222. An Honest Conversation Around Church and Foster Care with Jason Johnson

This week, Jason Johnson from Christian Alliance for Orphans returns to the show. Jason is a writer and speaker who encourages families and equips church and organizational leaders on their foster care and adoption journeys. In this episode, Jason names and shares many of the struggles and challenges that foster and adoptive parents go through. He encourages us to find safe spaces and communities where we can process our emotions and have open and honest conversations.

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221. War Relief, Deported Children and the Ukrainian Church with Kim de Blecourt

This week we’ve got Kim de Blecourt from Nourished Hearts back on the show to talk with us about their ministry in Ukraine, the effects of the war on vulnerable children and the importance of coming alongside indigenous churches. Nourished Hearts is a ministry that encourages, inspires, and creates community around those who are involved with adoption, foster care, or orphan care internationally.

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220. Family Care Through Collective Impact with Kimberly Quinley

Kimberly Quinley, a pioneer of family-based care, has spent nearly 40 years serving in Thailand. She is the co-founder and Executive Director of Step Ahead, an organization committed to see all children in Thailand grow up in safe and nurturing families. Kimberly is a founding leader for Strong Families Alliance Thailand (SFAT), a Christian alliance with the same vision and goals as World Without Orphans. In episode 220, we cover everything from the core pillars of family strengthening, to collective impact, creating national roadmaps, and more.

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219. The “Uncharitable” Truth About Nonprofits with Lindsay Hadley

In episode 219, Lindsay Hadley is on to discuss the upcoming release of the documentary “Uncharitable”. After many years in the nonprofit sector, Lindsay has become one of the most sought-after consultants and producers. This conversation challenges us to envision an unconstrained nonprofit sector. What if the charities could attract the best leaders, talents, and ideas? What if smaller operations with less impact stopped and those resources went to the best organization solving the problem? We get into these questions and more in this episode of Think Orphan.

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218. Infant Adoption in a Post-Roe World with Elizabeth Kirk

In episode 218, we hear from lawyer and professor, Elizabeth Kirk. Elizabeth is the Director of the Center for Law and the Human Person, as well as a research associate at The Catholic University of America. Her work spans a variety of law in child welfare, parental rights, and adoption policy. In addition to her career, her lived experiences as an adoptee and an adoptive parent, give her a unique perspective and voice to speak into the conversation happening around adoption today. She talks with Brandon about the role that infant adoption could play following last year’s Dobbs decision at the Supreme Court, misconceptions around adoption, as well as insight on the decision making process for women that have an unplanned pregnancy.

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217. On The Ground in Lesotho – The Power of Family Reunification

In episode 217, we have a special on the ground episode to share how one organization’s journey and commitment to reunifying families has inspired others. Trust for Africa’s work in Lesotho has gone beyond their own organization and now supports other organizations to transition to family-based care. Naomi Schalm, Mafusi Semethe, Mbele Horoto, and Bokang Lipholo all join us in this conversation to celebrate the movement underway in Africa’s “Kingdom of the Sky.”

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216. Poverty and Family Separation in Child Welfare with Sarah Winograd

In episode 216, we hear from US care reform leader, Sarah Winograd from Together for Families. Sarah speaks passionately about the complexities in child welfare and foster care as a system, how poverty contributes to family separation, and the problematic ways we’ve seen and judged birth families. She asks the hard questions- if most children aren’t coming into foster care because of abuse, what resources and systems are we investing in to keep those families together? What are we doing to intervene and stabilize families in order to prevent separation and keep children in families? Can the church do better?

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215. Thriving Families with Jenn Hook

In episode 215, we have the privilege of sitting down with Jenn Hook to glean from her experiences in the foster care system and hear about her newly released book, Thriving Families. Jenn is the Founder and Executive Director of Replanted. She’s also the author of Replanted: Faith Based Support for Adoptive and Foster Families.

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214. Storytelling to Empower with Jeff Rogers

In episode 214, we’ve got filmmaker and justice advocate Jeff Rogers on the show. Jeff talks with us about his work over the years that has highlighted and advocated for children outside of parental care and communities that have been impacted by HIV/AIDS. Jeff shares with us about the new feature documentary Beyond the Island which tells the story of HIV/AIDS in Papua New Guinea and highlights the work of advocates and the triumph of overcomers. Through the conversation, we learn more about the role that filmmaking plays in enacting community change and advocating for vulnerable children.

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211. Helping Foster Youth Redefine Normal with Justin Black

In episode 211, we’re talking with foster care alum, entrepreneur and advocate Justin Black about the new book he co-wrote with his wife Alexis called Re-Defining Normal. Justin shares with us his experience spending some of his childhood and adolescence in care and the importance of supporting foster youth as the exit care. It’s a great conversation to think through family, community and what it means to help young people heal and establish their own family successes.

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