Episode 268: Building Compassion for Those Struggling with Addiction (w/ Christina Dent)
The Forgotten Podcast
The Forgotten Initiative
4.9 • 532 Ratings
🗓️ 28 April 2025
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Substance use is a major factor in foster care cases; in 2017 alone, more than half of the children who entered care under age 5 did so because of parental drug use. Addiction is an issue that runs parallel to the foster care community, and it’s a struggle that agency workers and foster parents often witness firsthand in the lives of the families they serve.
For those of us who have never battled with addiction, it can be easy to think we have nothing in common with parents whose substance use results in their children being removed from their care. However, my guest today is here to help us see these people through a new lens—one that emphasizes compassion, understanding, and shared humanity.
Christina Dent is the Founder and Vice President of Mission at End It For Good, a nonprofit that invites people to support approaches to drug addiction that prioritize life, preserve families, and promote public safety. As an adoptive mom and former foster mom, Christina’s experiences in foster care ignited a passion in her for finding better solutions for addiction.
In this episode, she shares the realities of addiction and drug use, how drug addiction intersects with foster care, why we should reframe the way we think and speak about those struggling with addiction, and much more.
Find resources mentioned and more in the show notes for this episode: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/christina-dent-268/
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | If we want fewer children in foster care, we have to figure out how to address drug use and addiction better. |
| 0:15.5 | More than half the children in foster care are there for a drug-related removal. |
| 0:18.9 | If we want to affect foster care in a transformative |
| 0:21.6 | way on the front end, we've got to lean into this issue of drugs and addiction and how we can |
| 0:26.7 | help more people avoid the scenario Joanne was in and find healing from it as quickly as possible. |
| 0:32.7 | Hey, it's Jamie Cabe. Welcome to the Forgotten podcast, where we are highlighting the stories of the people of foster care. |
| 0:40.6 | We want to bring you hope and encouragement in your journey and help you support the foster care community where you live. |
| 0:48.2 | This podcast is a resource of the Forgotten Initiative. |
| 0:52.0 | Learn more about our work across America and how you can get involved by visiting the Forgotten Initiative. Learn more about our work across America |
| 0:54.2 | and how you can get involved |
| 0:55.9 | by visiting theforgotteninitiative.org. |
| 0:59.6 | And please consider joining with us |
| 1:01.6 | on mission with a gift of any amount. |
| 1:04.8 | You can do this by texting the word forgotten |
| 1:07.3 | to 44321. |
| 1:10.7 | Okay, it's time. |
| 1:12.6 | Let's do this. |
| 1:22.6 | Christina Dent is the founder and vice president of Mission at End It for Good, a nonprofit that invites |
| 1:29.1 | people to support approaches to drugs that prioritize life, preserve families, and promote public |
| 1:36.7 | safety. As an adoptive mom and former foster mom, Christina's experiences in foster care |
| 1:42.6 | ignited a passion in her for finding better solutions to addiction. |
| 1:47.7 | She has shared her insights through various platforms, including TEDx, interviews, and even written platforms like USA Today. |
... |
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