- Self-reflection is crucial before becoming a foster parent.
- Creating a safe and welcoming environment is essential for children.
- Adoption is a journey that involves ongoing support and understanding.
- Community support is vital for the success of foster families.
- Businesses can play a significant role in supporting foster care initiatives.
- Faith communities can provide essential resources and support for foster families.
- The Foster Friendly app connects families with local resources and support.
- Every small action can contribute to a larger impact in foster care.
- Understanding trauma is key to supporting children in foster care.
- Flexibility in approach is important for foster and adoptive families.
TRANSCRIPT:
Courtney (00:01.519)
Hello and welcome to another off shoot of the Foster Friendly Podcast as we talk about Go Upstream, our founder Brian Mavis’ newest book. Go Upstream, what’s the subtitle again, Brian? 10.
Brian Mavis (00:14.146)
I think it’s diving into foster care to heal 10 social wounds. Something like that. It’s close enough. Yeah,
Courtney (00:15.653)
I’m putting you on the spot.
Courtney (00:25.679)
There we go, something like that. Well, if not, you should check it out. Check out the book and then you’ll know, or go buy it then you’ll know what the sub-title is. But we’ve done three previous episodes going over those 10 social wounds that you talk about, bring to light and their relationship to foster care. And then today we’re talking about closing out this book. have a second part of the book, part two, that talks about kind of like, what can you do? So, yeah.
Brian Mavis (00:47.342)
Yeah, yes. Yeah, part two is solution oriented. And so it’s looking into issues like being a foster parent or being an adoptive parent or supporting those families or what to do if you’re a church or a business or even a whole community. So yeah, that’s what the whole part two of each chapter in the 10 social wounds ends with a bit of hope and pointing in a direction towards
what can you do next, but part two really goes into a deeper dive into that.
Courtney (01:22.273)
Okay, well, let’s dive into those things then. So one of the first things you bring up, chapters 10 and 11 talk about being a foster parent, being an adoptive parent. So let’s first talk about being a foster parent. Yeah, chat with us about that.
Brian Mavis (01:23.554)
Yeah. All right.
Brian Mavis (01:34.252)
Yeah. Well, when people think about being a foster parent, think one of the first things to do is take an honest assessment of yourself and reflect and sit with a specific question. And it is, why do I want to do this? Because there are reasons not to do it. For example, maybe you’re avoiding an issue in your life.
Maybe there’s marital tension. You’re like, I just have something else to focus on. Or you’re like wanting to fill a hole in your heart and you’re like a kid will help do that. Or you’re wanting to build your family and all those are understandable, but that’s not the reason to do it. bringing a child from trauma into your family under those kinds of motivations will not help.
you or that child. So sit honestly with why you want to do it. And, you know, a simple answer, it doesn’t have to be complex is I just want to help. I want to help a child. And then I think a second part of that is, is like, can your household flex to welcome a child who’s experienced loss? And so that is a conversation. If you’re married with your spouse, it’s a conversation with your kids. If you have kids,
Just taking a real look at your reality and saying, can our family handle this? So it’s important to be real and honest with yourself.
Courtney (03:11.045)
Hmm.
Courtney (03:14.831)
Yeah.
Yeah. And that will be part of a home study that people do. So the home study, when they come in to evaluate, they’ll ask you those questions and they are looking for, is there a valid reason of why they’re wanting to do this?
Brian Mavis (03:28.608)
Yes, yes. I mean, that helps. you’re not, you’re not going through all this and thinking, gosh, I never reflected on why I’m doing this. So, so a lot of people, when they think of a home study, they might have this misconception that it’s kind of a white glove treatment or going through just, you know, making sure everything’s in order in your household when it’s really about safety and kind of a ready readiness assessment.
And just seeing if you have a safe space, if you have a trauma aware mindset. And the other thing that people might be surprised about is just how much they ask and things they ask about. You’re like, wow, no one’s ever asked me that before. I would have slapped them if they had.
Courtney (04:11.973)
Yes.
