Courtney’s Farewell Episode: Celebrating Her Incredible Impact at America’s Kids Belong

• Courtney is stepping down from the podcast but will remain involved as a guest.
• She will continue her work in foster care and help her husband with their construction company.
• Courtney’s experience has provided her with a well-rounded perspective on parenting and foster care.
• She has made a significant impact on the podcast and the community.
• Travis and Brian reflect on their experiences working with Courtney.
• Courtney’s children are well-behaved and respectful, showcasing her parenting skills.
• The podcast has been a platform for Courtney to share her insights and experiences.
• Courtney’s transition is bittersweet, filled with both excitement and sadness.
• The team expresses gratitude for Courtney’s contributions and leadership.
• Courtney’s journey is a testament to her dedication to foster care and family. Emotional vulnerability is a key aspect of human connection.
• Foster parents need to be resource finders.
• It’s important to let go of expectations in foster care.
• Businesses can play a crucial role in supporting foster families.
• The foster care system must prioritize the needs of children.
• Adoption requires understanding the perspectives of adoptees.
• Being present in the messy middle is essential for foster parents.
• Community support can significantly impact foster care outcomes.
• Foster care is a way to influence future generations positively.
• Keep pressing on in the mission of supporting children.

TRANSCRIPT:

Brian (00:01.369)
Hello and welcome to the Foster Friendly Podcast. And I’ve got we’ve got a big announcement today, Travis and Courtney. Courtney, if you didn’t know, Courtney’s leaving. We’re firing her.

Courtney (00:10.46)
We do.

Travis (00:10.466)
Mmm.

Travis (00:16.078)
Aww.

Travis (00:21.71)
It’s a tell-all. Here we go.

Brian (00:23.215)
No, Courtney is stepping down from the podcast and from AKB. And I know our listeners who are regular listeners are like, Well, we put up with the other two guys so we can hear from Courtney. So and you you are gonna be on the next episode, which is our hundredth episode, and then we hope to have you on as a regular guest or at least an occasional one when we’re stumped by things.

Courtney (00:35.266)
It

Travis (00:36.355)
Alright.

Brian (00:52.977)
but we we want to take today to focus on Courtney and honor her and get her her wisdom speaking into this. And so Courtney, we are we are so gosh, we are grateful. And we’ll get into that more, just of who you are and what you’ve meant to us.

you know, I’d love we’d love to hear what your new chapter is and I I’m guessing you’re leaving cause of Travis, is that right?

Courtney (01:30.63)
Yeah, it’s like you’re a close contender, so yeah. Yeah. The two of you. The two of you have yeah. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. Yeah. It’s true. Yeah.

Travis (01:31.086)
Well, well, you’re a close contender.

Brian (01:38.511)
We finally pushed her over the edge. She could handle 80 foster kids, but couldn’t handle two

Travis (01:39.598)
We’ve done our part. We did our part.

Travis (01:48.992)
not too bald guys.

Brian (01:54.351)
Well, Courtney, t so tell us what what’s what’s your new chapter in life looking gonna look like?

Courtney (02:04.282)
Yeah, actually life won’t look much different for me. Still homeschooling my kids, still fostering, doing foster care training here locally. But my husband has, we have a home building company that we’ve had for 20 years. And for 20 years I’ve asked him, Do you need help? Do you need me to do this? And it’s always like, No, no, I don’t know how to get this stuff out of my brain. Have you help? And a couple of months ago he looked at me and said, I need your help. And that was the first time he asked for the help. And I was like, Okay, I need to really consider this. so I’m already on payroll with

our construction company working very minimal hours, but just helping him organize. Cause our office, you can’t see it. It looks really put together. yeah. No, no, that’s not me. Mine is this this office. I I can’t stand the way it looks most days. So I’m gonna do something about it.

Brian (02:37.688)
carrying shingles up on the roof and stuff like that. Uh-huh.

Travis (02:39.539)
Ha ha ha

Brian (02:44.096)
Right.

Travis (02:46.158)
Ha

Brian (02:49.308)
wow. So so you’re teaming up more with your husband in that that work. That’s great. I mean that I I love it when couples can come together and work on a a project together like that. Obviously you guys do that around some high level parenting, but to do it around home building, which I love too. I grew up in a home building family and

Travis (03:18.732)
cool.

Brian (03:18.9)
I just yeah, I love construction and

Courtney (03:21.884)
And for us it’s kind of interesting because we’re at a new stage of parenting with all these adult kids. And we kind of been asking, and a few of them have expressed interest in taking over the company someday for the first time ever. So that’s what what led to this was like, do you want to just stay where we are or are we taking it to the next level? So I’m helping take it to the next level. So hopefully one of our boys can take over here down the road. Yeah. Yeah.

