Speaker 1: We have also realized that there is a pressing need
Speaker 1: for foster parents, particularly wonderful ones like yourself. And as
Speaker 1: you well know, um, the number of youth and foster
Speaker 1: care greatly exceeds the number of foster parents. So since
Speaker 1: Foster More is a coalition of entertainment philanthropic business. We
Speaker 1: knew we could turn our entertainment skills and resources into
Speaker 1: a campaign to recruit foster parents. So that's one of
Speaker 1: the other driving peoples of foster More. It's a conjurity
Speaker 1: campaign to recruit foster parents so that we address the
Speaker 1: pressing needs for those within the system. I think the
Speaker 1: good news is when you start to tell the story
Speaker 1: of these youths and you tell people who they really
Speaker 1: are and what our duty and obligation as human beings
Speaker 1: is to these youths, people want to engage. How many
Speaker 1: kids have you fostered? I have fostered two kids, and
Speaker 1: we entered this process to be truly foster parents. It
Speaker 1: was when l A had a huge uptick and youth
Speaker 1: from foster Carretti this is in the same place now,
Speaker 1: and we really felt that there was a place where
Speaker 1: we could and wanted to step up. And as state
Speaker 1: would have it, we ended up adopting our girls. We
Speaker 1: met them at five and and we initially rest with
Speaker 1: Parence Jennifer, We're gonna come back in just a moment.
Speaker 1: We are going to take a break here for one
Speaker 1: of our sponsors. We're gonna come back and we're going
Speaker 1: to talk about how to become involved, what that looks like,
Speaker 1: and give some people some directions. So we'll be right
Speaker 1: back talking with Jennifer, the co founder of Foster More,
Speaker 1: a coalition of media and entertainment companies who care about kids.
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Speaker 1: That's Young Woodworkers dot com slash love for fifty percent off. Jennifer,
Speaker 1: Welcome back to love someone with the Lionel. We're going
Speaker 1: to talk about what does it take. If somebody is
Speaker 1: listening and says, you know what, my kids went off
Speaker 1: to college and I kind of have an empty nest syndrome,
Speaker 1: maybe I could maybe I could foster. Or maybe somebody says,
Speaker 1: I'm a single mom and I've got one son and
Speaker 1: he would like a sibling. Maybe I could do foster
Speaker 1: care or do a foster to adopt. What is a
Speaker 1: foster parent and where do they start? A foster parents
Speaker 1: truly anyone with love in their hearts who wants to
Speaker 1: bring a kid into their life and nurture them and
Speaker 1: provide them stability and provide them a better future. That
Speaker 1: can be that couple that you just mentioned whose children
Speaker 1: have gone off to college they're feeling like they're empty nesters.
Speaker 1: It can be a single woman. Uh. The foster care
Speaker 1: system is really open to anyone who has the desire,
Speaker 1: the willingness, and the heart to be a foster parent.
Speaker 1: The process itself is you go to whatever the local
Speaker 1: agency is in your locality and you take classes for
Speaker 1: roughly six state weeks and the classes are really to
Speaker 1: help you to help prepare you for this journey which
Speaker 1: is new and different for many people. And then you
Speaker 1: have a home study basically a way for those workers
Speaker 1: to come out to your home and assess that it's
Speaker 1: safe for a child to be there. Okay, So so now,
Speaker 1: at least in the state I'm in, because of COVID,
Speaker 1: they've they've moved the foster classes online. I don't know
Speaker 1: if that's a nationwide thing. I don't know if that's
Speaker 1: changing because the COVID situation is opening back up. But
Speaker 1: I have to say, Jennifer that I thought I was
Speaker 1: going to hate the classes, but I loved I loved
Speaker 1: them because I got to meet other people who were
Speaker 1: like minded, and I formed friendships back in the eighties
Speaker 1: the first time I got my foster license that I
Speaker 1: still have today because of those classes. That's pretty wonderful.