Brian Mavis (04:21.624)
So they do ask and they ask about, and it can take while too. It might not just be like, it took 30 minutes, we’re done. No, it could take a series of meetings that last week’s.
Courtney (04:35.013)
Yeah. Yeah. In our state, think it’s a minimum of four times you have to come up to your house for multiple hours to kind of dig into stuff. So yeah.
Brian Mavis (04:43.958)
Yeah, yeah. And you can understand it. mean, imagine if there’s somebody who’s not safe, who’s doing this for bad reasons, they got to figure that out like, this person is not a safe person.
Courtney (04:51.498)
Mm. Yeah.
Yeah, for sure. So thinking of that and digging into past and digging into things, maybe some of us carry some baggage. What are some things adults worry about or things that might disqualify them?
Brian Mavis (05:06.222)
Hmm.
Brian Mavis (05:10.126)
Yeah, so there are background checks and those are absolutely necessary. And some adults are afraid of like, gosh, 20 years ago when I was in college, I got busted for a DUI or something like that. And those kinds of things don’t necessarily just qualify you. Those how long ago it was, what the circumstances were, what the…
essentially the crime was, is all considered and they’re seeing like, okay, that’s what, know, what’s your life now today in comparison to that? So, and honestly, I I’ve heard caseworkers say they’re a little bit concerned about somebody who’s had a squeaky clean life and like, have you not actually had any real life kind of experiences or hardships or?
losses yourself. so sometimes having, again, not true harmful crimes, but having a life that’s experienced, has been experienced some hardship can be an advantage because hopefully you’ve learned from those hardships on how to overcome yourself that can help a child.
Courtney (06:17.637)
having a life that you’ve experienced some hardship can be an advantage because hopefully you’ve learned from the hardship on how to overcome yourself that you couldn’t help a child. Yeah, definitely. What’s your honest guidance on second chances? What would you say about that?
Brian Mavis (06:40.238)
Uh, well, I, uh, all for it. I mean, that’s, uh, one just as a, my own personal theological belief, I stake my own soul on it. Uh, but I think people do deserve second chances. Yes, there are things that disqualify you and there aren’t, there isn’t a second chance, but lots of normal living. Uh,
Courtney (06:43.289)
Yes.
Courtney (06:50.309)
Thank you.
Courtney (07:00.015)
Definitely, yeah.
Brian Mavis (07:08.92)
think is they’re very open to second chances and that’s kind of what you’re giving a kid to a second chance.
Courtney (07:15.065)
Yeah, for sure. So, okay, somebody’s interested in foster care, they go through the home study process, and then they get licensed. Now they’re waiting for that first call or the call to come again. What are the top three things that you think they need to set up so that a child feels safe and seen on day one when they enter their home?
Brian Mavis (07:33.615)
Yeah, that’s important that moment on day one. you should be ready for it and it could come at any time. So first just create a calm, flexible bedroom. mean, try to have a bedroom that has some variation or fits whether the child is younger or older, male or female.
Just neutral bedding, nightlight, have books around stuffed animals. Just really focus on the bedroom feeling safe and not too specific towards an age or a gender. then stock, and let me say too, sometimes you’ll say, well, we just wanted girls. We said we just wanted girls. And they’ll call and say, we’ve got a boy. And you’ll be surprised. You’ll say, okay.
Courtney (08:18.341)
then, stop. Oh, I mean, let me say this. Sometimes you’ll say, well, we just got one of the girls. said we just gonna do it. And they’ll and say, we got a boy. And you’ll be surprised. You’ll say, OK. So that’s why it’s important to have new girls. But don’t say, hey, we just got girls. And so we’re gonna do teens. They just need to go. Second is stop.
Brian Mavis (08:32.846)
And so that’s why it’s important to have neutral. So don’t say, hey, we just said girls and so we’re going to do pink. It’s state and stay neutral. Second is stock up for that kind of first night, essentials, toiletry, snacks, you know. And again, maybe they’re not essential snacks, but it’s amazing how many of these kids find safety in knowing that there’s food readily available. And then third,
have your support system ready. Don’t wait to have a kid to start building your support system. Make sure there’s people in your life who say when you receive a child, we’re there for you on day one.
