Behind the Curtain: Honest Conversations about Foster Care and Adoption
Each episode will feature a conversation between host Rebecca Harvin and foster/adoptive caregivers or members of the community who support foster care and adoption.
Episodes
52 episodes
Creating a Soft Place to Land for Foster Children in South Carolina with Jennifer Tice
A child shouldn’t have to fall asleep in a cubicle while adults debate where she’ll go next. That image stuck, and it’s the spark behind this conversation with Jennifer Tice, co-founder and executive director of Lilypad, a South Carolina faith-...
Encourage One Another: Hope for Adoptive Families in Crisis
Some families look fine on Sunday and feel like they’re falling apart by Monday morning. That gap, the public calm and the private chaos, is where a lot of foster and adoptive parents live when trauma hits hard. We sit down with Ashley Mason, f...
What Long-Term Research Reveals About Childhood Abuse and how it may affect children in Foster Care
Trauma leaves clues, and foster and adoptive parents are often the first people to see them clearly. When a child “forgets” what they knew yesterday, melts down at puberty, hoards food under the bed, or shuts down into a blank stare, it can fee...
Fostering Connections: Youth Impacted By Foster Care Deserve Tools For Real Life
The foster care system asks teenagers to carry adult-sized problems, then expects them to be “ready” on a birthday. That disconnect is where today’s conversation lives, and it’s why I’m so grateful to share the mic with Aubrie Simpson-Gotham, f...
From Foster Care to Adoption: The Space between TPR and Finalization
TPR is supposed to bring clarity, but for a lot of foster and adoptive families it brings a new kind of fog. We’re talking about the space nobody captions on social media: mourning and celebrating at the same time, sitting in a courtroom while ...
Cayela Moody: Embracing Special Needs Foster Parenting
What if the life you built at the “resort”—easy routines, familiar friends, and tidy plans—suddenly moved you to a private island? That’s how Cayela Moody describes the shift foster care and special needs adoption brought to her family of ten. ...
Jordan Whitmarsh: Learning to Live with Grief as a Part of Life
Grief doesn’t wait for tidy timelines or perfect words. With our friend and adoptive mom Jordan Whitmarsh, we step straight into the deep end: living losses in foster care and adoption, the sudden shock of death, and the quieter goodbyes that l...
Tips for Sustainability in Foster Care and Adoption
We reflect on the move from drowning in caregiver burnout to building a sustainable life in foster care and adoption. We share three pillars—community, recognizing the load you're carrying, and setting the right pace for your family (prioritize...
Rebecca Unedited: When Love Doesn’t Feel Like Love
What happens when one child feels like home at the door and another, from the same sibling set, feels impossible to love? We open our front door and our hearts to a brutally honest journey through foster care: the instant bond that made love fe...
Simon Benn: We Are Not Our Trauma
A single keepsake cracked open a lifetime of hidden feeling. When Simon Ben learned that his childhood teddy bear came from his birth mother, a wave of grief and anger surfaced—and so did a clear path to freedom. We sit down with Simon to explo...
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Melody Marshall: Faith, Community, And The Hard Work Of Family Preservation
Some crises should never cost a child their family. When a single mom in a new city was admitted for kidney stones with no one to call, the default answer was removal. Instead, a host family took her daughters for one night—and that brief stay ...
Rebecca Unedited: From Tenacity to Trust, a Lesson in Letting Go
What happens when grit becomes a trap and control masquerades as love? I open the curtain on nine years of foster care and adoption, from my early "This is a sprint" mindset to the slower "marathon" pace of adoption. The story moves through the...
Turning Shame Into Care: A Guide To Trauma, Incontinence, and Advocacy with Peter Mutabazi and Mica Phillips
We open the door on incontinence in foster and adoptive homes and talk plainly about shame, trauma, and the mental load. Peter Mutabazi, founder of Now I am Known, shares the daily realities of children with incontinence issues and advocacy win...
Rebecca Unedited: How A 1% Shift Can Rebuild Peace And Connection
If you're a foster parent or adoptive parent who wants to build a life that you recognize at 80. Or, if resolutions leave you burned out by February, you’re not broken—you’re using the wrong tool. Rebecca opens the door to a gentler, smarter ap...
Parenting For The Long Game
In part two of two, we explore authoritative parenting as a blend of warmth and structure that forms character for the long game. Faith and research meet in practical steps that build trust, align kids with reality, and make the teen years a jo...
Warmth And Discipline: Raising Resilient Kids In Foster And Adoptive Homes
In part one of two, we explore kind, authoritative parenting for foster and adoptive families, weaving research, faith, and real-life practice into a clear path that balances warmth with firm guidance. Rachel Medefind shares how discipline mean...
Adoption Stories: From Neighbor to Mom, When Adoption Intersects Your Life
In this episode, we explore foster parenting advice and adoption resources through the story of a neighbor's crisis that led to adopting two teens. Mary shares her transition from a career police officer's mindset to trauma-informed parenting, ...
Soul Care for Weary Foster and Adoptive Caregivers: Support and Restoration
In this episode of 'Behind the Curtain: Honest Conversations about Foster Care and Adoption,' we explore essential soul care for foster and adoptive caregivers experiencing burnout. We share honest stories of exhaustion, striving, and the simpl...
Foster Care Stories: The Role of the Guardian Ad Litem and How it Impacts Children in Foster Care
Two friends pull back the curtain on what a Guardian ad Litem does, why the role matters, and how one steady volunteer can change a child’s case. Andrea shares training, time commitment, school advocacy wins, and the power of speaking for the c...
BRB: We Hit Pause Before Season 3 starts on December 2nd
Big news first: we’re taking a short breather so we can come back strong on December 2 with Season Three of Behind the Curtain. While we pause, we’re pointing you to two powerful replays and a brand-new support that can change the daily rhythm ...
Girl Lost (and Found): Kate Angelo's Journey From Foster Care to Bestselling Author
Kate Angelo shares her transformative journey from foster care to bestselling author, revealing how small interventions changed her life trajectory and shaped her mission to help others heal from trauma.• Experiencing stability when a f...
Former Foster Care Youth Turned Bestseller: Kate Angelo's Story of Resilience
In part one, Kate Angelo shares her extraordinary journey from a chaotic childhood with exotic pets, parental kidnappings, and neglect to finding purpose after aging out of foster care.• Former foster youth who became a bestselling auth...
A Look at Foster Care Through the Lens of a Former Foster Youth: Brianna’s Journey
Brianna Groah and her former case manager Kinsey Howell share the raw reality of foster care from the perspective of a child who lived through it. With honesty and vulnerability, they reveal what makes the difference between mere survival and g...
Breaking Down IEPs: A Foster Parent's Guide to School Advocacy
Educational advocate Trina Middleton shares her 30+ years of special education experience to help parents navigate the complex world of school advocacy for children with special needs, particularly in foster and adoptive families.• Reco...
When Friendship Meets Fostering: The Power of Having Someone Who Gets It
The Jantoyas, Elizabeth Janssen and Lisa Montoya, share their journey as best friends, foster and adoptive moms, and tireless advocates for children in the foster care system. They discuss how their friendship formed over fostering challenges a...
