Episode 176: An Unexpected Journey: God’s Presence Through the Pain (w/ Bethany Riley)
The Forgotten Podcast
The Forgotten Initiative
4.9 • 532 Ratings
🗓️ 27 March 2023
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Bethany and her husband, Benji, originally planned to foster school-age kids or older and did not plan to accept any babies. But when they got the call for Journey, they couldn’t say no. Little did they know she would be diagnosed with a brain tumor with an unknown prognosis and months of appointments and treatments that followed.
Today on the podcast, I’m thrilled to be able to have one of our TFI Advocates, Bethany Riley, with me. Bethany first had a heart for international adoption but as newlyweds, her husband Benji and herself were led to foster care in the United States. She has been a foster parent to teens and little ones for the past 15 years.
Her story isn’t just one of diverse experiences of foster parenting, but also of adoption and loss and grief. Their daughter, Journey, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. As they walked through the challenges of her complicated medical treatment as foster parents, they made the decision to adopt her regardless of the outcome of her treatment. They finalized her adoption just eight days before she passed away.
The journey isn’t always easy, but it is worth it. I think that’s the message you’ll walk away with after today’s conversation.
Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/bethany-riley-176/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Sharing the stories of the foster care community. |
| 0:03.6 | This is The Forgotten podcast. |
| 0:06.3 | It was a beautiful moment, and because I had always wanted to adopt, that just filled my heart so much, |
| 0:13.9 | even knowing that she probably wouldn't make it even a month, but just to be able to call her |
| 0:19.5 | or her daughter officially, it was super special. |
| 0:25.1 | Hey, it's Jamie Cabe. Welcome back to the Forgotten podcast, where we are highlighting the |
| 0:30.1 | stories of the people of foster care. With every episode, our goal is to help you better understand |
| 0:36.3 | the foster care community. We want to bring |
| 0:38.6 | you hope and encouragement in your journey and help you support the agency workers, foster parents, |
| 0:44.8 | vulnerable adults, and children in foster care right where you live. If you want to learn more |
| 0:50.6 | about TFI, catch up on past episodes, read engaging articles, or partner with us |
| 0:56.2 | on mission with a gift of any amount, head over to the forgotten initiative.org. We are in this |
| 1:04.4 | together. Thank you for listening and engaging with us. We love having you as part of our family. |
| 1:14.9 | Okay, it is time. Let's do this. |
| 1:29.4 | Bethany, I am so, so happy to have you on the podcast today. You are actually one of our TFI advocates. You're part of our winter 2020 cohort and live in Nebraska. I want to give our listeners a little bit of context before |
| 1:37.9 | we begin, but you and your husband Benji have been foster parents for five years. And you have |
| 1:43.9 | had over 15 kids in your home, |
| 1:46.8 | some through short term and some through long term placement. Did I get that all right? |
| 1:51.4 | Yeah, that's correct. It's a lot. It's a lot. Yes. You also were able to adapt your daughter |
| 1:58.4 | journey through foster care in 2021 and in 2021 journey passed away |
| 2:05.0 | from brain cancer. |
| 2:06.5 | And we're going to dive into her story a little bit. |
... |
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