Courtney (09:10.821)
Yeah, for sure. Great ideas and tips for people that are considering foster care or have now taken the step to doing it. So also thinking about foster care and diving us, switching kind of into the adoptive parent mindset. There’s definitely the truth that reunification is going to be the first goal of foster care. We say that over and over so people understand that it’s going to be the first goal, but yet some cases do move to adoption. So
Brian Mavis (09:18.722)
Yeah.
Brian Mavis (09:32.312)
Mm-hmm.
Courtney (09:39.343)
How can families love well with that transition of now it’s moving to adoption?
Brian Mavis (09:44.623)
Yeah, I mean, it’s, it’s tough. We’re asking hard things from families. so, you know, the, you, many people probably have heard the phrase of forever family. That’s an adoptive family. Uh, but you start as a for now family. It’s like, it’s not forever. It could be just for now, for the moment. And so to be in a space where you’re open to both, mean, now you’re a flexible family. It’s like for now and maybe forever. And so it, you go in. Always.
Courtney (09:59.056)
Hmm.
Brian Mavis (10:14.862)
prioritizing what’s best for the child. And so you most of the time will make that assumption even that the best thing for the child is reunification, that hopefully their family can recover, become a safe place and the child can reunify. And if the courts determine that that’s not the case, then are you open to
being that child’s forever family. So it’s hard and not pretending that, hey, doing this is easy. It’s a challenge. And so that’s why it’s so important to think through the reality of things. Now, it doesn’t mean you have to be a forever family. You kind of go in knowing what you’re going to do. again, prepare to surprise yourself.
because you could be like, gosh, we really do care about this child deeply and we could adopt them.
Courtney (11:18.062)
Yeah, and I guess we should do a whole episode on Brian because I feel like in my recruiting efforts, my retention, like when I talk to families, just this week I’ve had multiple conversations of people who are interested in fostering or adopting. It’s like they’re, they either go in with the lens of we just want to foster or we just want to adopt. And again, I’m not saying those are bad, like we need those families, but I hardly ever find the people that are going into it, the mindset of I’m going to be that flexible family. So yeah, it is hard.
Brian Mavis (11:31.628)
Mm-hmm. Just want to adopt him. No. Yes.
Brian Mavis (11:42.798)
I know it’s it’s hard and it’s yeah
Courtney (11:47.031)
Yeah. Okay. So when adoption does become possible, there’s a lot of new realities and all things that come up. Tell us about that. What are those realities that come up when it comes to that?
Brian Mavis (11:56.365)
Yeah, mean, the real reality is adoption starts with a loss. so even when a child is in a safe and loving home, the reality is the kids are carrying grief, they’re carrying identity questions, all sorts of complex feelings about their birth families. And so as an adoptive family, you’ve got to…
hold a place where it’s okay to normalize grief and having some of these open conversations that are hard. And then staying, just keep learning about trauma-informed care. And so again, it’s part of the story is, and I think we just had a podcast with a lady who really emphasized that is recognize that the child.
Courtney (12:40.228)
Hmm.
Brian Mavis (12:54.038)
Even though they’ve been adopted into a family that deeply loves them, they still have a deep loss in their life.
Courtney (13:01.317)
Yeah, which leads me to just a little plug. this is airing the end of November, the end of October. November is National Adoption Month. And so all of our podcasts in the month of November will be on adoption. So if you’re listening to this and you’re like, hey, I could have thought about adoption or I have adopted, I’m struggling through some things, tune in to all of our Foster Friendly episodes in the month of November as we focus on adoption.
Brian Mavis (13:25.538)
Yeah.
Courtney (13:26.457)
Before we close this out, Brian, there’s, there are a lot of myths around foster care, around adoption, but what’s one adoption myth that you really wish we’d retire and stop using in our saying?
