At any given time there are well over 400,000 kids in the US Foster System, and these young humans have ended up in this system at no fault of their own. There is often a history of trauma from abuse, neglect, and the inability of their caregivers to provide food, shelter, and safe place to grow physically and emotionally. When a kids' basic needs are not met, they are being set up for failure and a higher risk to become a statistic in the most undesirable ways. We need more families who have a passion for kids and are willing and desirous of creating a safe place to land for these youngsters. It's a challenging road and a lot of training and prep is needed for prospective adoptive families to understand how to navigate trauma and give their newest family member a true sense of stability.
About the guest: Amber Kidd, BSW is the Foster- Adopt program coordinator at A New Beginning Adoption Agency. She has almost of decade of experience working in adoption. Her primary roll now is to help prepare families for permanent placement of their child. In addition, she is the key social worker in advocating on behalf of A New Beginning foster-adopt program families to nearly 4000 child caseworkers across the United States. Amber has been essential in building such a successful program, creating and facilitation post placement services, family support and education that increases child placement permanency (fewer disruptions). If she isn’t working directly with families, she working directly with a child’s caseworker advocating for placement with the right family.