Speaker 1: And know, the classes are a great bonding experience, and
Speaker 1: they're also it's wonderful to look around that room. Have
Speaker 1: you taken the classes myself a million years ago, to
Speaker 1: look around that room and see just how many different
Speaker 1: people are about to embark on this journey with you,
Speaker 1: And it's equally important as you meant and to form
Speaker 1: those friendships, because being a foster parent is rewarding, but
Speaker 1: it can be channel lunching and it's really wonderful to
Speaker 1: have people you can bounce things off of, ask questions of.
Speaker 1: In addition to the social workers and other people who
Speaker 1: all come into your life but you know, to help
Speaker 1: support you on this journey because it's an amazing journey,
Speaker 1: but it's new for everybody, and it's really nice to
Speaker 1: have a bulwark of you know, advice and support that
Speaker 1: you can turn to. So the process is the classes,
Speaker 1: the home study, and then after that's complete, what can
Speaker 1: somebody expect? And one more piece of the process, just
Speaker 1: so people know all the pieces. Um, you are life
Speaker 1: scan and then what happens is you are in essence
Speaker 1: waiting for a match or to meet a child. And
Speaker 1: one of the things I want to say, because sometimes
Speaker 1: people think going in that they can't articulate what they're
Speaker 1: comfortable with. Because some people are completely comfortable having four
Speaker 1: kids in their home. Some people want younger kids, some
Speaker 1: people want older kids. Um, it's okay to say that
Speaker 1: to the agency and the social workers that you're working with,
Speaker 1: to say, you know what, here's my comfort level, here
Speaker 1: are my parameters, Here's what I feel I can take
Speaker 1: on it's okay to say that. I got to interrupt
Speaker 1: Jennifer and say not only is it okay, it's vitally
Speaker 1: important because if you know that you are not built
Speaker 1: to be changing diapers or heating up a bottle at
Speaker 1: two o'clock in the morning, you need to speak up
Speaker 1: and say, I'm excited to do this, but I really
Speaker 1: only want a school aged child, or I really do
Speaker 1: best with toddlers, or right, I really would like to
Speaker 1: work with teens. You you have to be able to
Speaker 1: articulate that, otherwise you're gonna set yourself up for failure. Yeah,
Speaker 1: exactly right. And you know there are so many teams
Speaker 1: out there who are looking for stability and permanency. So
Speaker 1: to your point, it's so great to think about and
Speaker 1: consider teams because you know they're about to embark on
Speaker 1: a really big life journey and having the support of
Speaker 1: a family can make all the difference in their future. Um.
Speaker 1: And then after you've gone through that process and you've
Speaker 1: articulated what your comfort level is, you are you're waiting.
Speaker 1: You're waiting for a match, You're waiting for the call
Speaker 1: from your social worker that says, you know, I have
Speaker 1: a young boy, or I have whatever it is that
Speaker 1: you've articulated and they are in need of a foster placement,
Speaker 1: and at that point in time, if it's a match
Speaker 1: that works for you, that child will be placed in
Speaker 1: your home. Uh. Sometimes there's not a lot of notice.
Speaker 1: Sometimes there's more notice, and your journey will begin. I
Speaker 1: think it's important to Lilas to also let people know
Speaker 1: that you know, being a foster parent, you just you
Speaker 1: also have to remember that the first goal when a
Speaker 1: child goes into foster care is to reunify them with
Speaker 1: their biological parents. And it happened about a foster parents
Speaker 1: end up adopting the children that are placed with them,
Speaker 1: So that gives you a sense reunification is not always possible.
Speaker 1: It is the initial goal because it's so important for
Speaker 1: that child to retain that family bond if it's at
Speaker 1: all possible. So I just think that's the thing that happens.
Speaker 1: That the thing that a lot of people talk about.