Brian Mavis (13:34.509)
Well, that adoption day fixes everything. People kind of see it as the finish line and it’s really a new starting line. And so, I mean, it’s good, it formalizes belonging, but the healing is still gonna take a lot of time. And so celebrate that legal step that happened, but also honor the reality of the child’s story, just like we said before.
just don’t treat adoption day as, you know, we’ve crossed the finish line. It’s, it’s a good thing, but it’s a start of a new thing.
Courtney (14:12.579)
Hmm.
Courtney (14:17.807)
Definitely so good. And unfortunately, I do feel like there’s a lot of resources and stuff that are out there for foster families and it kind of stops that adoption. So a lot of needs around it, but yeah. Okay, so also we have people listening who are like, you know, I love the concept of foster care. I love adoptive families. I love, you know, the message behind these things, but I just don’t feel like this is my calling in life. I want to help foster families. I want to help adoptive families. So how, let’s talk a little bit about people that want to help.
Brian Mavis (14:19.518)
Ahem.
Brian Mavis (14:25.484)
That’s true. Yeah.
Courtney (14:46.681)
foster and adoptive families because that’s needed. We can’t recruit more foster families and not recruit or have people helping them like you mentioned already. specific with that. So talked about that, like half of new foster parents quit within a year. What wraparound supports are helpful.
Brian Mavis (14:52.984)
Yeah, so you have a chapter dedicated to that, yep.
Brian Mavis (15:00.535)
Yep.
Brian Mavis (15:04.694)
Yeah, yeah. So it is true that fostering is so hard that half the families quit unless they’re surrounded by helping families. And so I would say if I had to pick just one thing, it would be that there is a consistent, organized, wraparound team. And so maybe that’s something that
the foster adoptive family has created for themselves. And again, we encourage people to find their people, but it’s also something that you as a non-foster adoptive parent can create for people. You can do that as a church member, you can do that in the community, just create a team. this team has different, people have different abilities and availability. doing, helping out with meals.
transportation or respite care, just encouraging letters and prayer, those kinds of things. Having that consistent organized team can help retention of those families in big ways. It moves the needle substantially.
Courtney (16:17.608)
Yeah, for sure. As a foster family, I’ve definitely felt that. We’ve been part of church bodies, communities where they do that well and where they don’t and definitely makes a difference when you have that team around you. So, okay, so what’s the quickest on-ramp for somebody who’s listening? What are some things that they can do, routes they can choose?
Brian Mavis (16:26.114)
Yeah, makes a difference,
Brian Mavis (16:37.432)
Yeah, so I listed a few things and like one is respite care and you know, respite care is kind of a fancy word for babysitting, but it’s more than that. If you’re actually doing a formal respite care, that means that you have the ability to watch a child for longer than a few hours. You can maybe do overnight, that kind of thing. But that normally in most cases, most states requires
formal training and certification. There’s also what’s called a CASA, Court Appointed Special Advisor, and they help be the child’s voice in the court. And in a similar way, there’s GAL, that’s a guardian ad litem. They actually have a formal law experience and they can help a child that way. if any of those…
Sound appealing. mean being a respite provider is huge. I know I have several friends who are casa People that’s they enjoy that experience the thing that doesn’t require Formality and true certification is back to just being a wraparound person. So You can you can transport kids you can bring a meal you can It’s not respite, but you can babysit and so
Think about being that helping person.
Courtney (18:05.719)
Yeah, awesome. Okay, so people again want to foster, they want to adopt, they want to help them, but even businesses can get involved and it’s one thing we don’t really think about often like, I own a business, I can help in this way. So what is a foster-friendly business? Why this initiative? How can they help?