Travis (03:32.012)
nice!

Brian (03:42.327)
that’s cool. All right.

Travis (03:42.35)
huh. That makes sense. I can see you taking it to the next level. I mean, it’s kind of what she did with the podcast, so I mean…

Courtney (03:47.536)
Yeah. I can be bassy.

Brian (03:48.4)
Ha ha ha.

That wasn’t too hard, but yeah. So we’re we’re happy for you and Bobby and and and hopefully yeah, and when we can steal you away on a special guest podcast, we can get a little updates on your guys’s life. So and you live

live in a beautiful part of Colorado. I mean, lots of Colorado is beautiful, but it’s especially beautiful over there. So great place to build homes. Yeah. Well, Travis, you’ve you’ve put a lot of special work into this episode. but so what I’d love to hear just from you personally, before you do any special things for Courtney. Just what she’s meant, you know, what

Courtney (04:28.132)
It is. So come visit. Yeah.

Travis (04:32.078)
Cool.

Travis (04:47.778)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Brian (04:49.836)
You know, what what you know well she’s meant to you and and any any funny stories or if anything comes to mind.

Travis (04:58.99)
I know. wish we had time to grab some more. She actually asked before we started recording, like, did you guys grab bloopers and stuff like that? And the funny thing is, man, Brian, it’d be you and me on the bloopers. I don’t even know how many bloopers there’d be with Courtney, except rolling our eyes when we say really stupid things. yeah, this is an important one for me. It is a farewell. I did notice that, know, Brian, you and I are both wearing dark or black.

you know, mourning, I guess she’s wearing white. I don’t know what that means. mean, freedom. I’m out of here. A new love. But. Well, it wouldn’t be a Travis tribute without a quote. So I do want to say this, but from the sixth, the sixth president of the United States, take a guess who that is. Either of you six president.

Courtney (05:30.02)
Yeah.

Brian (05:31.118)
She’s yeah, she’s celebrating a new new life. It’s like after being baptized and

Courtney (05:34.042)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Courtney (05:44.496)
here we go.

Brian (05:44.526)
Yes, yeah, we need a Travis quote.

Brian (05:55.079)
six pr no gosh.

Courtney (05:56.859)
Monroe. Closed? Okay.

Travis (05:58.23)
Okay. I think he went in four. You’re getting there. How about John Quincy Adams, who is a great quote that reminds me of your work at America’s Kids Belong in this podcast. He says, if your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, and become more, you’re a leader. And when I think of you and I think of the influence you have just living your life out loud, but then also teaching and encouraging others and being

Courtney (06:03.896)
Adams.

Brian (06:04.042)
okay.

Brian (06:16.291)
Hmm.

Travis (06:26.57)
shining example. think of that how much you are a leader in that way. I also think that me and Courtney are both from North Dakota. So we had that bond and there’s a great, I don’t know how new this was because I don’t go back there much, but there was a sign, the sign going into the state says be legendary and man, you’ve lived that up. yeah, he’s a legendary. So, but yeah, I just want to say,

Courtney (06:43.91)
Yeah.

Brian (06:45.502)
All right.

Courtney (06:46.34)
Yeah.

Brian (06:48.441)
Yeah.

Travis (06:51.692)
just yeah, in the time didn’t know you well really at all until really before the podcast and come to to, you know, know you as a friend. You and I tag teamed on a lot of the production behind this thing, but Courtney really took the lead on, you know, setting up the guests, episode ideas. So many of the best episodes were all you and just the content, all the, a lot of the questions you’d write. So you just really poured your heart and soul into this thing.

the webinars I think of when I think of you just hosting those and shining and just kind of being in your natural element there. It’s been a privilege and an honor to work alongside you and yeah, you’ll be missed.

Brian (07:36.656)
Yeah, when Courtney so co b before Courtney lives where she lives now, she lived in this town I live in. And Courtney ha I my first like recollection, memory of you is at our house. like so Courtney would come over like once a week and bring one of her fifty kids with her and it and they would

Courtney (07:53.724)
Mm-hmm.

Travis (08:02.089)
Hahaha.

Brian (08:05.455)
help out, volunteer. And we have a home office and and it was Julie’s doing. So how’d you guys even connect?

Courtney (08:14.266)
Honestly, I my husband and I moved to Colorado a little bit before that. We started getting involved in foster care. We didn’t know much about the Colorado system. So we started just doing some research as we got licensed and found about found out about AKB. And there was a form on the website at that point of like volunteer. As I filled out that form and I don’t remember who contacted me first. And I just started coming over. And then from there it led to a job. I wasn’t looking for a job. I would wasn’t applying for jobs. I was sticked, I was homeschooling seven kids at that point.

