Episode 197: From Kinship Care to Kinship Adoptive Mom (w/ Raquel McCloud)
The Forgotten Podcast
The Forgotten Initiative
4.9 • 532 Ratings
🗓️ 21 August 2023
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The story I have for you today spans many roles in the foster care community. My guest, Raquel McCloud, entered kinship care when she was just a young child. Kinship care is when a relative or close family friend takes the role of foster parent instead of a caregiver previously unknown to the child. There are many instances of informal kinship care occurring as well as formal kinship care.
In many cases of kinship care, the relatives are left without many resources to help them establish boundaries with the biological parent who is also their own family member. In today’s episode, Raquel shares her personal story of growing up in kinship care, becoming pregnant as a teen, and how she was given no other option but to put her child up for adoption.
In spite of all she has been through, today Raquel is a birth mom in reunion with the very child she put up for adoption, a kinship adoptive mom to her half-sister, and an advocate for adoption, foster care, and other important topics. While Raquel wishes her life had been kinder, she is thankful that others can be inspired and learn from her experience going from a child in kinship care and biological teen mom to a birth mom in reunion and a kinship adoptive mom.
I am so grateful to Raquel for sharing her story!
Show Notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/raquel-mccloud-197/
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Well, hello, friends. It's Jamie, and I am popping in because I am just so very happy to tell you |
| 0:07.4 | we have hit our match. We've done it. Together, we have reached $20,000 of giving, and so that money |
| 0:16.9 | will be matched, dollar for dollar. And I just want to tell you, thank you, thank you, thank you. |
| 0:22.8 | And I'm thinking, my goodness, we need to have family meetings more often. But truly, thank you so much |
| 0:29.7 | for your generous support of this podcast, of the Forgotten Initiative. And let's just keep doing |
| 0:36.8 | this work together, shall we? |
| 0:40.1 | Sharing the stories of the foster care community. This is The Forgotten Podcast. |
| 0:45.3 | I think we get to a place where we're thriving more than surviving. And I feel like I've |
| 0:51.8 | entered this era of my life where I'm thriving. |
| 0:54.9 | I have to fight for joy. |
| 0:56.2 | I have to choose to chase it down and find happiness and the simple things. |
| 1:04.0 | Hey, it's Jamie Cabe. |
| 1:05.8 | Welcome back to the Forgotten podcast, where we are highlighting the stories of the people of foster care. |
| 1:11.8 | With every episode, our goal is to help you better understand the foster care community. |
| 1:16.9 | We want to bring you hope and encouragement in your journey and help you support the agency |
| 1:21.9 | workers, foster parents, vulnerable adults, and children in foster care right where you live. If you want to learn more about |
| 1:29.8 | TFI, catch up on past episodes, read engaging articles, or partner with us on mission with a |
| 1:36.5 | gift of any amount, head over to the forgotten initiative.org. We are in this together. Thank you for listening and engaging with us. We love |
| 1:47.8 | having you as part of our family. Okay, it is time. Let's do this. As a former child of kinship care, a birth mom in reunion, and a kinship adoptive mom, |
| 2:05.7 | Raquel McLeod uses her lived experiences to cultivate resources and community. |
| 2:12.1 | From children's books to resource guides, Instagram Reels, speaking engagements, and long-form |
| 2:17.2 | articles, her passion for and long-form articles. Her passion |
... |
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