Brian Mavis (18:23.554)
Yeah, so this was something that for years we were saying, gosh, when we look at our communities, in most communities, the most influential and largest space is the marketplace. It’s the business community. We have the faith community, super essential. They can go deep there. The government is already kind of doing their thing. The one group that’s really sitting out is the business community. And they typically think, hey, I can…
give a financial donation or we can close up shop for a day and go volunteer somewhere. And those are good things, but we were like, what could we do to help a business see their business as part of the solution? so a foster friendly business is basically simple way to think about it is treating foster families in a way that some businesses honor and treat military families. And so they provide a financial discount and
So like if it’s a restaurant, maybe it’s free meals for foster kids or it’s a discounted oil change or it’s a if there’s a gym membership or dance studio or something like that, it’s a discounted membership, those kinds of things, free haircuts. It’s recognizing that your business is valuable and can help. And it’s not.
Courtney (19:36.813)
discounted membership, those kinds of things, free haircuts. It’s recognizing that your business is valuable and can help. And it’s not just about the discount. It’s not a groupon. It’s saying we know what you’re doing is important, it’s challenging, and we want to honor you.
Brian Mavis (19:52.129)
just about the discount. It’s not about, it’s not a Groupon. It’s saying, we see you, we know what you’re doing is important. It’s challenging and we want to honor you and honor the child.
Courtney (20:05.735)
Definitely. Yeah. Yeah, I love it. So do you have an example of a business that aimed this at its core that is like, I’m going to wrap around foster families and do this well.
Brian Mavis (20:16.044)
Yeah. So, mean, gosh, there’s all sorts of examples of it. Again, we have people who do haircuts and they’ve really learned how to do it well for kids who’ve experienced trauma and they care. So we got, I got a great example about that. We’ve got another one that’s been around a while that I’ve, like sharing is a Nissan dealership in Cool Springs, Tennessee that they loan out vans to families.
so that they can, those families can keep siblings together. Because a lot of times families are like, we can say yes to this, but we don’t have a car that’s big enough to keep the siblings together. So Nissan takes care of that. So again, there’s all sorts of examples. And I would encourage businesses to think, what could we do?
Courtney (21:04.453)
Love it. Okay, also beyond the giving a discount, it’s more than that. This isn’t just a group on how can we wrap around these aged out youth? Again, that’s something you bring up in this book. talk about, you talk about thinking of these kids who are aging out of foster care. How can businesses support that?
Brian Mavis (21:23.758)
Yeah, so I mean, there’s some that I mean, it’s some of the ones I just mentioned, if they can do this too, but some businesses more like corporate businesses, white collar, where you’re like, we’re not a retail business. So I don’t know how we can give a discount, but and it does not do white collar. It can be construction companies and things like that. know who have actually done this and design studios and accounting companies, those kinds of things where you can look at your HR policies and the things that you.
apply towards parents of having biological children, now can apply to foster kids and adoptive kids. so think about if there’s a family in your workplace that is fostering, think about how you can support them through your HR policies, time off. Then for kids who have aged out of foster care,
Give them a chance for their first job. Give them training and apprenticeship. Just kind of make that like that’s part of what we do as a business. We care about this and we always look for kids who have aged out to give them a chance. And one way I like to put it, it’s not original to me. I heard this once about a business that said we give kids a safe place to fail. And so they’re like, okay, this kid showed up an hour late.
Courtney (22:42.437)
and so they’re like okay, this kid showed up an hour late and they’ve done it 10 times, we’re gonna fire them and then we’re gonna hire them back the next day. It’s just to say, hey, you gotta know what’s expected. So, maybe that’s something that would make sense for your company.
Brian Mavis (22:51.454)
and they’ve done it 10 times, we’re going to fire them and then we’re going to hire them back the next day. It’s just to say, hey, you got to know what’s expected. so see if you maybe that’s something that would make sense for your company.
Courtney (23:06.777)
Yeah, yeah. And think about these kids that don’t have a lot of resources, people around them. You know, it’s easy for them to fall into the traps of society if we don’t have businesses and people coming alongside them. And I know we’ve talked about that in previous episodes as well, but yeah, good thoughts. Okay, so foster families, adoptive families, helpers, businesses, what about the faith community?
Brian Mavis (23:22.348)
Yeah. Yeah.