Brian (08:40.953)
Yeah.

Courtney (08:41.316)
And we had just started fostering at two our two who are now adopted in our home. So we had nine kids, homeschooling seven of them. And then I started coming over to your house once a week. So that’s how it all started.

Travis (08:42.119)
jeez.

Brian (08:50.393)
Yeah, so my my my wife and I it would be like you know, th they would come, she’d bring one of our kids, and they would help out and and then they’d leave and then my wife and I would talk about them, you know, like how awful they were. And so no, our our conversation was like, golly, the kids her kids are just so

Travis (09:07.136)
Ahahahahah

Brian (09:21.679)
He said, I I I was gonna say well behaved, but that’s I it it wasn’t that. They were just respectful and kind, like they were good with adults. I’m I I am always impressed by kids who are good with adults. And I just take that as a sign of real intentional parenting and that you’re not just raising children, you’re raising humans to be good adults. And so her kids were just so so good with

Travis (09:33.091)
Hmm. Mm-hmm.

Brian (09:51.58)
being mature. And and so Julie and I were just like golly and knowing all the kids that she had, it was like, how does she do it? Just a really a competent, high capacity kind of a parent. And so then when an opportunities came for like hiring at Courtney was the

obvious choice. We didn’t even care what the role was. It was like, let’s just get her on the bus. And so, it it was a real honor. And then when we found out that she you know, she she lived here a few years and then her family decided to move to the western part of the state. Yeah yeah that was a kind of a s a sad day for us because it was it was nice to have them as kind of neighbors. So we’re just

Travis (10:21.512)
Travis (10:39.918)
Hmm.

Brian (10:46.095)
And and I, you know, I trust that, you know, God was helping connect those dots for us. So she was just a huge blessing to us and Julian, I really admire you and your family, knowing that, you know, you’ve had challenges, no doubt, but you handle them so well.

Courtney (11:08.732)
Thanks. It’s been a pleasure, that’s for sure. And it’s not not leaving without a lot of tears and questioning if it’s best, but it is best, so step

Brian (11:17.593)
So Courtney, you do you have any highlights? I know this is such a unusual podcast for our listeners, but a lot of times our listeners do will just like to know the human behind this the information. any any stories, any any highlights you like to reflect on on the past few how long have you been with us now? I think maybe

Travis (11:31.544)
Mm-hmm.

Courtney (11:45.062)
Six year well, going on six years. Yeah.

Brian (11:47.063)
Okay, six years. So any highlights from the past six years?

Courtney (11:51.101)
You know, it’s been I I’ve read that question. I’m like, my, there’s so many different things I could say. But I think for me, the biggest highlight is my experience from where I first started at CKB and then moved into A K B. I’ve done a lot of different roles. So I’ve gotten this big picture vision, even to help me be a better foster parent, I’ll be a better mom. You know, I I work with I worked with caseworkers when I did the IBP shoots. I was doing interviews and working with the kiddos who needed adoptive host. So just been all these different things, a lot of variety that’s helped me.

Brian (12:17.271)
A lot of variety, yeah.

Travis (12:19.458)
Hehe.

Courtney (12:20.378)
No, speak into the podcast, speak into foster parents. yeah, it’s just been a very well rounded experience that has really pushed me in my journey personally and hopefully it’s made an impact for different people as well.

Brian (12:34.809)
Yeah, you’ve done real boots on the ground stuff and then s stuff of up at the thirty thousand foot level oversight and stuff like that. So yeah, you’ve you’ve been a Swiss Army knife for us. This is the scorkscrew roll.

Travis (12:50.123)
That’s a good way to say it. Well, you kind of…

Courtney (12:50.332)
Ha ha ha.

Courtney (12:56.284)
My nickname is Corky often, so there you go.

Travis (12:56.888)
Yeah.

Travis (13:02.52)
well, man, nice. Well, you kind of already alluded to this and what your answer that, you you kind of wondered, well, you kind of said, you know, I hope I made an impact on, you know, even others inside of AKB and you certainly did. So that is going to be, we have a few tributes we would love to share. So starting with Brian, you’ve got a couple that you’re going to read and I’m going to read one.

Brian (13:07.993)
Yes.

Brian (13:28.301)
Yeah. So Courtney, this is from Sarah Kerr, our social media marketing manager. she she wrote this. Courtney, I just wanted to say how grateful I am for you. You have poured so much into AKB through the podcast, webinars, and in many ways behind the scenes too. I’ve learned a lot from your wisdom, your honesty, and the way you lead with so much humility, never trying to be the hero, but always keeping the focus where it belongs.

on the kids, families, and this mission. I’m really going to miss working with you and I’m so thankful I had the opportunity to learn from you.