Speaker 1: And every situation is different, uh, and children are in
Speaker 1: different situations in terms of their families, so every foster
Speaker 1: place and will will be different. And what I encourage people,
Speaker 1: Jennifer is if you want to adopt a child, if
Speaker 1: you know you want to build your family through adoption,
Speaker 1: it's really important to tell your foster worker, I want
Speaker 1: to do foster to adopt, and that way they are
Speaker 1: actively searching for a child who is legally free, who
Speaker 1: the courts have decided they're not going to be returned
Speaker 1: to their bio family. They're legally free and you can
Speaker 1: pursue adoption. Like in in the state i'm in, you
Speaker 1: do foster care for six months and at the end
Speaker 1: of that six months, you can apply for adoption and
Speaker 1: that can happen in a matter of weeks once the
Speaker 1: six month period is up. A lot of people don't
Speaker 1: know that foster to adopt is an option that if
Speaker 1: you state that upfront and you are working with a
Speaker 1: good caseworker, you will be matched with children who are
Speaker 1: legally free to adopt. That's such an important point back
Speaker 1: to articulating, you know what your comfort level is in
Speaker 1: terms of the child and whether you are interested in
Speaker 1: adoption because the status of the children within the process
Speaker 1: is known. So if you do want to foster adopt,
Speaker 1: it's really important to stay that up front. Now, what
Speaker 1: if somebody is listening and they say, Delilah, I want
Speaker 1: to help, I want to care. I just can't commit
Speaker 1: to becoming a full time foster parent. What can they do?
Speaker 1: How can they help foster more or help point hope
Speaker 1: my my organization that works with foster kids, Jennifer. What
Speaker 1: would you say to the person who's kind of raising
Speaker 1: their hand but they know they cannot be a full
Speaker 1: time foster parent. Well, happily. There is a myriad of
Speaker 1: ways that people can help, and they run the gamut
Speaker 1: from helping to prepare special stuffle bags for children when
Speaker 1: they're placed into cluster care with essential needs. There's a
Speaker 1: number of organizations that's a wonderful work like that. You
Speaker 1: can help with an agency that is providing care packages
Speaker 1: for older use um. Remember that youth go into the
Speaker 1: system with almost nothing. So working with an organization that
Speaker 1: addresses offencil needs sometimes with older youth in particular, it's
Speaker 1: it's everything from closing to laundry detergent to you know,
Speaker 1: pencils and patents. Uh. There's a number of organizations that
Speaker 1: do that. If you want to be an advocate for
Speaker 1: these children, there's a wonderful organization called Court Appointed Special
Speaker 1: Advocates and you are trained to be the tells of
Speaker 1: a kid in court, So if you're interested in advocating,
Speaker 1: that's an excellent avenue to pursue. Can I just say
Speaker 1: that COSSA workers make all the difference. I believe they
Speaker 1: are also the unsung heroes. They make all the difference
Speaker 1: in the world because oftentimes they're the only person advocating
Speaker 1: for the best interests of the child exactly. And all
Speaker 1: the research has shown that a foster child who makes
Speaker 1: it into the world reasonably well, it's because somewhere in
Speaker 1: their life there was a supportive adult and that could
Speaker 1: be a teacher, or a CASA or a mentor, which
Speaker 1: gets me to the other role that people can play
Speaker 1: with youth and foster care is becoming a mentor. And
Speaker 1: there's different organizations and all the organizations across from a
Speaker 1: different in different states. But if you want to be
Speaker 1: a mentor, try and find an organization there, because again,
Speaker 1: the advice and caring and guidance of an adult can
Speaker 1: change the trajectory of a child in foster care of
Speaker 1: life and personally. I know you can't use names for
Speaker 1: privacy reasons, but tell me, Jennifer, one of your favorite
Speaker 1: um maybe from your own experience with your your children,
Speaker 1: maybe somebody that you've worked with her mentor tell me
Speaker 1: one of your favorite foster care stories. Oh gosh, I
Speaker 1: have so many. Um, happily, I have so many. I
Speaker 1: think in particular, Uh, there was a young man who
Speaker 1: I met. We have a store that provides brand new
Speaker 1: clothing for youth aging out of foster care. All donated,
Speaker 1: and I met this young man. He had aged out.