Brian Mavis (23:30.488)
Yeah, the faith community is the place where if the business community is something that I think of like it’s wide, the faith community can do something deep. And I’m a bit contrary and I don’t think every church should be involved in this. I think just a few churches should do it and do it well. And so to be a foster friendly church, we say three key things. Now we used to say, here’s 25 different things you could do. And it was like, well, at least 20 of those don’t help much.
And so we say three things to be a foster-friendly church. one is that the church, children’s workers, volunteers have some trauma training so that they’re at least trauma sensitive. They’re not experts, but they have some awareness. They can recognize some trauma behavior. And they probably have someone at their church who is further trained so they can say, we can point to this person.
for deeper help. The second thing is that you have an ongoing ministry, like a true organized wraparound ministry or another one that I’m a big fan of. It’s alternatively called Kids Night Out or Parents Night Out. I think that’s a really important one, something that churches are built to do. It’s kind of like, think of it like a four hour VBS or something like that. And it gives the people in the church a chance to actually meet the families, see the kids, meet the kids.
Courtney (24:47.173)
Mm-hmm.
Brian Mavis (24:57.09)
So that’s a huge one, just a consistent ministry. And then the third thing is to teach on it in a really responsible way. if you do those things, we consider you to be a foster-friendly church. And in fact, we just say, pick two, and that’ll get you started.
Courtney (25:14.501)
So if somebody’s listening and they’re like, hey, I have a business or I have a church and I want to do something, what would they do? Where could they go?
Brian Mavis (25:24.002)
Well, I think if you’re a church, if I had to pick one thing, I would start with being trauma trained. And again, that doesn’t mean that everyone in your church is trauma trained. It’s people who specifically work with kids, children and teens, and that they have some training. There’s a lot of training online now, and you can get a lot of it free.
but there might be somebody in your church who’s trauma trained and have them lead it. And so I’d say that would be the first thing. And then the second thing is start something that supports a family. If there’s someone in your church, someone in your community who is fostering, help them. so start an organized team. Or if you want to do something for your whole community, do a kids or parents night out. And then,
Courtney (25:59.664)
Mm-hmm.
Courtney (26:21.829)
Yeah. And we have resources for this on our website, right, Brian? I mean, if they’re interested, go to our website. It’s all laid out. So if you’re like, want to do this now, jump on our website, americaskidsbelong.org and you’ll find resources to get going. Okay. Then this, all these things together, I feel like, you know, when we have the foster families, have rep around support. We’ve got helpers, we have businesses, we have church communities, faith communities. When all that comes together, it’s like that is
Brian Mavis (26:22.722)
then add teaching to it.
Brian Mavis (26:27.95)
Yes. Yeah. mean, all it’s all there. Yeah.
Courtney (26:50.021)
what would feel like to me as a foster family, adopt a family, I’ve got a community, a foster friendly community around me. So what to you as a foster friendly community?
Brian Mavis (26:58.114)
Yeah, that’s again, this was a slowly developing, evolving realization for us as we were adding new sectors to the community. was like, gosh, what if we just had the community really recognize this together? And so we added the civic component, you know, have a mayor say, yep, we want to be a foster friendly community. They use their convening authority. We allow other nonprofits that are in this space to be a part of it.
and not just begrudgingly, happily, and then say, some simple metrics are 10 % of businesses are foster friendly, 5 % of churches are foster friendly. The goal is really to increase the hope of these families so that they stay in the game and can foster stronger and longer. And so all these things then create its own ecosystem where…
we’re hoping that because of that, then things get squeezed into a better mold. And so you might end up having things that we’ve never even leaned into as intentionally, but like, what if schools were more foster friendly or the medical community in your town is more foster friendly? just, it becomes something that it creates an environment where families and kids can thrive. And so
That’s what we’re striving for is that whole communities will be a place where these families can thrive and the kids have can have their best possible experience when they’re going through a tough time.