Courtney (14:08.337)
Brian (14:09.345)
And then Tra Tracy Rudd, who with you mentioned earlier, just a couple of minutes ago, CKB, that’s for our listeners, Colorado Kids Belong. So there’s AKB, the national umbrella, and then the state chapters. So Courtney worked with Colorado Kids Belong, the state as well as then the national. And Tracy, who’s the director for Colorado, said this. The first time I met Courtney, I knew I wanted to have her in my life. Courtney has

greatly impacted our work here in Colorado. Her awesome personality and incredible foster care experience has influenced many people. I personally have been grateful to have her as a friend that I can chat with about the twists and turns in our personal foster care and adoption journeys. That’s from Tracy.

Courtney (14:56.412)
Thanks, Tracy.

Travis (14:57.806)
And the finale is a finale of this segment is a former colleague of ours and really who was pivotal in really helping launch and getting this podcast off the ground. And that is our former marketing or executive director of marketing and communication, Nanette Kirsch. This is what she had to say. I always held great respect for Courtney.

Brian (14:58.307)
Mm.

For now.

Courtney (15:02.63)
Yeah.

Travis (15:24.046)
for how her family served in foster care. With so much experience, she naturally became a go-to resource for our team. What surprised and delighted me was to see her lean into the host seat of the Foster Friendly podcast with so much charisma, empathy, and intelligence. She met each guest where they were, probably the same way she does each child who enters her own home. She flourished in the role and her presence imbued the podcast with equal parts energy and authenticity. Thank you, Courtney. You’ll be missed.

Brian (15:45.711)
Mm.

Travis (15:57.408)
Okay, so what we are going to do is I’m going to, we’re going to pause. Okay. For a second. This’ll be where I edit the recording. So Courtney, let me see the time here. 16. I need you to grab your cell phone. What is going on? Okay. Open messenger. Okay. Cause I had to be very discreet about this and it just was sent.

Brian (16:16.054)
No.

Courtney (16:18.14)
Grab myself on okay.

Travis (16:25.526)
Tell me if you got the video that came through.

Courtney (16:31.174)
Then yeah.

Travis (16:32.779)
boy, that connection.

Brian (16:34.511)
That’s part of living out in the wild west.

Travis (16:40.088)
So you’ve got nothing. okay. Let me try another way real quick.

Travis (16:48.286)
it does say it’s still sending. Dang. I’m going to try Slack. Sometimes that can be quick.

Travis (17:03.406)
Okay, let’s see what happens here. So what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna send it through that and I’m gonna directly text you and see which of these comes through first and that’s what we’ll do. Probably none of them, I don’t know.

Courtney (17:11.174)
Yeah.

Brian (17:12.641)
Yeah.

Courtney (17:15.332)
Ha ha

Brian (17:15.707)
huh, huh.

Brian (17:19.875)
They do smoke signals out where Courtney lives. So they

Travis (17:21.983)
Naaahhh-ha.

Courtney (17:22.724)
Right.

I do have to tell my kids they cannot be on the internet whenever we’re recording ’cause like we have we don’t have the best bandwidth.

Brian (17:29.975)
Mm.

Travis (17:39.192)
Okay, let’s just give this a minute. You guys can, we can take a.

Water break. I just don’t want to be long. mean, I, yeah. How does it feel? How’s it going so far? No tears yet. So that’s a little surprised.

Courtney (17:46.608)
Well,

Brian (17:47.213)
There you go. Peace.

Courtney (17:56.282)
Yeah, I’m trying to just like

Brian (17:57.902)
No, Courtney, she’s she’s very small.

Courtney (17:59.997)
I I’m actually Yeah, I’m a crier. I’m a a s silent crier. Bobby cries, like cries. And I’m more

Travis (18:00.202)
She is, but we can break her.

Travis (18:12.11)
That sounds like my sister.

Brian (18:14.895)
Cry on the inside.

Travis (18:17.966)
I, but it’s weird how you get emotional sometimes where it’s like not expected. I’ve noticed that how often like the things that you’re like just, yeah. Or like you might be going into something like this and you’re like, Oh, didn’t even, but then you watch a movie scene and it was like wrecked. It’s just like.

Brian (18:24.578)
yeah, I I get caught by surprise. Mm-hmm.

Brian (18:33.092)
Mm-hmm.

Courtney (18:34.406)
If I see somebody else cry, I’m done. I every time. I can’t.

Courtney (18:41.798)
I got nothing, Travis.

Travis (18:43.51)
Okay, so here is going to be the fallback, okay? Here’s how I think I can make this work. I’m going to set this up so that it’ll be how we want it on the edit. And then I’m going to play this, so you’re going to at least be able to hear it, I think, okay?

