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

300,000. That is the estimated number of children in our city who sleep on the floor. That’s nearly 13% of Houston’s overall population.

Having a soft place to lay your head at night is something many of us take for granted. But for the vulnerable children and families in our city, the gift of a bed can mean so much—providing dignity, worth, and security. Our guest for this conversation is passionate about imparting this dignity to the children of Houston by providing mattresses and other furniture to families in need.

Oli Mohammad is the Executive Director and founding force behind the Houston Furniture Bank, a nonprofit working to ensure that no child sleeps on the floor in our city. Originally from Bangladesh, Oli moved to the USA in 1987. He is a passionate community builder with decades of leadership experience, a heart for service, and an enduring belief that dignity begins at home.

The Houston Furniture Bank is a valuable partner of The Riverside Project through our Response Network. We’re proud and grateful to be one of the 92 organizations they are connected with throughout the Houston area.

In this episode, you’ll hear the innovation behind The Furniture Bank’s many initiatives, how poverty can go beyond material items, the power of treating our neighbors with dignity and respect, and much more.

Find the show notes and links to anything we discussed here: https://riversideproject.org/podcast/oli-mohammad-42

Neither foster care nor homelessness are isolated issues. They both intersect with numerous social issues—including each other.

For example, homelessness is a contributing factor to why many children end up in the child welfare system, and it’s also a risk factor that can impact youth who are already involved in or aging out of foster care.

Of the 173 youth and young adults currently on the Coalition for the Homeless’s list for Houston, approximately 25% of them have been involved in foster care in some capacity.

Today, we are grateful to have two guests joining us for a conversation on this crucial topic. We sat down for a discussion with Quana Smith, the Manager of Youth Programs at the Coalition for the Homeless (CFTH) in Houston and Harris County, and Danielle Stephen, a passionate young adult who is dedicated to making a difference in the lives of young people experiencing homelessness.

In this episode, you’ll hear some of the reasons why youth and young adults are facing homelessness, key ways to offer circumstance-changing support, the importance of a caring adult who will go the extra mile, and much more.

Find the show notes and links to anything we discussed here: https://riversideproject.org/podcast/smith-stephen-41/

It’s estimated that around 70% of all instances of kinship care are informal. This is significant because family members in these cases are caring for a child without official documentation. Caregivers providing informal kinship care do not receive assistance from the state, nor do they have official custody of the child. And in many cases, they cannot receive assistance from other organizations or local programs, as these resources often require official documentation of the placement.

This leaves many families uncertain of where to turn for help or how to access critical resources. Our guest for this conversation understands the importance of filling this critical gap in care.

Lisa Johnson is the Founder and Executive Director of Entrusted Houston, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting families and children impacted by the child welfare system. She began her fostering journey in 2009 and is a proud mom to seven children, four adopted through foster care.

While Entrusted Houston initially set out to support foster families, today they stand in the gap for families, children, and individuals who could otherwise not access critical resources. Among the many they serve in Houston are caseworkers, biological families, families navigating kinship care, single-parent families, refugees, trafficking victims, and veterans. They are truly embodying what it means to entrust God with their resources and offer them to anyone who seeks help.

In this episode, you’ll hear how this ministry evolved to include more than just foster and kinship care families, why these resources are critical to prevent a potential removal and help children return home, how to stay grounded in your mission, and much more.

Find the show notes and links to anything we discussed here: riversideproject.org/lisa-johnson-40

“Their healing begins with your hope.”

Our guest ended our time together on this phrase, but we wanted to start with it. This is at the heart of what individuals, churches, nonprofits, and agency workers do all across Houston, and hopefully, it’s why you are here, now, listening to this conversation.

Foster care is not an isolated issue. There are many factors at play, both upstream (before a family is impacted by the foster care system) and downstream (after a child or young adult has been impacted by the foster care system).

DeJuana Jernigan serves as the President and CEO of Arms Wide Adoption Services, an organization devoted to supporting families through the life-long process of permanency. With a 30-year professional journey rooted in advocacy, leadership, and service, she’s deeply committed to helping children in foster care find safe, nurturing families. DeJuana has been a long-time friend of The Riverside Project, and we are thrilled to have her here for this conversation.

In this episode, you’ll hear how foster care has shifted over the last 30 years, some of the underlying circumstances that cause children to enter foster care, the importance of post-permanency support, what you can do now to help improve outcomes for children and families involved in the child welfare system, and much more.

Find the show notes and links to anything we discussed here: riversideproject.org/dejuana-jernigan-39

Biological children who grow up in a family that fosters or adopts can experience some intense and complicated emotions. While many children are supportive—and even protective—of their non-biological siblings, it’s important to recognize that some may struggle with feeling overlooked or invisible in the process.

While their needs are just as important as their foster or adoptive siblings, biological children can sometimes feel as though they need to take up less of their parents’ attention, minimize the stress on the family, or behave perfectly to avoid rocking the boat.

Here to help us understand the kinds of thoughts and feelings that biological children are navigating and how we can best support them as we welcome foster and adoptive children into our homes is Daniela Coats. She is the founder of With Siblings, an organization that exists to support birth children in foster and adoptive families by equipping parents and professionals with training and resources. Daniela is also a therapist, adoptive parent, and biological child to parents who fostered and adopted.

In this episode, Daniela shares some tools and resources to help us support bio children, key commonalities found in many biological children’s experiences, the most important thing you can do today to support your biological children, and much more.

Find the show notes and links to anything we discussed here: riversideproject.org/daniela-coats-38