Episode 157: Learning to Celebrate Reunification (w/ Amanda Irby)
The Forgotten Podcast
The Forgotten Initiative
4.9 • 532 Ratings
🗓️ 10 October 2022
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Foster care is full of confusing, and often conflicting, emotions. How do we handle those emotions? How do we prepare ourselves for hard transitions? And how do we champion reunification as often as we can? My guest today is no stranger to those feelings as both a foster parent and a case manager at an agency in Texas. In today’s conversation, Amanda Irby shares her experience fostering 10 children in a little over two years, how her perception of biological families has shifted, what a day in her life as an agency worker is like, how she’s been learning to say those hard goodbyes, and much more. I greatly appreciate her passion for this work, and for reunification specifically. Listen in!
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Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/s13e7/
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Sharing the stories of the foster care community, this is The Forgotten podcast. But it's, oh, well, this person hurt you. Why would you want to go see them? Why would you want to be with them? But that's not what it is. It's, that's my mom. That's my dad. It doesn't matter what their home life was like. that is their mom and dad. |
| 0:27.2 | Hey, it's Jamie Cabe. |
| 0:32.0 | Welcome back to the Forgotten podcast, where we are highlighting the stories of the people of foster care. |
| 0:33.6 | With every episode, our goal is to help you better understand the foster care community. |
| 0:39.1 | We want to bring you hope and encouragement in your journey and help you support the agency |
| 0:44.2 | workers, foster parents, vulnerable adults, and children in foster care right where you live. |
| 0:50.8 | If you want to learn more about TFI, catch up on past episodes, read engaging articles, |
| 0:56.6 | or partner with us on mission with a gift of any amount, head over to theforgotten |
| 1:02.2 | initiative.org. We are in this together. Thank you for listening and engaging with us. |
| 1:09.4 | We love having you as part of our family. |
| 1:12.9 | Okay, it is time. Let's do this. |
| 1:21.0 | Well, Amanda, I am so happy to have you on the show. Welcome to the podcast. And I want to let you know it is always good to hear |
| 1:31.8 | from those who have lived experiences because we want to really better understand the foster care |
| 1:38.7 | community and the only way to better understand is talk to people who've actually lived, right, |
| 1:46.5 | in it in some aspect or another. And so for you, not only do you bring the perspective of a person who works in |
| 1:53.3 | child welfare as a case manager, and that's really what we're going to highlight and focus on |
| 1:58.2 | today, but you also have been a foster parent for about a year and a half. |
| 2:02.9 | And in that time, already have had 10 children through your home, which is crazy. |
| 2:09.3 | It's a lot of kids. |
| 2:10.2 | Thank you for what you do. |
| 2:11.2 | That's a lot of kids. |
| 2:14.3 | And I know that you have said before that foster care has been something you've been passionate about for a very long time. |
... |
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