And then afterwards you can just respond however you want to say. And then we’ll just move on to the rest of this thing. Okay. So here, here’s what happened. The backstory, reached out to some people and I was like, this is a little bit complicated. Like how could we have, cause this isn’t a live podcast. So I kind of wish in that sense it was where you could have a guest pop on and say hi or whatever. But cause video or whatever, that would be really cool. But the best I thought I could do for this is just like texts and messages.

Courtney (19:17.328)
Okay.

Travis (19:39.81)
But I clarify that with your husband, Bobby. So he sent me a video message that was, I know he put some thought into it and I watch it and I’m like, this can’t be, this has to be on here. So him and I’ve been like messaging about that. so what I’m going to do, is set this up. Tell me if you can hear it.

Courtney (20:07.248)
Okay, it looks like it just came through. Yep. On text and Slack at the same time. And not Messenger.

Travis (20:09.37)
really? Okay. Well, you pick. Okay. Well, you pick which one, pick which one you’d like. So what me and Brian are going to do is you just play it. So let me, let me do this. I’m going to, I’m going to set this up real quick. Then you just play it on your own. We’ll just lean back for a second. That’s about two minutes. What’s going to happen is

in editing, we’re going to edit out you the dead time of you watching it. And we’re going to replace his video just for the actual thing, but I need to set it up. okay. Sound good.

Courtney (20:42.404)
Okay. Sounds good.

Travis (20:45.654)
Okay, so here we go. just, around 20 minutes. Okay. I’ll figure out this timestamps out later. Okay. Okay. All right. And last but not least, probably the most important tribute I know that is the most, mean, everyone’s meaningful, but especially like your greatest fan, your husband, the person who’s been with you in the trenches and foster care. And I know has been a year biggest fan on the podcast.

Brian (20:53.44)
Ha ha.

Travis (21:14.808)
which I know you know that. Your husband, Bobby Williams, we wanted to share a tribute message that he has shared to have you and the audience actually listen to. So let’s go ahead and listen to that.

Courtney (21:29.756)
Hey friends, boy, I’m totally pumped you let me participate in this. there’s one thing I love to do a lot is brag on my bride, Courtney. A, because she deserves it, and B because it makes her really uncomfortable. So Courtney, I love you. but I am gonna take liberty at something that I think you have worked hard for and really truly deserve.

Brian (21:47.139)
Mm-hmm.

Courtney (21:58.679)
from my perspective, I’ve seen the hours that you’ve put in, the heart you’ve put in, the passion that you’ve put into this podcast. And I just want to assure anyone that’s listening that Courtney is not merely a weekday podcast gal. this girl lives and breathes pretty much everything she puts her heart to, and the plight of the orphan and the widow.

and her opportunity with AKB has been something that I’ve as a husband been able to sit back and just grin because I’ve seen what joy it’s been what what joy it’s given her, despite the hours and the time and the commitment. she not only speaks it on a weekly basis, but she lives it all the way up until even today. she’s writing letters, defending kids in our care.

at the social services level. I’ve seen her driving around town looking for parents because she loves them. Her heart for reunification, her heart for the children, just her heart for people in general has been something so special. And Courtney, from my perspective, you’re one in a million. and I from my from me to you, I thank you. I’ve heard people call you, approach you, write you letters.

and telling you the same thing and I just think it’s super important that you hear it from hopefully others today and this podcast, but especially from me. I love you. I’m honored to be a part of your journey and I can’t wait to see how excellent you do the next chapter of your lives.

Courtney (23:49.585)
Well, now you got me. It’s yeah, took Bobby. yeah, special to hear him say those things. And again, I think that’s just it really does express my love for AKB, my love for this work, my love behind the mission. And it really was, I mean, we’ve talked about this honestly for over a year of is it time to leave? Is it not time to leave? And every time we talk about it, it’s like no.

Brian (23:50.937)
Yeah, it’s right.

Travis (23:53.932)
It took Bobby.

Brian (23:58.243)
Mm.

Courtney (24:17.114)
I mean, just just today, right before we jumped on, my son was like, Are you sure you want to be dead, Mom? I’m like, No, I don’t want to be dead. I mean, I truly don’t. But you know, I know there are times to really pray and reflect. And I I do have confidence it’s time for me to step into some different things, but it’s so hard to leave an organization that is pouring into the mission of changing the experiences experiences and outcomes for these kids. And that is why I have people ask me, honestly, and I’m I’m not saying this it by any sense to brag, but they

Travis (24:22.83)
Yeah. Yeah.

Brian (24:35.459)
Yeah.

