Episode 238: Making the Hard Decision to Stop Being a Foster Parent (w/ Lisa Robertson)
The Forgotten Podcast
The Forgotten Initiative
4.9 • 532 Ratings
🗓️ 17 June 2024
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
During the month of June, applications to become a TFI Advocate are open! TFI Advocates bridge the gap between churches and agencies right in their local community. Get the details and apply right here.
We cover many topics here on The Forgotten Podcast from how to know when to start fostering, real stories of people throughout the foster care community, how churches can get involved, and more.
But in this episode, we are talking about an aspect of foster parenting we don’t often address: What happens when you reach the end of the journey of active foster parenting? How do you know when you should be done fostering and begin providing wrap-around support?
My guest, Lisa Robertson, knows all about this journey as her family made the hard choice to stop fostering in October of 2023 after many years of active foster parenting. She has been a foster and adoptive parent and is the Executive Director for Hope Bridge, a non-profit that advocates for change in the Ohio foster care system by mobilizing churches and equipping communities to serve. Lisa has many years of experience in advocacy, biological family relationship preservation, and the preventative work of keeping families together.
It's never easy to let go of something that is so close to your heart. In this conversation, we discuss what questions foster parents should consider before closing their license, how to identify when it is time to stop fostering, the heaviest parts of letting go of such a large part of your life, the opportunities to still serve the foster care community after foster parenting, and much more.
Find links to resources mentioned and more in the show notes: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/lisa-robertson-238/
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Sharing the stories of the foster care community. |
| 0:04.0 | This is The Forgotten Podcast. |
| 0:06.0 | I don't want to close because this is so much of who we are as a family or a foster family. |
| 0:12.0 | Our kids understand it now and they're part of the mission. |
| 0:17.0 | And it became this obedience step out as well, where it was, if we don't do this, we felt like we were disobeying the Lord's call. |
| 0:24.9 | And if we don't step out, we're disobeying. |
| 0:27.3 | We kind of begrudgingly then called our family resource worker and, you know, started that process. |
| 0:34.0 | Hey, it's Jamie Cabe. |
| 0:35.3 | Welcome back to the Forgotten podcast, where we are highlighting the stories of the people of foster care. |
| 0:41.8 | With every episode, our goal is to help you better understand the foster care community. |
| 0:47.3 | We want to bring you hope and encouragement in your journey and help you support the agency workers, foster parents, vulnerable adults, and children in |
| 0:56.1 | foster care right where you live. If you want to learn more about TFI, catch up on past episodes, |
| 1:03.0 | read engaging articles, or partner with us on mission with a gift of any amount, head over to |
| 1:09.7 | the forgotten initiative.org. We are in this together. |
| 1:14.7 | Thank you for listening and engaging with us. We love having you as part of our family. |
| 1:20.9 | Okay, it is time. Let's do this. |
| 1:28.0 | Today I have the joy of talking with Lisa Robertson. |
| 1:32.5 | Lisa is married to JJ, and together they are foster and adoptive parents. |
| 1:37.5 | Lisa serves as the executive director for Hope Bridge, a nonprofit organization in Northeast |
| 1:43.2 | Ohio, advocating for change in the Ohio foster care |
| 1:47.5 | system by mobilizing churches and equipping communities to serve. Welcome, Lisa. Thank you. Thank you so |
| 1:54.3 | much for having me. Yeah, I'm happy to have you on. You have a lot of experience in this foster care |
... |
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