Helping My Child Thrive Post-High School (w/Jonathan Brush) Ep. 293

The Forgotten Podcast

The Forgotten Initiative

Fostercare, Adoption, Family, Kids & Family, Christian

4.9 • 532 Ratings

🗓️ 27 April 2026

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of The Forgotten Podcast, host Jami Kaeb sits down with Jonathan Brush, CEO of Unbound and a foster and adoptive dad of eight, to discuss how to help young adults—especially those not pursuing a college degree—successfully transition into adulthood and thrive. The conversation addresses the unique challenges facing children from the foster care community, such as trauma and learning gaps, by focusing on resilience, practical career opportunities in a questions-based economy, and the necessity of high expectations paired with endless patience. Jonathan reframes success as "thriving" and offers guidance on understanding the "creation of value" in the workplace and the irreplaceable power of community.

About the Guest

Jonathan Brush is the President and CEO of Unbound. As a first-generation homeschool graduate and a foster and adoptive dad of eight, he is passionate about preparing young adults for life and has spoken on the subject for over a decade.

In This Episode

Defining success as “thriving” (living a meaningful, important life) rather than fame, fortune, or power.
Exploring non-college career options in business (marketing, sales, technology/AI) and the trades (welding, plumbing, electrician).
The shift from an "answers-based" paradigm to a "questions-based" paradigm in the modern job market, emphasizing the ability to quickly and effectively master complicated information (QE MCI).
Why the inherent resilience and survival skills of foster children are valuable assets in the current market.
Setting the “high expectation” that young people can thrive, combined with “infinite patience” to help them achieve it.
Understanding work as the “creation of value” by showing up, working hard, treating others well, and “thinking like an owner”.
How to cultivate natural curiosity and the ability to ask better questions by looking for “the game being played underneath the game”.
The critical role of community in driving careers and the willingness to open your home despite imperfections.

Resources + Links

Learn more about The Forgotten Initiative

Learn more about what at TFI Advocate does

Transcript

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0:00.0	meeting you right where you are on your foster care journey. This is The Forgotten Podcast.
0:10.9	Welcome to the Forgotten podcast, where we are bringing you stories from the foster care community
0:22.4	and here to offer you hope and practical help for your foster parenting journey.
0:27.7	I'm Jamie Cave and so very happy to have you with us.
0:31.5	This year we're going to spend some time exploring, some more complex and sometimes even
0:35.5	frustrating aspects of foster care, one of them being school.
0:40.4	Childhood trauma, multiple placements, special needs, and learning gaps can really work together
0:46.3	to make school especially challenges for our kids in care. And today we hope to offer practical
0:53.0	help for several common struggles our kids face.
0:56.9	Today, we have an episode full of ideas to help our kids who are not bound for college.
1:04.8	We want our kids to thrive as adults. Today, I'm so happy to welcome Jonathan Brush, a first generation homeschool graduate,
1:15.0	the president and CEO of Unbound and Home School, Foster and Adoptive Dad of Eight. Great, I love
1:22.8	eight. I have eight kids also, Jonathan. Awesome. Jonathan has spoken for over a decade to parents, students,
1:29.3	and groups across the country about effectively preparing young adults for life. So Jonathan,
1:36.1	welcome and thank you for being here. Well, thank you so much for having me. It's an honor to be here
1:40.2	and I really love what you do. And so it's really exciting to be able to share some of the things
1:44.0	I've been blessed to learn. And I hope that it's helpful to you and your audience.
1:47.4	Awesome. Well, I'm looking forward to this conversation for sure. And I know you are passionate about
1:52.4	helping young adults thrive in whatever path. There has been a wrong maybe expectation sometimes
1:59.1	that college is the only way, right? The only path to success.
2:02.7	And that's just not, that's not reality. So what does success mean to you, especially as you
2:08.6	think about high school graduates transitioning into young adulthood? Well, I really appreciate
	...

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