Courtney (24:46.884)
Always people are like, How do you do all the things you do? And it’s really just cause I have passion for it. It’s not because I’m some superhuman, but I just keep doing it because I love it so much. But I am getting a little tired. I’m getting a little older. So it is time to focus a little more at home and other things.

Travis (24:51.96)
Yeah.

Travis (24:55.916)
Hmm.

Yeah. Yeah.

Travis (25:02.644)
awesome. Well I love that you said that.

Brian (25:03.342)
Yeah.

Courtney (25:03.824)
Yeah. Yeah.

Brian (25:08.067)
Well Travis, thanks for putting the little special effort on onto this and giving Bobby a chance to share his heart and share that with the audience. so Courtney, before before we sign off, we do we want to spend a little bit more time getting your wisdom because we always ask other people, you know, for their wisdom. Well to hear from you. You know, you’ve fostered about you know over eighty kids.

And you know, if you were just, you know, thinking about the people who are considering fostering right now or in the midst of it, what advice do you have? Like I imagine you’ve got a hundred pieces of advice, but if you could find one to pull up and say, This I would love to share this advice with people, what what would you want to say?

Courtney (26:00.666)
Yeah, as I I mentioned, I teach foster care classes here locally. And I was just teaching them a couple of nights ago. And a lady said to me, You just kind of seem pretty calm and cool and like you can kind of handle anything. Like, how do you ever have things that rattle you or that you’re like, I don’t know if we can do this? I’m like, Yes, all the time. But I think with experience, hopefully anybody listening who’s a foster parent realizes like we don’t have to have again perfect homes. We don’t have to have it all put together.

We just have to find the answers, right? Be willing to say, hey, I’ve got this new situation. And no matter what tr how much training you go through, like you’re never gonna have the training you need for every single thing, every single kiddo, every single need. But just be willing to find it, find those answers. So that’s what I told her. I said, You you just have to learn how to be a resource finder. And being a resource finder, I think is one of the biggest keys to being a success successful foster parent is saying, I don’t know how to handle this, but I’m not gonna give up.

Travis (26:29.315)
Mm-hmm.

Travis (26:47.406)
Hmm.

Brian (26:47.435)
Mm-hmm.

Courtney (26:56.43)
And I’m gonna keep on trying until I figure out something to help this kid get even even an inch further where they need to go, whether it’s academically, socially, mentally, whatever it is, I’m gonna I’m gonna keep on pushing on. and that’d be my biggest advice is don’t give up, keep searching, find those answers because there there is something out there. There’s somebody who’s gone through something similar who can help you find your find your people, find your resources and and keep plugging in.

Travis (26:56.984)
Hmm.

Brian (27:03.374)
Mm-hmm.

Brian (27:16.621)
Mm-hmm.

Brian (27:21.017)
Yeah, so good. And then you’ve also of adopted, and any advice for adoptive families?

Travis (27:22.446)
great advice.

Courtney (27:32.027)
Yeah, and even going back to foster care, both of them, I feel like let go of your expectations. you know, we first started adopting, and I’m not gonna lie, our our mindset behind adoption has changed one hundred percent from where we were then. You know, at that point we were like, we’re just gonna go do something good and we want a big family, you know, type mindset. And it was not around we didn’t know what we didn’t know. We didn’t know about trauma and grief and you know, their their mindset. So listen to adoptees, listen to their voices, get to know people. If you’re considering adoption, I would

Brian (27:53.4)
Mm-hmm.

Courtney (28:00.871)
highly suggest you get to know people who have been adopted and hear from them before you even go think about going down that route. So it is not me centered or even your family centered. It really is centered around the needs of a kiddo and how you can come alongside them. not just how you can grow a family. like I said, we got we got it wrong at the beginning. and yeah, we can learn a lot through the experience of of people who have lived that side of it, not not only the adopt the adoptive parent side of it, but the adoptee side of it.

Travis (28:03.95)
So.

Travis (28:10.54)
Mm-hmm.

Brian (28:14.926)
Mm.

Travis (28:15.768)
Hmm.

Brian (28:18.157)
Mm-hmm.

Travis (28:18.35)
Yeah.

Brian (28:32.079)
Yeah, both of your answers had the keep learning. Keep keep keep growing, keep learning. Yeah.

Travis (28:36.066)
That is true. Yeah. Keep growing, keep learning. Yeah. Yeah. So good. Yeah. And, and, I love that. I really love also just what you just said about adoption, also being an adoptive parent myself. And, yeah, we’ve had these conversations together too. And on the podcast of just like, know, and even our adoptive kids, their perspective changes as they grow and they mature and come to some new realizations about even their own story. So yeah, I love your advice to reach out and get some of their perspectives as well.

Courtney (28:36.368)
Yep. Yep. Child.

Courtney (29:01.244)
Mm-hmm.