Speaker 1: He had actually gone to college and had to come
Speaker 1: back because he couldn't afford it. He was trying to
Speaker 1: get a feedback on the ground. He was interested in
Speaker 1: the culinary arts, and got him a job at a restaurant,
Speaker 1: helped him with housing because that was the challenge for him,
Speaker 1: and people came together and bought him a car, and
Speaker 1: he went on to pursue that culinary dream. And it's
Speaker 1: one of my favorites because he kind of exemplified why
Speaker 1: we all need to be a part of these used lives,
Speaker 1: because he was well on try to go to college. Um,
Speaker 1: let me throw in a stat that another place people
Speaker 1: can help. By the way, uh, w percent of youth
Speaker 1: in foster care aspired to higher education and only three
Speaker 1: percent are able to do that. Seventy percent of youth
Speaker 1: and foster care, desire, aspire to hire education, to go
Speaker 1: to college. And what percent of kids in foster care
Speaker 1: actually get there? Three to five percent. I would say
Speaker 1: a hundred percent of kids in foster care aspire to
Speaker 1: forever families. And what percent ever get adopted? We are
Speaker 1: looking around around now about fifty thou children are adopted
Speaker 1: from foster care every year. And UM, that's that number
Speaker 1: has been fairly steady over time. So the good news
Speaker 1: is over the last twenty or so years, that's thousands
Speaker 1: and thousands and thousands of youth. UM. The challenges, UM,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned earlier, you know we have four hundred
Speaker 1: thousands us in the foster care system now. So people
Speaker 1: can help by being costs of workers. They can help
Speaker 1: by being foster parents, they can help by mentoring. What else?
Speaker 1: What else can we do? What if I what if
Speaker 1: I own a restaurant, What if I own a small business,
Speaker 1: what if I own a big business? How could I
Speaker 1: get involved to help these kids? Uh? One of the
Speaker 1: wonderful ways in any business gonna be involved is providing
Speaker 1: an internships or employment because it's crucial for these youths.
Speaker 1: So how do I how do I get in touch
Speaker 1: with them? How do I If I own a business,
Speaker 1: say I own a restaurant and I want to give
Speaker 1: a teenager job, who do I contact? Well, it's more localized,
Speaker 1: so agencies within where you are, I mean in health
Speaker 1: and you know, there's a tremendous group called I Foster
Speaker 1: and they have a job program that was created to
Speaker 1: combat exactly this issue, and I would hope that it
Speaker 1: could be replicated many many places. I Foster has a
Speaker 1: jobs program and it was created to provide jobs and
Speaker 1: employment and provide the skills that fosters needs for those
Speaker 1: jobs in employment. And they have partnered with more than
Speaker 1: major corporate employers, so they offer interviews to the youth.
Speaker 1: Um they first they trained them at essential so I
Speaker 1: Foster training the youth. Then they connect them with interviews
Speaker 1: with these twenty five employers and they get jobs. And
Speaker 1: because of the training and because of such a good
Speaker 1: program the youth, there's there's three times the retention rates
Speaker 1: that's average for the industry. So it's a very promising
Speaker 1: practice and youth employment. And again, I think one that
Speaker 1: should be replicated across the country because it addresses me
Speaker 1: for train and the need for employment. And it's called
Speaker 1: I Foster yeah, And anybody who wants to figure out
Speaker 1: how to replicate that in all fifty states be my guest,
Speaker 1: because if it's doing that amazing for kids to get
Speaker 1: them jobs and and teach them how to keep jobs,
Speaker 1: because jobs change lives. When you are independent, when you
Speaker 1: can develop those life skills to hold a job, pay
Speaker 1: your bills, pay your rent, pay your car payment, payer
Speaker 1: cell phone, and you're not dependent, that changes the trajectory
Speaker 1: of your life forever exactly. And you know, back to youth,
Speaker 1: age out of foster care are particularly affected by this
Speaker 1: problem because four years after the age out of the system,
Speaker 1: again from age depending where they are, your percent them
Speaker 1: don't have any earnings. And you know, those who are
Speaker 1: earning money are making an average annual income in the neighborhoo,
Speaker 1: you know, ten to twelve tho dollars a year, not
Speaker 1: enough to live on. So this is a really, really
Speaker 1: important area. And we know that poverty is one of
Speaker 1: the biggest factors in addiction. So you're just repeating the cycle.
