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 disruption, resilience, and hope.

Carlos entered foster care as a baby, lived in more than ten homes, and experienced three adoptions. Despite repeated trauma and instability, Carlos shares how relationships, faith, and supportive families helped shape the life he leads today. Now married and working as a K9 handler with the Utah Highway Patrol, Carlos reflects on how growing up in foster care influenced his compassion, maturity, and commitment to service. His story offers meaningful insight for foster parents, youth currently in care, and professionals who work within the child welfare system. In this episode, we discuss:

• What it is like to grow up in foster care and experience multiple adoptions
• The impact of sibling separation and staying connected
• Reconnecting with biological siblings after years apart
• Being a permanent child in a fostering household
• Resilience, healing, and allowing yourself to be loved
• Advice for youth currently in foster care
• Why maintaining relationships matters long after placements end

Carlos speaks honestly about trauma without bitterness and shares why he believes connection is one of the most powerful tools for healing. Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Learn more about foster care in Utah: Utah Foster Care

If you are a foster parent, considering fostering, or supporting youth in care, this episode offers perspective that is both grounding and hopeful.

Transcript;

I reformatted the transcript so the sentences flow correctly, broken lines are fixed, speakers start on new lines, and long sections are split into readable paragraphs for WordPress. I did not intentionally change wording—only line breaks and paragraph structure.

Speaker: Join us for one of the most important aspects of foster care, former foster youth. Today we talk with Carlos who has gone through multiple homes and multiple adoption, and now he’s thriving.

Amy: Welcome to Fostering Conversations. I’m your host, Amy Smith. Today we have a former foster youth, Carlos Rios-Redd. Thanks for being with us today, Carlos.

Carlos: thank you for the invitation. Glad to be here.

Amy: Yeah, we’re so excited to chat with you. I think this is one of the most important sides of foster care to discuss is the lived experience. So would you just introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your story?

Carlos: My name’s Carlos Rios-Redd shred. I grew up in foster care through the system about at a year old, and then lived through, 10 homes within 10 years and been adopted three different times.

And, I guess left the system through adoption at the age of 14, but really never left because we always had kids coming into our home as well. So I was able to see both sides of the spectrum on, on the foster care system.

Amy: Yeah. So you’ve been, had the lived experience and al...