Travis (29:06.562)
But yeah, like Brian said, keep growing and learning is your big thing.

Courtney (29:10.042)
And just keep pushing into the kids. I mean, we’ve had we have kiddos who have pushed us out of their lives or who it for a time period are, you know, and and just recognizing, you know, sometimes the best thing we can do is pray. The best thing we could do is support them the best we can. And you know, that doesn’t mean it needs to be forever. That doesn’t mean we’ve failed. I think that’s the other thing about me is I’m you know, I I hold a little pride in that of this big, beautiful family. We love our kids, we want them to love us too, but one of one of them rejects us.

Brian (29:17.037)
Mm-hmm.

Travis (29:34.114)
Hehe.

Courtney (29:39.983)
I hold it as like, there’s a ding on me and it’s not. It’s, you know, it’s trauma. It’s hard stuff. And we don’t get to save our kids. We don’t get to, you know, decide what their emotions are going to be, but we can come alongside them, even though they might not be the emotions we want them to be having at the time. And so again, just really stepping back and not put hosting our expectations and emotions on the kids.

Brian (30:04.961)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Travis (30:06.508)
Well said. All right. Well, we’re in the final home stretch of the turn here around the track. So as we get this thing to the finish line, we, so in about every episode, we tend to ask, depending on the profile of the guests, one of these three questions, but you get all three of them. So, I’m going to start with, and cause you’ve got such diverse experience and even kind of in the recruitment field and talking to business and churches and stuff like that. So starting with this question.

Brian (30:23.542)
Yeah.

Courtney (30:23.725)
Ha ha ha.

Travis (30:36.615)
Why would you say businesses should come alongside foster families?

Courtney (30:42.766)
It can truly make the difference in a kid’s life of giving them some experiences that maybe they’ve not had before, of a business understanding, even a little bit of foster care so they can treat that kiddo with the respect or not ask the questions they shouldn’t be asking when they come into your business. but the foster families as well, to feel supported by the communities. I mean, we all know, we hear it all the time when foster families quit. One of the biggest reasons is they feel a lack of support or they don’t feel understood.

And so to feel like you have that community behind you, it does help you keep on going. It does help you feel supported and seen and valued. You know, we think about, we’ve talked about many times, the first responders, the other people who get discounts, but to recognize these these families are pouring in 24 hours a day, often late, late, late nights, early, early mornings. You know, the caseworkers love them, but they get to go home at night, right? All the different people in the story, they get to go home at night. And these foster families have these kiddos with them.

Brian (31:29.667)
Yeah.

Brian (31:35.907)
Messians? Mm-hmm.

Brian (31:40.653)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Courtney (31:40.925)
24 hours a day and to really have people recognize that and see how much a business can make a difference at a community when they’re pouring into a foster family who’s pouring into a kiddo and care, that we can change some of those generational things, that we can help them see what community really is, right? And if we all get that mindset and this kiddo feels that mindset, hopefully then all those things, whether they age out or reunify, whatever it looks like for their future, hopefully we don’t keep on with that cycle, right?

Travis (32:10.476)
Yeah.

Courtney (32:10.732)
and I do think I think there are businesses I’ve heard of whose workers, you know, they become a foster friendly business. Their workers start to see and understand they either get foster license or they start mentoring kids or pouring in or finding whatever it might be. I think a lot of times these businesses, people, you know, we go in and out of businesses every single day. I think a lot of them have no clue what goes into foster care. And if they just get their eyes opened a little bit and if we all have a little bit more compassion, it is gonna change.

Brian (32:32.227)
Mm-hmm.

Courtney (32:39.078)
Change the system and change the outcomes.

Brian (32:41.293)
Yeah. Okay, next question, question number two. If you could change one thing about the foster care system, what would it be?

Courtney (32:51.574)
I can’t answer that question. It’s not one thing. It’s like Yeah. Here’s, you know, we’re I don’t think we’re ever gonna go back from not having a foster care system. you know, I think we’re we’re gonna have a foster care system. We have a need for foster care. But I’ve seen just in our twenty years of fostering, I’ve seen trends come and go. I’ve seen this, you know, initiative and then this and it shifts all the time.

Brian (32:53.374)
Yeah.

Travis (32:54.062)
The whole system.

Brian (32:56.719)
The whole system.

Brian (33:17.124)
Mm-hmm.

Brian (33:20.878)
Mm-hmm.

Courtney (33:22.102)
And believe it or not, I’ve seen even some of those initiatives not be child centered and child focused. And that 100%, you know, I’m not saying we don’t think about the birth parents. I’m not saying we don’t think about caseworkers and foster whatever. But the number one priority needs to be the kiddos, the kids and teens who are experiencing foster care. And we take them out of the every single conversation we have and we remove that, then we’re doing harm to these kids.

