Fostering Conversations with Utah Foster Care13 Joulu 2022

Ep 30: Connecting with First Parents

It’s tempting to villainize first parents for the trauma caused by addiction, but we know that when foster parents and first parents can work together, the outcomes are better for the child.

In this month’s episode we hear from Utah Foster Mom Shari Peña. She doesn’t just take in the child, she takes in the whole family. This is a foster mom’s gift of connection. It began when a young mother’s children were placed in foster care because of her substance use disorder and homelessness.

That mother, Kylei, shares how difficult it was looking Shari in the eye, let alone looking at herself in the mirror. Kylei felt shame because her children were in foster care. With Shari’s love and her efforts to connect, Kylei found the drive to make it through a recovery program and remain in her children’s lives. Studies show strong evidence that connection can be healing. A child often comes into a foster home feeling out of place and lonely. The same is true for the parents of these children. The work foster parents do doesn’t have to end with the child in their care, they can have an integral part in the success of their parents as well.

Resources for Foster Parents

Working with Birth Families Video

Setting Yourself Up in Co-parenting

Working with Birth Parents

Helping Visits go Well

Want to learn more about becoming a Foster Parent?

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Ep 75: Care Communities Impact

In this episode of Fostering Conversations, host Amy Smith welcomes Tami Jenny, Jenny, and Lexi to discuss the growing impact of the Care Communities program. Together, they explore how groups of volu...

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Ep 74: Comfort and Care

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13 Elo 27min

Ep 73: Fostering in Small Towns

In this heartfelt episode of Fostering Conversations, host Amy Smith sits down with Ellie Barlow, a dedicated foster parent from a rural Utah community. Ellie shares her family’s remarkable journey fo...

7 Heinä 36min

Ep 72: Pride in Every Home

In this special Pride Month episode of Fostering Conversations, host Amy Smith speaks with Jessica and Giselle, a Utah foster care couple, about their journey into fostering and building a loving, inc...

9 Kesä 24min

Ep 71: First-Time Fostering

In this episode of Fostering Conversations, host Amy Smith welcomes back Laura from Foster Parenting to discuss her first book, First Time Fostering. Designed as a practical field guide, the book brin...

12 Touko 26min

Ep 70: Still Standing

In this powerful episode of Fostering Conversations, host Amy Smith sits down with former foster youth Carlos Rios Redd to talk about lived experience in foster care, sibling separation, adoption disr...

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Ep 69: Reunification

In Episode 69, Amy Smith sits down with longtime foster and adoptive mom Crystal Dukes for a heartfelt conversation about the real purpose of foster care: reunification. Crystal shares her family’s jo...

10 Maalis 25min

Ep 68: Mentorship Program

In this episode of Fostering Conversations, host Amy Smith sits down with Michelle Ostmark, the Statewide Mentoring Coordinator for Utah Foster Care, to discuss the Utah Foster Care Mentoring Program ...

10 Helmi 25min