The Hard Truths and Joys of Foster Care
Our American Stories
iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 817 Ratings
🗓️ 20 March 2026
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of Our American Stories, Kimberly McCullough shares the beauty, and heartbreak, of walking through the foster care and adoption process. Through her experiences as a foster mother, McCullough reflects on the tension at the heart of foster care: the hope of reunification, the deep bonds formed with children, and the painful reality of letting them go. From courtroom adoption days filled with joy to difficult goodbyes that test a family’s strength, her story captures what she calls a “broken hallelujah”.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.5 | Guaranteed human. |
| 0:14.2 | This is our American stories, and as you know, we love bringing you adoption and foster care stories. |
| 0:20.5 | There are 400,000 children in the foster care system waiting to be loved by a family. It begs the question, what could each one of us do to help these children? Which brings us to Kimberly McCullough and her story. It was a happy day. The sun was shining and the courtroom was filled with dressed up, smiling people, |
| 0:40.3 | showing up for a little girl and a growing family. |
| 0:43.3 | What was clear from the very beginning of her life was that what started in tragedy would not |
| 0:48.3 | end that way. |
| 0:49.3 | She would never be alone and she was so deeply loved by so many people. |
| 0:53.3 | During foster care training, the goal of reunification was impressed upon us with alone, and she was so deeply loved by so many people. |
| 0:59.2 | During foster care training, the goal of reunification was impressed upon us with utter importance and urgency. |
| 1:00.7 | Children belong with their parents, and when that isn't possible, with extended family. |
| 1:05.4 | After those possibilities are exhausted, ideally the foster parents will be given an opportunity |
| 1:10.4 | to adopt the child. If they cannot, other foster parents will be given an opportunity to adopt the child. |
| 1:12.0 | If they cannot, other foster families will be asked. |
| 1:15.0 | If no family is found, they could end up in a group home. |
| 1:18.9 | The one thing I pray for the most as a foster parent is the assurance of knowing that |
| 1:23.6 | wherever my foster children end up, they will be loved, safe, and will know they are worthy of belonging. |
| 1:35.3 | We walked into the courtroom and took a seat, only to stand right back up when the judge asked all the family members to come to the front. My instinct was to |
| 1:45.8 | stay seated, but I was her mom too, even if only for six months. Her soon-to-be-forever mama waved us up. |
| 1:53.5 | I knew she would. They were already like family. But being a foster mom means I'm always careful, |
| 1:59.5 | cautious, not wanting to make assumptions about |
| 2:01.8 | my place. She spent the first 40 days of her life in the NICU before she was finally discharged |
... |
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