Brian (33:28.611)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Brian (33:41.966)
Yes.

Courtney (33:51.865)
And we shift one way or the other and it to and fro and that doesn’t work. And then we come back. And yeah, every single conversation. you know, Bobby alluded to it in this in that video that he sent. we have a kiddo in our care right now who some people think he should return home, some people think he shouldn’t. And he has some very significant developmental delays. And there are some reasons with his living situation of why those things are happening.

Brian (33:52.877)
Yeah.

Courtney (34:21.85)
You know, and if if I’m not saying he should not reunify ever. I’m not saying mom and dad don’t love him. I just wrote this letter saying why I think he needs a level of care that foster care can give him right now because of these things that’s affecting him, not his parents, him. And that doesn’t mean, and some people say, well, that’s judging the parents, or you’re not having a love for the parents. Like, no, that is not what I’m saying at all. I’m not saying he shouldn’t return someday. I I love his parents and I want good for them. But I’m saying when you look at

Travis (34:39.447)
Hmm.

Courtney (34:51.52)
him as a child, what are his interests, his needs right now, his best interests and f needs right now. And that’s what we need to every meeting, every meeting needs to be s focused around that.

Travis (34:52.974)
Mm-hmm.

Brian (35:01.581)
Yeah. Yeah. So good.

Travis (35:05.272)
real good. And you have an enormous credibility in this space because not only your experience, but you are highly, in, other episodes and just the way you talk about reunification and foster care is primary goal being reunification and your honoring and your relationships with birth families for you to kind of come out and really be child centric first, but also you have enormous, guess honor and praise as well to you and compassion towards the bio families. That means even more. That’s

Brian (35:16.291)
Yes, yes.

Travis (35:33.912)
Really credible for you to say it that way. Final question on this one is, how would you finish this sentence? Speaking of kids first, what kids in foster care really need is.

Courtney (35:47.815)
Yeah, what kids in foster care really need is not a foster parent or someone who can promise forever. They need a foster parent that’s willing to be in the messy middle, what I call it, the in between of not knowing how the story’s gonna end, be willing to say yes day in and day out to the behaviors, to the court cases, to the missed expectations, going again, going back to those expectations we hold, the broken hearts, whatever the outcome might be for this kiddo to be s to say yes.

Brian (36:02.999)
Mm.

Courtney (36:17.67)
to them and their needs for as long as that meets in the messy middle, until they’re reunified, until they have permanency with that family or another family, but until they get to the next step, somebody to say yes along the way over and over and over and over again when it’s really hard at times.

Travis (36:37.634)
Wow. Yep. Amen. Couldn’t end on a stronger note than that. And what a right way to end this podcast and end kind of your, I guess, you’ll be on, actually, let me say that. this next episode after this is going to be the hundredth episode where we celebrate the hundredth episode. So Courtney will be back on sort of that final time. This was just an episode that we wanted to kind of really honor you and kind of lean into kind of your insights and just the time you’ve been here. So.

Brian (36:38.351)
Amen.

Travis (37:07.604)
In that episode, we will have some fun highlights and celebrate those episodes and introduce the new co-host. So stay tuned for that. I’m going to send over to Brian, any final words and then Courtney, you get the last word.

Brian (37:23.167)
Courtney, I I believe that you came and it wasn’t just a coincidence that w this was something that God helped orchestrate and we we needed you and you’ve been a huge blessing to

an organization to your coworkers and to parents and to kids. And I know that God is going to continue to work in and through you in your next chapter. And Travis and I are just grateful to be beneficiaries of getting to to have known you and worked with you for the past several years and we are blessing you as you go on to your next next assignment with your husband.

Travis (38:13.098)
sub.

Courtney (38:14.561)
Yeah, thank you. And I just want to thank AKB, Brian, and Julie for starting this organization. And you know, you didn’t want to do this. You this wasn’t your something you set up to do. Surprise how many years later you’re still here. But for you guys to say yes to this organization, the need, and all the people who work within AKB and the volunteers that volunteer at the IBP shoots and the foster families who are saying yes again day in and day out, the people who are listening who are like,

Brian (38:21.551)
Surprise, everyone.

Courtney (38:42.298)
I wanna do something. I mean, there is something for everyone. And like I said, this community model, these kiddos, if we could show them, you know, a healthy what healthy relationships with healthy communities look like, we really can impact the future. And so foster care is a way that you can impact so many facets within your community. So keep pressing on AKB, all and everybody that’s listening that is doing whatever you’re doing, keep pressing on.

Brian (38:48.974)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Brian (38:59.897)
Mm-hmm.

Travis (39:08.024)
Alright.

Thank you.