Episode 280: Working Together to Support and Redeem Families (w/ Norm Suire)
The Forgotten Podcast
The Forgotten Initiative
4.9 • 532 Ratings
🗓️ 13 October 2025
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The child welfare system is far from perfect. However, numerous individuals, agency workers, and organizations like us are working faithfully to help support and uplift the children and families within that system.
Our guest today knows this system intimately, as he has worked within it for over 40 years.
Norm Suire worked first at Elgin Mental Health Center before transitioning to the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). With a lifetime of experience in child welfare, Norm brings such wisdom and honesty about both the joys and challenges of this work. He is also a husband and father of three sons and a proud grandfather of five.
In this episode, Norm shares practical advice for the day-to-day life of a foster parent, insights into how agency and social workers are required to operate within the system, an encouraging perspective to adopt as we work with children and families, and much more.
Find resources mentioned and more in the show notes for this episode: https://theforgotteninitiative.org/norm-suire-280/
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | God is in a business of trying to redeem families and cultures and civilizations, not just individuals. |
| 0:16.1 | So when you have that mentality, it just changes the whole dynamic. |
| 0:21.3 | Hey, it's Jamie Cabe. Welcome to the Forgotten Podcast, where we are highlighting the stories of |
| 0:27.6 | the people of foster care. We want to bring you hope and encouragement in your journey and help |
| 0:33.8 | you support the foster care community where you live. This podcast is a resource of the Forgotten Initiative. |
| 0:40.7 | Learn more about our work across America and how you can get involved by visiting |
| 0:45.4 | the forgotteninitiative.org. |
| 0:47.8 | And please consider joining with us on mission with a gift of any amount. |
| 0:53.5 | You can do this by texting the word forgotten to |
| 0:56.6 | 44321. Okay, it's time. Let's do this. Today on the Forgotten podcast, we are joined by Norm Schwer, who spent more than 40 years serving children and families in Illinois. |
| 1:21.5 | He worked first at Elgin Mental Health Center in the nearly four decades with the Department of Children and |
| 1:29.1 | Family Services always in front line roles. He is a husband, a father of three sons, and a proud |
| 1:36.5 | grandfather of five. With a lifetime of experience in child welfare, Norm brings such wisdom and |
| 1:43.7 | honesty about the joys and challenges |
| 1:46.5 | of this work. I cannot wait for you to hear this episode. Welcome, welcome, Norm. Thanks for being on. |
| 1:53.3 | Well, it's my honor. Thank you for inviting me. You bet. Well, I would just love to hear more about |
| 1:59.8 | your journey because, my goodness, it's not very often you hear someone who's been in the frontline work for over 40 years. |
| 2:07.0 | What led you to this work in the first place? |
| 2:10.8 | If I could just step backwards a little bit, describe who a little bit about myself, you can understand better. After I graduated undergraduate |
| 2:19.8 | with my undergraduate to garage, I worked at Algemental Health Center for five years. And that was |
| 2:25.6 | at the time when the psychotropic medication revolution was going on. And as a result, they were |
| 2:33.7 | getting rid of a lot of patients. |
... |
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