What kinds of foster care placements are you open to? This is a question that gets asked to all foster parents when they first open their home. Will you take sibling groups? Infants? Children with significant medical or physical needs? Or children with disabilities?

Each family and individual must decide for themselves what they are prepared to handle based on their capabilities and current circumstances.

Children involved in the child welfare system who have special needs or disabilities often struggle to find foster families. They are also more likely to experience negative outcomes in this system, such as having to navigate multiple transitions during their time in foster care.

My guest for this conversation is Kayla Williams, an early childhood special education teacher in Bryan, Texas. Kayla was a foster parent for two years before adopting her daughter in 2022. As a single parent raising a disabled child, Kayla brings a rare and invaluable perspective that we can learn a lot from.

In this episode, Kayla shares some of the challenges that come with parenting a child who has disabilities and is recovering from trauma, the realities of “blocked” care, ways we can advocate for families who are caring for children in foster care with special needs, and much more.

Find the show notes and links to anything we discussed here: https://riversideproject.org/podcast/kayla-williams-45

When people think of foster care, it’s typically assumed that it ends at age 18 when a child ages out of care. However, that is not the case in most states. Nearly every state offers federally funded programs to extend foster care beyond 18 years.

This is what is known as extended foster care, and it includes programs like continued care with foster parents and independent living situations. Our guest for this episode is deeply familiar with these programs as she oversees them for Texas.

Alina White is the State Office Extended Foster Care and Supervised Independent Living (SIL) Program Lead at the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS). Since joining the department in 2012, she has served in multiple roles supporting youth and young adults transitioning out of foster care. Alina is passionate about improving services and programs that help young people successfully navigate adulthood.

In this episode, Alina shares the importance of youth being informed about extended foster care options, ways we can support those in extended foster care even if we aren’t foster parents ourselves, common misconceptions about individuals who are involved in extended foster care, and much more.

Find the show notes and links to anything we discussed here: https://riversideproject.org/podcast/alina-white-44

“When it comes to kids and families in our community, we don’t have to settle for not enough.”

National estimates show that, in recent years, roughly 300,000–400,000 children have been involved in the child welfare system at any given time. Statistics like this, while helpful, can sometimes cause us to slip into a scarcity mentality. We may worry that we don’t have enough resources to address such a large need. Or, we might assume that if we’re not able to take up the role of a foster parent, we don’t have a meaningful role to play.

Our guest is on a mission to help us understand the truth: that there is more than enough support we can offer to children and families before, during, and after foster care.

Jason Weber serves as the national director of More Than Enough for CAFO. He is also a podcast host and author. Jason and his wife, Trisha, have been helping vulnerable families and children for over 29 years, with 10 years spent as foster parents.

In this episode, you’ll hear why it’s important to focus on the statistics in your own backyard, the importance of operating as the unified body of Christ to offer support from every angle, key elements for impactful collaboration, and much more.

Find the show notes and links to anything we discussed here: https://riversideproject.org/podcast/jason-weber-43