The Forgotten Podcast The Forgotten Initiative
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- Kids & Family
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We want to see people everywhere supporting the foster care community and experiencing Jesus together. So, in this podcast, we are sharing the stories of the foster care community to bring awareness that leads to action!
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Episode 229: How a Foster Mom and Birth Mom Became Family (w/ Jillana Goble & Jennifer Bracken)
The lives of today’s guests are deeply intertwined.
Jennifer Bracken’s childhood was rocky. After a difficult home life and several tumultuous years spent in the foster care system, she became a mother to four children and her struggles with addiction led to her family experiencing the foster care system in various ways.
Jillana Goble is a speaker, author, and advocate who fostered and adopted Jennifer’s third child before fostering and reuniting Jennifer’s fourth child.
Over the past 15 years, Jillana and Jennifer have taken steps to build a positive relationship. Today, they live a mile away from one another and their lives are interconnected in a beautiful way. Their journey together wasn’t always smooth sailing—but due to their mutual effort, courage, and vulnerability, they have developed deep trust and connection.
In this episode, Jennifer and Jillana talk about how they’ve navigated the ups and downs of building their relationship, how foster parents can form connections with birth parents in a safe and healthy way, the importance of extending the olive branch early, and so much more. Don’t miss this one!
Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/jillana-jennifer-229/
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Episode 228 - Family Discipleship: A Guide to Guiding Your Kids (w/ Sarah Cowan Johnson)
We all pray for our children to form a strong relationship with Jesus that will last a lifetime. But the truth is, many young adults walk away from their faith once they move out.
So what steps can we take to help our kids walk with Him throughout all the stages of their lives?
Today’s guest, Sarah Cowan Johnson, shares that a big part of the answer when we look at statistics lies in our parenting. Sarah is a ministry trainer, consultant, and coach who works with ministry leaders across the United States and leads seminars on family discipleship—showing parents how to help their children walk in the way of Jesus. Sarah shares key strategies for faith-based parenting in her book Teach Your Children Well: A Step-by-Step Guide for Family Discipleship.
In this episode, Sarah explains the most common pitfalls that stop parents from working worship into their home lives (and how to overcome them), how to disciple children no matter how long they may live under your roof, why it’s essential to let your kids ask questions and develop their own relationships with God, and so much more.
Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/sarah-cowan-johnson-228/
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Episode 227: Picking Up the Pieces of a Misplaced Childhood (w/ Joan Ulsher)
TW: While Joan does not go into specific details, this episode does contain mentions of her experiences of abuse, and we wanted you to be aware of that before listening.
Our guests often share the traumatic memories their experiences in life have left them with. But today’s guest shares what it’s like for there to be pieces missing when she tries to recall her past.
Joan Ulsher is a writer, philanthropist, retired U.S. Army Major, and an award-winning child advocate. During her own childhood, Joan survived abuse and experienced the foster care system firsthand. Today, she says many of her formative years feel like “Swiss cheese” because of all the holes in her memory.
Joan tells her story in a memoir entitled Misplaced Childhood: A True Story of Resiliency and Child Advocacy.
In this conversation, you’ll hear how Joan has navigated her mind blocking out childhood memories, how her advocacy efforts have changed her inner narrative from that of a victim to that of a survivor, how finding Christ has given her life new purpose, and so much more.
Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/joan-ulsher-227/
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Episode 226: Supporting Workers in the Foster Care Community (w/ Brian Gazdziak)
Many agency workers who serve the foster care community choose this path out of a passion for helping others. But transitioning into this challenging career can often be a very overwhelming experience. Even when workers are doing their best, they can start to feel like they’re not doing enough and that they don’t have a support system to fall back on in their times of need.
Brian Gazdziak is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker as well as a foster and adoptive dad. He has spent years providing specialized mental health therapy to help people, such as those in the foster care community, cope with life challenges. As someone who has experienced foster care from the perspective of both an agency worker and a foster parent, Brian has unique insights and empathy surrounding the topic of these complex relationships.
In this episode, Brian shares what it’s like to work with children and families in a hands-on capacity, how churches can provide much-needed support to foster care workers, how to build a better relationship with case workers, and so much more.
Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/brian-gazdziak-226/
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Episode 225: Becoming an Emotional Safety Net For Your Child (w/ Michelle Nietert)
No matter the season of parenting you’re in, there’s one thing every parent needs to prioritize—mental health. Not just your child’s, but your own, too.
It’s easy to look at the behavioral or emotional struggles our children are exhibiting and start thinking of ways to “fix” them. What’s harder is looking inward and asking ourselves what steps we can take to nurture our mental health so we can show up for our kids in the best way.
Joining me today is Michelle Nietert, an author, a speaker, and the Clinical Director/Founder of Community Counseling Associates. She’s also a follower of Christ, a wife, and a mother to two school-aged children who puts her mental health knowledge to use every day as she seeks to nurture a happy and healthy household.
In this episode, Michelle teaches us how to support our children through life’s challenges, how to help children who’ve experienced trauma find hope, joy, and light in life, how to work prayer into your children’s lives as they grow up, and so much more.
Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/michelle-nietert-225/
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Episode 224: From Adoptee to Adoptive Mom (w/ Cami Haussler)
Cami Haussler’s childhood was marked by turbulence. By the time she was 10, both of her parents had passed away. Her formative years were filled with a long string of life changes, and it seemed like every time she got close to a caregiver, they would leave her.
Eventually, Cami was adopted by her grandparents, but despite the love they showed her, Cami often struggled to let them in, fearing that they too would pass away and leave her alone again.
Today, Cami’s experiences have come full circle—she’s now an adoptive parent who has fostered 12 children and taken on a core role at a private child placement agency.
In this episode, Cami openly shares how the emotional struggles of her childhood molded her into the woman she is today, how her mindset as a foster and adoptive parent had to expand into one of grace and selflessness, the biggest challenges from her experience as an adoptee, how to avoid developing a “savior complex” as a foster parent, and so much more.
Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/cami-haussler-224/
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Customer Reviews
A Must Listen For Anyone in Any Capacity Related to Foster Care
My husband and I are currently working on our licence and someone mentioned this podcast to me. I listened to one episode and was hooked! I’ve listened to about 40 so far with plans to continue listening. It’s so great to hear so many different perspectives and learn so much while we’re in this stage. A real blessing and eye-opener!
Love this
This podcast is amazing. Not only does it give me a foster parent some helpful tools that I haven’t thought of before. But it also helps my heart get through something really tough that we've been going through right now.
Awesome Podcast
Great for those curious about foster parenting, or who want to help support those who foster, are fostered, workers and biological parents. Encouragement for those who have been doing it for years or just starting.