Navigating Child Welfare | CPS, Foster Care, Family Court, Adoption, Mandated Reporter, Burnout, Joy, Retention, DEI, Justice

Episode 43: Mandated Reporters: What Happens after CPS is Called?

Mandated reporters…you have a power that must be wielded responsibly. A knock on the door from CPS can change everything for a family. Mandated reporters are in a specia

Episode 42: Heart Resilience: The Forgotten System in Foster Care

In this episode, I’m talking about heart resilience, a piece of foster care support that often gets overlooked. We talk a lot about compliance, housing, employment, and s

Episode 41: The Problem with "Foster to Adopt"

The phrase “foster to adopt” sounds simple, but in practice, it can create a lot of confusion and heartbreak. In this episode, I talk about why this language can be misle

Episode 40: I tried to break up with DEI

In this episode, I reflect on my long, complicated relationship with DEI: the promise, the disappointment, the fatigue, and the deeper purpose underneath it all. What beg

Episode 39: Supporting Helpers in Child Welfare: Simple Joy...Big Impact

In this episode, I’m talking with Lauren Welch, founder of Social Empowerment Texas, about what it means to support the people doing some of the hardest work in the child

Episode 38: Before you quit social services...listen to this

Before you quit, I want you to pause for a minute. In this episode, I’m talking to the people in social services, foster care, and the family and child welfare system who

Episode 37: Foster Care and Homelessness: Why Connection Matters in the Child Welfare System

In this episode, I’m talking about the deep connection between foster care and homelessness, especially for youth who age out of the child welfare and foster care system

Episode 36: Shame in Foster Care

In this episode, I’m talking about shame in foster care and how powerful it is. Shame can stop people from getting help when they need it, and sometimes it keeps families

Episode 35: Encouragement for Helpers

Helpers need encouragement too. In this episode, I’m talking directly to the people who carry heavy things for a living: child welfare professionals, social services staf

Episode 34: Burnout is Loud in Child Welfare, Let's Make Connection Louder

A few years ago I made a post about motherhood, the Proverbs 31 woman, and the truth we forget: she had help. That same principle applies in foster care. No one can do th

Episode 33: Communication Solutions for Foster Care

"One of the biggest threats to good outcomes in child welfare is not bad intentions…it is the broken or inconsistent communication between all the folks involved in a chi

Episode 32: Can we go DEEP Together? Race, History, and Foster Care

Race has always mattered in America. The family and child welfare system is not exempt from history. In this episode of Navigating Child Welfare, I'm sharing what I've le

Episode 31:Collaboration in the Child Welfare System: Lessons from a Foster Care Judge

On this episode of Navigating Child Welfare, I’m talking with Judge Karen Braxton and honestly… I loved this conversation. She describes judges as a catalyst for collabor

Episode 30: Frustrated in foster care...who is in the room?

Episode summary I want you to sit with a real question: when are you ever in the room with the people who impact your work and the environment is actually collaborative?

Episode 29: Special Education in Foster Care: IEPs, 504 Plans, and the Child Welfare System

When you’re involved in foster care and the child welfare system, adding special education on top of everything else can send everybody into a spiral.   In this episode

Episode 28: Reduce Frustration in Foster Care: Trust, Roles, and Real Partnership

Reducing frustration in foster care starts with the stuff we don’t always name: trust, roles, and real partnership across the family and child welfare system.   In this

Episode 27: Racial Trauma and the Family and Child Welfare System, From History to Healing

Beauty and harm can coexist in our history, and healing starts with honest reflection and shared action. This episode focuses centers on healing from racial trauma and w

Episode 26: From Fake Help to Real Support in Foster Care and the Family & Child Welfare

Sometimes our help looks good on paper but doesn’t help in practice. In this episode, Shanelle names “fake help,” shows how to co-create real solutions with the people af

Episode 25: Unpopular opinion! Agencies should not lead parent or foster parent support groups

Shanelle and guest Steve Gonyea wrap up their conversation by digging into why many agency-run “support groups” have good intentions, but miss the mark, especially when s

Episode 24: Barriers to Solutions: Advocacy, Autism, & Foster Care

Shanelle sits down with advocate and long-time therapeutic foster parent Steve Goneya to talk about what is not working and what communities can build right now. Steve ha