Speaker 1: If you're only making ten grand a year, you're twenty
Speaker 1: one years old, you're trying to start your life, you're
Speaker 1: going to be constantly behind the eight ball. Constantly feeling
Speaker 1: like a failure and you're probably gonna self medicate just
Speaker 1: like mom and dad did. Yeah, poverty is the single
Speaker 1: greatest determinant for a youth going into foster care. Uh So,
Speaker 1: anything we can do to your point now to end
Speaker 1: the cycle, um, you know, to to move the youth
Speaker 1: up the ladder into well paying jobs, into a life
Speaker 1: that when everything to thrived we should be doing and
Speaker 1: anything we can do to help their parents before it
Speaker 1: gets to that point as a society, as a community,
Speaker 1: anything that we can do to help break that cycle
Speaker 1: of poverty will help kids. You know, it's the ripple effect. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, the truth is, you and I have talked
Speaker 1: a lot about foster care. But you know the truth is,
Speaker 1: in the end, what we want to see is fewer
Speaker 1: and few were children going into foster care right entering
Speaker 1: the system. We want to see the work done to
Speaker 1: you know, focus on child and family well being and
Speaker 1: the well being of the family that the child is
Speaker 1: in so that the child can stay with that family.
Speaker 1: So foster moore is vital now and we need foster parents.
Speaker 1: But in the end, what we want to see is,
Speaker 1: you know, more families be able to find the kind
Speaker 1: of support that they need in their communities to address
Speaker 1: the stress and challenges, say faith, and therefore they're children face.
Speaker 1: So we need more of these partners and communities to
Speaker 1: join together that we can build communities of hope for
Speaker 1: children and families, because then we all thrive and prosper
Speaker 1: if the children are communities are thriving and prospering well,
Speaker 1: hopefully working together. Jennifer with with Foster More and the
Speaker 1: Children's Action Network and KASA workers and I think for me,
Speaker 1: the main thing is helping people to become aware so
Speaker 1: these kids aren't in the dark, they're not in the shadows,
Speaker 1: they're not throw away kids. That people are aware that
Speaker 1: foster kids need love. And if we all work together,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe those numbers will start going down instead
Speaker 1: of keep going up, you know. And I think an
Speaker 1: important part of that too, and it's another thing that's
Speaker 1: it's happily changing, is this reminder to to listen to
Speaker 1: the voices of the youth when you're looking at doing
Speaker 1: things within the system, because they're the ones that are
Speaker 1: impacted by it. They can tell you what works and
Speaker 1: what doesn't because they have lived experience. So this is
Speaker 1: an important piece and it's been growing over time. There's
Speaker 1: a great organization called Think of Us with a tremendous advocate.
Speaker 1: He's been doing a lot of work to say, hey,
Speaker 1: use voices there. There's lots and lots of organizations. Use
Speaker 1: voices are crucial. You know, you're you're shaping assistant that
Speaker 1: impacts us. Let us tell you, those of us who've
Speaker 1: lived through it, what works and what doesn't and what
Speaker 1: needs to change. People forget how much I think their
Speaker 1: own families have given to them in the expectation that
Speaker 1: you know, any of these youth can do it alone.
