This post is part of our podcast series on Go Upstream. In Episode 1, we set the stage with the heart behind the book and the vision for a world where every child belongs.
“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” —Frederick Douglass
Every time I reflect on those words, I think of the kids I’ve known in foster care. I’ve seen the pain of growing up without stability and love. Their wounds don’t just fade with time; they deepen. They follow children into adulthood, making healing so much harder.
That’s why I wrote Go Upstream: Diving Into Foster Care to Heal 10 Social Wounds. This book (and this podcast series) are not just about statistics or systems. They’re about kids who need someone to step in before it’s too late.
Listen to episode here or watch below:
The River and the Waterfall
Imagine standing on a riverbank just below a waterfall. Suddenly, you see a young man plunge over the falls. You dive in, fight the current, and pull him to shore. He survives, but before you catch your breath, another person falls. Then another. And another.
Exhausted, you finally look upstream. That’s when you see the source: young people aging out of foster care without a family to steady them. The waterfall is that dangerous transition to adulthood with no safety net. The river below is the homelessness, addiction, incarceration, and other wounds that so often follow.
As my friend Annika Marek-Barta, a former foster youth, put it:
“When youth age out of foster care, we age out of one crisis and into another.”
Two Common Critiques
Whenever foster care comes up, people often raise two objections.
- First, “Why not go further upstream?” Shouldn’t we prevent foster care in the first place? Absolutely. If families can be kept safely together, that’s always best. But the reality is that not every family can be helped in time. Sometimes foster care is the only safe option left. Prevention matters, but it’s not enough for the child who needs a safe bed tonight.
- Second, “Isn’t the system broken?” Yes, it has flaws. But before foster care, abused and neglected kids had no protection at all. We must keep improving the system, but we must also remember that it saves lives every single day.
Ten Wounds, One Cause
If you care about homelessness, addiction, suicide, trafficking, or incarceration, then you already care about foster care whether you realize it or not. Kids who leave foster care without a family are far more at risk of all these struggles.
That’s the heart of this book and this podcast: ten massive social wounds, all tied back to one upstream issue—kids aging out of foster care without a family.
A Dream, Not Just a Complaint
Dr. King didn’t say, “I have a complaint.” He said, “I have a dream.” My dream is that no child feels unloved or alone. That every child has a family—biological, kin, foster, or adoptive—before they age out.
In this series, we’ll explore what’s broken, but more importantly, we’ll dream together about what could be. Because kids can’t wait for perfect systems. They need us now.
