If we had a physical office rather than a virtual team, our water cooler chatter would revolve around one topic: kids in foster care.
They are our mission. But another reason you might be surprised to learn is that our team lives the mission at an exceptionally high level.
According to our 2024 Living the Mission survey — in which 76 percent of employees (38) responded — we parent 125 kids; 38 percent joined our families through adoption; 23 percent were adopted out of foster care; and as a team we’ve fostered 257 kids and counting!
So if you listened in at our virtual water cooler, tuned in to our podcast or joined one of our FosterCon webinars you’d be sure to hear some inspiring insights on fostering. Here’s just a sampling of some of this year’s most quotable quotes.
“Kaden Elliss, linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons, represented Georgia Kids Belong with his cleats for the NFL’s MY Cause My Cleats today! The Falcons didn’t get the win, but we did!”
Rebecca Radicchi, Georgia State Manager
“I think asking your kids what things were meaningful, if they did have positive memories, can be really awesome to learn. There’s something so empowering about saying, ‘Teach me, I want to learn about who you are and what is part of your history.'”
Foster Friendly Podcast, Bethany Hall, Chosen
It’s official! We adopted T today in a wonderfully full courtroom (including her brother, N, whom we adopted in 2020).
Colorado team member and foster mom
“I thought to myself, gosh, this is awful – it’s so hard to place seven children together. I thought, ‘no one’s going to have room for them’. And then immediately, like a bolt of lightning, my next thought was ‘You have room for them.’”
Foster Friendly Podcast, Pam Willis, foster/adoptive mom to a sibling set of 7
“I would just like a loving home,” Lizzy said tearfully in her I Belong Project video. In Oct. 2023 the Schmidt family adopted Lizzy after seeing her video. “Once I found out there were people who wanted to adopt me I was ecstatic,” she said. “They want me to actually be their daughter and they could be my forever family.” Her parents were equally delighted, “If anyone out there is interested in adoption, do consider the older kids. ” And to Lizzy they added, “We love you so much, and we’re so glad we adopted you.”
“If I were to chat with her, 16-year-old me, I would tell her that she is worthy. She’s worthy of all the love that she deserves, she deserves love.“
Foster Friendly Podcast – Britt Kelley, former foster youth and Colorado Kids Belong manager
“Foster care isn’t picking and choosing the kids you want when it comes to siblings. I want people to consider that splitting siblings up is extra trauma, and I think at times preventable trauma.”
Foster Friendly Podcast, Tina Bauer, former foster youth, former AKB social media manager
“It is normal to get attached to the things you love. You can also be happy that this child has been reunified with their family.”
FosterCon: Fostering Primer, Barry Farmer, foster/adoptive dad
“The bad news is that negative experiences are really impactful, but the good news is that positive experiences are really impactful.”
FosterCon, Ryan North, foster parent and trauma/parenting expert