Speaker 1: Very very, very few people that I know, at eighteen
Speaker 1: or twenty one years old can be on their own.
Speaker 1: And even forget the finances. I mean, I was financially
Speaker 1: independent at eighteen. I left my parents home at eighteen.
Speaker 1: I never took a dime from them. I was financially independent.
Speaker 1: I called my mama at least twice a day, every
Speaker 1: day until the day God called her home. I called
Speaker 1: my mom for everything. If I didn't know how to
Speaker 1: make a Thanksgiving turkey, I called my mom. I had
Speaker 1: that unconditional love and support that no matter what I did,
Speaker 1: I knew that my mother loved me more than life. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and to not have that is unimaginable right to have
Speaker 1: instead of that a chasm, to not really know where
Speaker 1: to turn, to not have that guidance. And on top
Speaker 1: of that, you know, so many of these used for
Speaker 1: the burden of what did I do wrong? Um, because
Speaker 1: it's it's hard not to think that, you know, what
Speaker 1: did I do wrong? That my parents were unable to
Speaker 1: keep me uh, and that that's a heavy burden to
Speaker 1: carry as well. But on a on a lighter note,
Speaker 1: I talked to my daughter twice a day, um, you know,
Speaker 1: and I can't imagine not and and even you were
Speaker 1: asking earlier about a story about a h using foster care.
Speaker 1: And one of my favorites is to outstanding young woman
Speaker 1: whose mother sadly suffered from addiction in the collector complete uh,
Speaker 1: you know, and a drugs In all the above, she
Speaker 1: is an extraordinary young woman. She got a scholarship, she
Speaker 1: went to Barnard and it's funny how we all think
Speaker 1: she's such a beautiful young woman, copes with everything. And
Speaker 1: then I thought, how exciting to go to New York
Speaker 1: and have all these experiences. And then it was difficult
Speaker 1: for her from day one because she had never been
Speaker 1: to New York. There wasn't anyone to tell her what
Speaker 1: New York was like. She had never been in college before.
Speaker 1: Every experience that you thought would be wonderful enough listening
Speaker 1: was a challenge. She felt like she didn't fit in.
Speaker 1: You know. It's so college was extremely intelligent young woman,
Speaker 1: but a struggle because there was nobody there to walk
Speaker 1: her through the norms and you know, the norms and
Speaker 1: the pitfalls and everything else. Um. So she made it through,
Speaker 1: but it was extraordinarily difficult for her because there wasn't
Speaker 1: a steady force in her life, you know, no one
Speaker 1: she could turn to and say, I don't I don't
Speaker 1: understand this. I'm lost, I'm flailing. And now please tell
Speaker 1: me that she managed and is doing well. She did,
Speaker 1: she is. She moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut and now Jersey City. Um,
Speaker 1: she wants to pursue a career in education and that
Speaker 1: is what she was doing. So she's an l A girl,
Speaker 1: an l A girl in Bridgeport, Connecticut. I know that's
Speaker 1: quite a culture shock at culture change, but I love Bridgeport.
Speaker 1: So she will have fun. Now she's in Jersey City,
Speaker 1: which she's New York. So um. But I remember when
Speaker 1: she got into through Barnard and I took her shopping
Speaker 1: to get her ready for the East Coast, and we
Speaker 1: had a long discussion about why she didn't need those
Speaker 1: heavy coats and furry things. And I kept looking at
Speaker 1: her and going, when you're in New York on December,
Speaker 1: you are going to be glad. I bought you wool socks.
Speaker 1: You are going to be You are not going to
Speaker 1: argue with me. And she came home in December and
Speaker 1: we went shocking again and she's like, can we get
Speaker 1: some more of those warm things? Oh, Jennifer, thank you
Speaker 1: for spending time here with us today. I think between
Speaker 1: the two of us we could change the world. I
Speaker 1: think we need to figure out how to do that
Speaker 1: as a team. Well, Delila, honestly, what you do on
Speaker 1: the show, what you do with your charity, your passion,
Speaker 1: I mean, your voice is extraordinary. I've been I've been
Speaker 1: inspired by your passion. So thank you, and I hope
Speaker 1: we can figure out some other ways to work together.
