Let It Be Us: A Foster Care & Adoption Podcast
Episodes
27 episodes
Family, Growth, and the Realities of Foster Care Today with Dr. Susan McConnell
In this episode, Dr. Susan McConnell, Founder & Executive Director of Let It Be Us, offers an honest look at the realities of foster care – both the challenges and the deep rewards. Through her personal experiences, she reflects on what it ...
Inside the System: How Shelter Youth & Family Services Supports Youth in Care
Go behind the scenes of the foster care system with leaders from Let It Be Us and Shelter Youth & Family Services. This episode explores how agencies work together to support children and families, respond to urgent placement needs, and cre...
From Volunteer to Advocate: A Foster Care Journey That Changed Everything
What starts as a simple way to give back turns into a life-changing journey. In this episode, Richard shares how he became involved in foster care, the relationships that reshaped his perspective, and why advocacy for children in care has becom...
Guiding the Path: Supporting Families Through Foster Care and Adoption with Cathy Newbury and Erica Sherer
Cathy Newbury, Director of Foster Home Recruitment, and Erica Sherer, Foster Home Recruiter, walk listeners through the foster care and adoption journey from a supportive, behind-the-scenes perspective. They discuss how they guide families thro...
Leading with Purpose: Serving 700 Youth and Strengthening Foster Care Systems with Carina Santa Maria
Carina Santa Maria, Executive Director of Shelter Youth & Family Services, shares her experience leading an organization that serves hundreds of youth in foster care each year. From navigating complex systems to building programs that truly...
An Unexpected Journey: One Man’s Path into Foster Care
Aaron didn’t expect to find himself in the world of foster care – but his story shows how powerful unexpected paths can be. In this episode, he shares what led him to get involved, what he’s learned along the way, and how stepping outside ...
Conversation About Foster Care & Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) with Susan McConnell, DSW(c), MBA and Carina H. Santa Maria, MSW, LCSW
Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC) includes children and young people in foster care that are in extreme risk. While poorly defined legally, the impact upon this population is immense. Two Child Welfare Agency Executive Direc...
What Do I Do When a Child Arrives?
The team comes together to give tips and advice for how to navigate the first time a child is placed in your home - or any time they come! Learn from Let It Be Us Founder and Executive Director Susan McConnell, MBA, Let It Be Us Directors...
What Do I Need if I Adopt?: Practical Tips to Be Ready
Parenting is a long road no matter how you do it. This mini-episode explores tips and advice on how to support yourself as a foster parent, adoptive parent, and ways to ensure you have what you need to care for children throughout their lives. ...
How Does a Child in Foster Care End Up Adopted?
The path of foster care that leads to adoption is often long and complicated, with legal jargon like “TPR” (termination of parental rights), but Let It Be Us Director Karron Shaw, MJ, and Foster Parent Licensing Coach Cathy Newbury - who has al...
How Can I Connect with the Biological Family? Practical Tips for Developing Relationships
Feeling open to having a relationship with the biological family is the first step, in this mini-episode, Alex Montgomery, JD, Deputy Director at Let It Be Us and mother through adoption, and Rachel Hoyt, seasoned foster parent, talk about the ...
But What About the Child’s Biological Family?
While children in foster care have experienced difficult situations with their biological families, many children still feel a strong bond with them, and many of them will return to their families of origin. Alex Montgomery, JD, Deputy Director...
How Can I Help? Practical Tips for Supporting the Child in Your Care
In this special mini-episode, Cathy Newbury, Foster Parent Licensing Coach and seasoned foster parent, talks about how she ensures the children in her care receive all the support they need, while Dr. Heather Risser from our partner Northwester...
Why Kids Behave That Way: Diagnosable Difficulties
Children who have experienced foster care, or other kinds of difficult life experiences, may have a hard time adjusting - or may have mental or behavioral challenges that have never been diagnosed. Cathy Newbury, Foster Parent Licensing Coach a...
Who Is Let It Be Us? A Conversation with Susan McConnell
Susan McConnell, MBA, founded Let It Be Us after seeing many children in foster care wait for years to be adopted. She designed programs based on her recruiting and human resources backgrounds, using technology to help waiting children in foste...
What Is Permanency? Helping a Child Find Stability
Two experts walk us through what permanency means to children in foster care and the importance of stability and consistency in the development of children. Join us as Let It Be Us Director Vanessa Baie and Heather Risser from our partner North...
Season Two Trailer
At Let It Be Us, we believe that the path to foster care begins with education, and the best way to educate is to reach people where they are which is why we started the Let It Be Us Foster Care and Adoption podcast where we dive deep into topi...
The Big Picture: A Conversation with Let It Be Us Founder, Susan McConnell
The issues facing the foster care system and the children in care are big, but the solution is simple: stable families for every child. In the season finale of our very first podcast series, Susan McConnell, the Founder of Let It Be Us, talks a...
The Nuts and Bolts of Becoming a Licensed Foster Parent: A How-To with Vanessa Baie
The licensing process can be confusing, but Let It Be Us Director of Licensing Coaching and Placement Support Vanessa Baie has got you covered! Listen to get an overview of what you can expect in the licensing process. If you are ready to...
Fostering Teens! (OMG!): A Conversation with Elizabeth and Chris Rodriguez
Many people fear teens, whether in foster care or not, but Elizabeth and Chris don’t. It may not always be easy, but the journey with teens is definitely rewarding and Elizabeth and Chris go into all the details. If you are intereste...
It’s Easier Than You Think: A Conversation with Breanna and Maxwell Fritz
Breanna and Maxwell talk about their experience as foster parents of teens, those who identify LGBTQIA+ and everything in between. Their biggest takeaway? It’s easier than you think. Learn more about how to become foster ...
How Did Let It Be Us Come to Be?: A Conversation with Founder Susan McConnell
Susan McConnell is a mother through adoption, a photographer, and a recruiter. She used all of that to found Let It Be Us in 2014 with the goal of transforming the child welfare system in Illinois. Learn more about everything we do a...
Fostering Kids Who Go Home and Kids Who Stay: A Conversation with Carolyne Osterhues
Carolyne and her husband have fostered dozens of children over the many years they have been foster parents. Some children have returned to their biological families, and others have been adopted by the Osterhues family. All of them hold a p...
What about the birth family?: A Conversation with Alex Montgomery
Adoptive Mom and Let It Be Us Deputy Director Alex Montgomery talks about adopting as a single mom and the importance of the relationship she has with her daughter’s birth family and why acknowledging and including a child’s biological family w...
Why Become a Foster Parent?: A Conversation with Lindsay and Scottie Long
Lindsay and Scottie made the big decision to become foster parents after Lindsay supported students in her classroom who experienced foster care. They’ll talk about what it’s like to be foster parents and how to navigate the relationship with t...