Foster Parent Well

We talk with former foster youth and adoptee Mary Ann McMillan about why belonging is a deep need that shapes identity, relationships, and resilience. We dig into practical ways to protect our kids’ dignity, tell the truth about hard stories, and keep showing up in the ordinary moments that build safety over time. 

• Mary Ann’s foster care and adoption background and how early loss affects relationships ...

Trauma-informed care isn’t a better behavior chart. It’s a whole new way of seeing what’s happening underneath the behavior in the body, the brain, and the nervous system and it changes how we parent the moment we truly get it.

We sit down with Dana Hargus, a mental health counselor with 25 years of experience and the founder of Biofeedback and Counseling and Restore of Ada. Dana explains why so many foster...

“Would you please hold her until she dies?” That question stopped us in our tracks, and it’s where Judy Wright’s story begins. Judy and her husband foster for 12 years, welcome 55 babies, and think they’ve seen it all, until a two-month-old leaves the NICU weighing four pounds with intense medical needs and an uncertain future. What follows is a raw look at medically fragile foster care, where love and...

We talk with foster parent and pediatric physical therapist Dr. Trevor Carlson about why early childhood development still affects our kids long after infancy. We walk through practical milestone windows, red flags, and simple ways we can help our kids build skills with hope and clarity. 
• Why missed early milestones can show up later in regulation and connection 
• When to talk with the pediatrician and ask about ...

We talk through what it really takes to advocate for foster and adoptive kids at school without turning every meeting into a battle. We share a trauma-informed lens for reading behavior, partnering with teachers, and building plans that support nervous systems instead of rewarding or punishing survival responses. 
• why back-to-school transitions hit trauma-impacted kids harder 
• Jennifer’s adoption story and...

The fastest way to turn a peaceful day into chaos is a simple transition: shoes on, screens off, cleanup time, bedtime. For foster parents and adoptive families, those small pivots can hit like a tidal wave, and it’s easy to wonder why a child who seems “fine” suddenly spirals. We’re opening season four with a practical, hope-filled conversation on transitions and why trauma makes change feel so hard. <...

Foster care is one of those topics people say they care about until the details feel too heavy. That’s exactly why I wanted this conversation with Dr. John DeGarmo and Jen Lilley to be unfiltered, practical, and full of hope, because foster parenting is hard, kids in care are real, and vague inspiration is not enough when a placement call comes at 10:30 at night. John brings decades of foster care advocacy and training, and J...

The hardest seasons are the ones we want to hide, and they are often the ones other foster parents most need to hear about. We are coming to you from the messy middle, where trauma meets puberty, where kitchens are loud, and where you can love the people under your roof with your whole life and still feel like you have nothing left to give. If you have ever thought, “I cannot encourage anyone right now because I am barely sur...

Five parenting “truths” get repeated so often they start to sound like gospel: let them be bored, they should sit through church, eat what I make, obey right away, and don’t worry because kids are resilient. But when you are fostering, adopting, or parenting children impacted by trauma, those messages can pile on pressure and leave you wondering why your home feels harder than everyone else’s. I share why th...

Quiet, unseen moments often carry the greatest weight in foster care: packing lunches, sitting in courtrooms, driving to visits, and praying in the dark when no one’s clapping. We open with a moving reunification story—a true sending where a mom and baby are wrapped in prayer, gifts, and a promise of ongoing community—and use it to reframe what impact actually looks like over the long haul.

Pastor James Gri...

What if the hardest conversation in your home could become one of the most healing? We sat down with licensed clinical social worker and adoptive mom Susan Paa to talk about how to speak with kids about their biological families in a way that is honest, compassionate, and hopeful. No scripts that erase pain. No platitudes that glamorize harm. Just grounded wisdom you can use tonight.

We unpack the core lens that changes ever...

A tender, necessary conversation about where infertility, foster care, and faith collide—and how to walk that road with honesty and hope. We welcome writer and foster/adoptive mom Cristiana Amato (The Feathered Nest Blog) to share what seven years and 39 placements have taught her about grief, reunification, adoption, and the kind of love that stays when outcomes aren’t ours to control.

We start by naming the ach...

Imagine standing shoulder to shoulder with women who carry the same holy weight you do—joy, heartbreak, and the unseen moments that never make a post. That’s the backdrop for a candid conversation on why self-care isn’t a luxury for foster and adoptive parents; it’s spiritual warfare that keeps us present, steady, and able to love when the storm rises.

We unpack how cultural “self-care” go...

Teen boys who’ve bounced through dozens of placements don’t need another bed; they need a family that endures. We sit down with Stacey Cooper, executive director of Goshen Valley Boys Ranch, to unpack a hybrid model that feels like home and delivers the services that help healing stick. Instead of rotating shift workers, married house parents live with the boys, building daily rhythms around school, chores, sports, and ...

What if the outbursts, shutdowns, or “mixed signals” you see aren’t defiance at all, but a nervous system trying to survive? We pull back the curtain on how trauma reshapes a child’s brain and body, why trust feels dangerous, and what it actually takes to build safety that can be felt, not just promised. Drawing from lived experience as a foster and adoptive mom and the lens of TBRI-informed practice, I brea...

What happens when a church stops outsourcing “foster care ministry” and starts treating it as discipleship at the core of its life together? We sit down with Callie Priest, Director of Strategic Partnerships at WinShape Homes, to map a clear path from pews to practice- one that helps leaders move past hype and into habits that actually sustain families and heal kids.

We talk candidly about the real challenges pas...

When foster care gets messy and the case plan keeps shifting, what holds you steady? We sit down with author, ministry leader, and foster mom Jamie Finn to dig into the gritty, hope-filled heart of caregiving: how to carry sorrow and joy together, how to parent from grace when strategies fail, and how to keep the gospel at the center for kids, bio families, and ourselves.

Jamie shares her family’s entry into foster car...

The hardest part of foster and adoptive parenting isn’t always the paperwork or the appointments- it’s trying to care for everyone while running on fumes. We open up about a season of nonstop schedules, takeout dinners, and too much caffeine, and then step back to ask a bigger question: what if wellness isn’t found in doing more, but in returning to God’s rhythms of life? From Scripture’s picture of da...

What if the most loving thing we can do for our kids isn’t to fix their pain, but to guide them through it? We sit down with Isaac Etter—transracial adoptee, educator, and founder of Identity and Parenting Different—to unpack what adoptees actually need: honest stories, practical preparation, and communities that make belonging real.

Isaac shares how identity often splits in two for adoptees: Who am I in a ...