Speaker 1: Because your passion and you're of the system, I think
Speaker 1: it's it's just what we need. So thank you. Well. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: my passion and my anger get in the way and
Speaker 1: I'm not as effective as I would like to be.
Speaker 1: And that's where you come in, because you sound like
Speaker 1: you have figured out how to use your passion in
Speaker 1: a very positive way to bring about the changes. Um
Speaker 1: where I just want to take a sledgehammer and you know,
Speaker 1: I get so mad. We'll be a team. We may
Speaker 1: compliment each other perfectly, and you know it's it's because
Speaker 1: our constant messages. And I'll just tell you that. The
Speaker 1: way I sometimes sum up Foster More is, you know
Speaker 1: a lot of times now someone meets youth and Foster
Speaker 1: Care and they sort of go, Uh. What we want
Speaker 1: to do is change the paradigm so that someone meets
Speaker 1: the youth on foster Care and they look at him
Speaker 1: and they go, oh my god, you must be extraordinary
Speaker 1: to have made it this far with the obstacles that
Speaker 1: are placed in front of you. You have got to
Speaker 1: be resilient, have so much more potential. How can I
Speaker 1: help you realize that potential and give you the future
Speaker 1: you deserve. That's what we want. Well to that end,
Speaker 1: let's work together. Jennifer, Thank you for being with us today.
Speaker 1: Where can folks find you? With Foster More? People who
Speaker 1: are interested in helping youth in foster care in any way,
Speaker 1: shape or form, be it helping them with their education,
Speaker 1: becoming an advocate, becoming a mentor. Uh. They can find
Speaker 1: all those resources at our website foster more dot org.
Speaker 1: So it's f O S E R M O R
Speaker 1: E dot org. I hope you will visit that the
Speaker 1: foster care system needs partners and advocates and helpers, like
Speaker 1: all the people who listen to this show. If you
Speaker 1: listen to this show and the wonderful Delilah, I know
Speaker 1: you're a person that cares. So I'm hoping we can
Speaker 1: harness some of that caring on behalf of youth and
Speaker 1: foster care. Thank you, Jennifer, God bless you. Go hug
Speaker 1: on your girls. I will hug on mind tonight for you. Okay,
Speaker 1: Thanks Forlilah. V Jennifer Perry, executive director of Children's Action
Speaker 1: Network and co founder of Foster More and most importantly,
Speaker 1: a foster parent who adopted her to foster daughters, Thank
Speaker 1: you for spending time here with us today. My head
Speaker 1: is spinning. My husband's gonna say no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: we can't do this again. We're down to just four
Speaker 1: kids at home, the first time I've had less than
Speaker 1: six kids at home in many, many years. But Jennifer,
Speaker 1: thank you for spending the time that you spent with
Speaker 1: us today. I want to encourage people to find out
Speaker 1: about how they can get involved with kids in foster care,
Speaker 1: how they can become a foster parent or a coast
Speaker 1: a worker or a mentor, or how their business can
Speaker 1: get involved and hire teenagers in foster care who are
Speaker 1: about to age out or are aging out. So go
Speaker 1: to foster more dot org, go to the Children's Action Network,
Speaker 1: or check out Point Hope because we do programs for
Speaker 1: foster kids in many communities, and together we can use
Speaker 1: our resources, we can use our passion and our energy
Speaker 1: to change the world for good. I will talk to
Speaker 1: you next time. I love someone. In the meantime, listen
Speaker 1: to my radio show every night wherever you are, and
Speaker 1: if you can't find it, download the I Heart Radio app.