Episode 275: Finding Your Role in the Foster Care Community (w/ Thomas Dent)
The Forgotten Podcast
The Forgotten Initiative
4.9 • 532 Ratings
🗓️ 4 August 2025
⏱️ 46 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
If you’re listening to this, chances are it was passion that first pulled you into your role in the foster care community—whether you’re a professional, a caregiver, an advocate, or a faithful supporter.
But here’s something you might not have realized yet: just because you started in one role doesn’t mean that’s where you’ll stay. As we grow and gain experience, our passions often deepen and shift—and one of the beautiful things about this work is discovering new ways to use your gifts to serve children and families in need.
My guest for this conversation knows this well! He has seen this work from nearly every angle. Thomas Dent has welcomed children into his home as an adoptive and former foster parent. He has also worked inside Mississippi’s child welfare system as their former Director of Faith Based and Volunteer Services and Foster Parent Liaison. He knows the challenges that come with this calling, but in the face of those battles, Thomas carries a deep, steady hope in Jesus—the Father of the fatherless.
In this episode, you’ll hear some of the challenges of working within a broken system, what a blessing a supportive community can be to vulnerable families, how your passion makes your work personal, and much more.
Find resources mentioned and more in the show notes for this episode: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/thomas-dent-275/
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We were in a car lot, buying a car, and the phone rang. |
| 0:11.7 | It was her licensed specialist. |
| 0:13.7 | And my wife picks up the phone and the licensure worker says, |
| 0:16.9 | congratulations, Mrs. Dent, your licensed foster home. |
| 0:19.9 | Which is what we've been waiting for, working towards for a year. And Christina was like, that's great. Yay. And she goes, |
| 0:27.4 | I got a two-month-old baby. I'm ready to bring over to your house. |
| 0:31.8 | Hey, it's Jamie Cabe. Welcome to the Forgotten Podcast, where we are highlighting the stories of the people of foster care. |
| 0:40.0 | We want to bring you hope and encouragement in your journey and help you support the foster care community where you live. |
| 0:47.2 | This podcast is a resource of the Forgotten Initiative. |
| 0:51.0 | Learn more about our work across America and how you can get involved by visiting |
| 0:55.7 | the forgotteninitiative.org. And please consider joining with us on mission with a gift of any |
| 1:02.9 | amount. You can do this by texting the word forgotten to 44321. Okay, it's time. Let's do this. |
| 1:17.7 | My guest today is Thomas Dent, an adoptive parent, former foster parent, and someone who spent five years working |
| 1:29.4 | within Mississippi's child welfare system. He served as both the director of faith-based and |
| 1:35.7 | volunteer services and later as the foster parent liaison. Thomas has been married to the love of |
| 1:41.6 | his life, Christina, for 20 years, and together they are raising |
| 1:45.5 | three sons. What I love about the perspective Thomas brings is that he's seen this work from |
| 1:50.5 | nearly every angle. He's welcomed children into his home. He's worked from inside the system, |
| 1:56.0 | and he continues to walk alongside families today. He knows the challenges, but he also carries a deep, steady hope |
| 2:03.0 | in Jesus. Thomas, I am so glad you're here. Thanks for being on. Thanks for having me, Jamie. Glad to be |
| 2:08.5 | here. And I love that I know when I talk about the love of his life, I feel like this came from you. |
| 2:15.9 | And so maybe you got to tell me first what you love about |
... |
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