Courtney (28:38.563)
And so in response to all that, America’s Kids Belong has developed an app, the Foster Friendly app. How does that make it tangible for all these things we’re
Brian Mavis (28:42.094)
you
Brian Mavis (28:46.498)
Yeah, you know, we could do all these things, but still you could have families say, I mean, I didn’t even know, you know, this church was foster-friendly or these business were, or were these other resources, these nonprofits were. So with the Foster Friendly app, which is free to everyone, to the businesses, churches, to the families, you can have all these resources at your fingertips. And so as a family,
who’s receiving these supports, you just go online, you can see, gosh, this business is at this discount, this membership is discounted, so now my kids can participate in martial arts or this church is holding a special kids night out event, I can participate in that, I didn’t know about that. Gosh, this nonprofit does this, I didn’t even know they existed. And so the app becomes the connective tissue.
of all these resources, and then it’s easy for the families to find.
Courtney (29:53.956)
And it is really easy. It’s also awesome, you know, living in the state of Colorado, I’ve traveled around this, I can go to Denver and pop up in the app and be like, what offerings do we have in Denver? And then go to Grand Junction. know, so as I travel for sports, we’re travel as a family, it’s great that we can use it across the state and stuff too. Yeah.
Brian Mavis (30:07.374)
Yeah, yeah, I’ve been surprised too. Yeah, I’ve like I’ll walk into a restaurant or something like that and I’ll see a sticker on their front door that we’re foster friendly. It was like, hey, I didn’t know that. I should looked at the app, but.
Courtney (30:18.883)
Yeah. Yeah. And it is super quick and easy. Like if you’re a business and like, Hey, I can do that. It literally takes two minutes to get on the app. So if you’re listening, check out the app, download the app, check out the website. It’s on our website as well, but it’s super fast and easy to do.
Okay, so this book, again, I’ve read the book. I love your book. I, you know, as a foster parent, as somebody that’s part of this mission, I think it just lays out the why, like what this call to action, like we need to do something. We can’t just turn a blind eye to foster care because it affects all these social wounds. So people that are listening, you’re one of your most famous slogans of Brian Mavis is a good family is better than a great program. So people listening, I know that if people don’t take action within
Brian Mavis (30:48.12)
Mm-hmm.
Courtney (31:06.333)
a week, likely they’re not going to take action for a while until they hear it again and then hear it again. So for those listening, they’re like, I need to do something and feel called to do something. What should they do in these next seven days to take that next step towards their guess?
Brian Mavis (31:19.33)
Yeah, would say, yeah, find out what your next best yes is. Take the next small step. that kind of is like pick your lane. You’re like, and so your options are learn more about being a foster family. Now that might lead to adoption, but it starts with being a foster family or say, that’s not my path. So learn more about supporting families. mean, that’s where we started. I mean, we didn’t start with say, let’s be a foster family. We started with like, let’s.
Courtney (31:44.94)
Mm-hmm.
Brian Mavis (31:49.77)
We helped a nonprofit out and folded close. So just find out what your next small yes is and do that. And maybe you’re a part of a church. See about your church becoming foster friendly, doing a trauma training class or starting a ministry. Maybe you’re a business. You think of something that your business can do to support foster families or make a little change in your HR policy. Just take that next step.
find your lane and take your next small step. that will, it may be enough or it may lead to further steps.
Courtney (32:32.698)
And I’ll add one to that. The next step should be if you don’t already own the book, go to where is it all available? Do you know? Amazon. Amazon. So go to Amazon. Go upstream by Brian Mavis.
Brian Mavis (32:39.758)
Amazon and yeah.
Courtney (32:46.201)
I challenge you to read it and I know that it will challenge you to take your next step towards your next yes. So, yeah.
Brian Mavis (32:55.224)
Well, Court, thanks for interviewing me about this. It’s been fun.
Courtney (32:57.701)
Yeah, I’m excited to see how this book changes the waves in foster care and helps people see like, again, all these social was his 10 social was how they’re interconnected, how us any member of the community can make a difference, a small step, a big step, they’re all steps to helping and making a change. So thanks, Brian, for what you do and who you are. See ya.
Brian Mavis (33:09.742)
Yeah.
Brian Mavis (33:18.478)
Thanks Courtney.
Bye.
