Seen Out Loud

Cherie Craft, the founding CEO and Executive Director of Smart from the Start, talks about her organization’s unique approach to engaging communities and addressing conditions to enhance child and family well-being. Cherie references a previous episode of Seen Out Loud with Matthew Jackson to explain how Smart from the Start builds trust with families. Cherie also offers advice for other organizational leaders on relationship build...

In this episode, Matthew Jackson explains how the community conditions he grew up in influenced the trajectory of his life into adulthood, and the difficulties he experienced with leaving “Jungle” in the past and charting a new path for the betterment of his family. Listen as Matthew shares his story as a single father, passionately invested in his daughter’s life, and how he’s helping other dads, with similar beginnings in Boston,...

Keri Hope Richmond, Child Welfare Policy Advocate, Speaker, joins conversation on engaging storytellers with lived experience with the child welfare system. Listen as Keri talks about her experiences sharing her story about navigating foster care—some empowering and some not—and the lessons she’s learned along the way. She also passes along advice to organizations on the do’s and don’t’s in engaging storytellers with lived expertis...

Pick up where part one left off with Sana L. Cotten on her journey to find answers about her family history. In this episode, Sana, who has never met her father, goes on a 10-year search to locate her paternal family and find belonging. She reflects on how her unfulfilled need for family connection after entering foster care has impacted her through adulthood. 

Show Notes

00:00:30  | S2 E3: In Search of Belonging...

Determined to discover where she came from, Sana L. Cotten recalls her ventures to uncover her past, face her family’s trauma, and reconnect with relatives who are part of her story. Hear from Sana how the process of learning about her birth family after adoption has helped her break generational cycles, shape her identity, and begin a journey to healing through empathy. 

Trigger Warning: Descriptions of rape and sex trafficking

Gina Wassemiller is a mother of three and a passionate parent ally. In the short film “Being Gina” she shares her evolution from being a parent struggling with substance use disorder, domestic abuse, and the removal of her children to being a leader at the F.I.R.S.T. Legal Clinic. This organization supports new mothers experiencing substance use challenges with legal advocacy and other services to prevent Child Protective Services ...

Dr. Bruce Perry and Matt pick up from their conversation in Season 1 to dive deeper into strategies for creating positive change for families. Hear Dr. Bruce Perry give his advice for organizations like the Institute for Family on what it takes to make an impact—from shifting mindsets through storytelling to creating sustainable connections in communities.

Show Notes 

00:02:00  | Picking up from S1 E3: PEOPLE CHANGE THROUG...

On this bonus episode celebrating social work month, Jaquia Wilson returns to the mic with her former social worker Raven Mitchell. Hear from Jaquia and Raven about the solid foundation they built during Jaquia’s time in foster care. Get insight on the importance of relationship-building between youth in care and social workers and how impactful Raven has been on Jaquia’s early years. 

Show Notes 

00:00:36  | On S1, E5: CRACK THE CON...

From the national to community level, hear how the movement to prioritize family well-being is gaining momentum. In this season finale, three guests give insight on conversations taking place across the country around supporting families and recognizing their value. Jerry Milner, former Associate Commissioner at the Children’s Bureau, shares his perspective on the progress of the child welfare transformation work on a national scal...

Brett and Jessica Crisp have been married for over a decade and have a 9-year-old adopted son. They served as licensed foster parents with Children’s Home Society of North Carolina from 2016 to 2020. Through their experiences as adoptive parents and former foster parents, they have become advocates for reunification, as well as parents and foster parents working together.

SHOW NOTES
00:01:25  | How do children in foste...

Hear what life was like for Jaquia Wilson, the youngest of nine children, who went from growing up with a loving mother in the Bronx to aging out of foster care without a support system. Jaquia demonstrates resilience through a series of tragedies, resulting in her entering foster care as a teenager. With a little help from a caring social worker, Jaquia’s fighting spirit leads her to college and, now, advocacy work for youth in ca...

Hear from Alise Morrissey about the impacts of individuals—a volunteer, a judge, an attorney, and a program leader—who offered glimmers of hope by seeing her for who she was instead of her circumstances. Alise tells her story of going from straight-A student to giving birth amidst a prison sentence. She reveals how her faith, the people who showed her kindness, and the determination of being there for her child led to recovery from...

Systems change when people change. And people change through stories. Dr. Bruce Perry candidly offers compelling insights on the power and science of storytelling. This episode demonstrates how some of the most important things we can do to improve family well-being and change systems starts with listening.

Show Notes: 
01:45  | Matt shares his origin story as a caseworker and shares what happened when he stepped bac...

Shrounda Selivanoff takes us on a journey from childhood to motherhood, including a head-on collision with the child welfare system. Hear from Shrounda on how being seen and acknowledged for who she was changed her life forever. Shrounda is a passionate mother, kinship caregiver, and parent ally who inspires and helps other parents who experience the system through her work as public policy director at Children’s Home Society of Wa...

Spoken word poet, Slam Anderson, and her mom, Lillie Lee-Williams, engage in an emotional conversation demonstrating the strength of family bonds despite a 14-year child welfare-initiated separation. This episode questions what would happen if the child welfare system was designed to support root causes of family stress instead of waiting for late-stage intervention. Plus, Slam recites her spoken word poem “My Need for Change,” det...