Episode 253: ALL IN for Children in Foster Care (w/ Lynn Johnson)
The Forgotten Podcast
The Forgotten Initiative
4.9 • 532 Ratings
🗓️ 4 November 2024
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
To make a positive impact on the foster care community, we need action on both a personal and systemic level. We need community members who are willing to step up and support individuals directly, but we also need leaders capable of creating policies that address real challenges.
My guest for this episode, Lynn Johnson, is someone who has stepped into both of these roles. Lynn served as Assistant Secretary for the Administration for Children and Families in the US Department of Health and Human Services, which is a Senate-confirmed appointment where she led over 60 programs designed to make a real impact on lives all across the country. It was in this position that she created the ALL IN Foster Care and Adoption Challenge as a national call for people at all levels of government, as well as community members, to commit to being ALL IN for America’s children.
Today, she continues this work as the President of ALL IN Empowering Futures, a non-profit agency combating the crises of children aging out of the foster care system, adoption, poverty, and human trafficking.
In this episode, Lynn shares the lessons she’s learned from serving the foster care community on both a broad and personal scale, what she feels is the true measure of a successful program, how we can best serve adults who were formerly in foster care, and much more.
Find resources mentioned and more in the show notes for this episode: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/lynn-johnson-253/
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Sharing the stories of the foster care community. |
| 0:04.0 | This is The Forgotten podcast. |
| 0:08.3 | A young person who told me, I'm not a number. |
| 0:11.4 | I have a name. |
| 0:12.2 | Don't just look at me as case number, whatever. |
| 0:14.3 | And that was the biggest impact to me because in school you have a number and food assistance, |
| 0:18.4 | you have a number. |
| 0:19.0 | And welfare, you have a number. |
| 0:20.5 | Everywhere you go, you have a number. Is there somebody that will give you a name and say, |
| 0:24.2 | how's it going? And that's what we do. Give you back your name. |
| 0:28.6 | Hey, it's Jamie Cabe. Welcome back to the Forgotten podcast, where we are highlighting the stories |
| 0:34.0 | of the people of foster care. With every episode, our goal is to help you better |
| 0:39.0 | understand the foster care community. We want to bring you hope and encouragement in your |
| 0:43.8 | journey and help you support the agency workers, foster parents, vulnerable adults, and children |
| 0:49.7 | in foster care right where you live. If you want to learn more about TFI, catch up on past episodes, |
| 0:56.6 | read engaging articles, or partner with us on mission with a gift of any amount, head over to |
| 1:03.0 | the forgotten initiative.org. We are in this together. Okay, it is time. Let's do this. |
| 1:10.9 | I have the honor of talking with Lynn Johnson today. Lynn previously served as the assistant secretary |
| 1:28.9 | for the administration for children and families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, |
| 1:34.8 | which is a Senate confirmed appointment where she led over 60 programs to improve and enhance |
| 1:40.8 | the lives of our children, individuals, and families. It was in this position that she created the All In foster care and adoption challenge |
| 1:49.0 | as a national call for every state, including governors, agencies, courts, churches, community |
... |
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