Episode 24 - "Tennessee Kids Belong” With Aisha Ward

Garrett's evidently based upon where his pen sitting has been writing more in his journal than I have but mine was less of

0:07

like a Daily Journal and more of like I wanted to give my brain the freedom to

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have a thought that's what at any time and I'll write it down and revisit it

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later I got a do you have a Daily Journal I do oh but I got something fun

0:26

something fun a voice recorder rad very pull it out yes make it yes I wear I

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wear my voice memo app out on my phone but I don't I don't love it I think I think I might like the dedicated

0:40

functionality there that's right record your kids it's the cutest thing that's very cool like so I've been recording

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their voices at night and just random stuff like I'm like tell me your favorite joke or whatever oh that's cool

0:54

hey speaking of jokes speaking of jokes I bet you got one Speaking of jokes I it's I got to hit your with this Dad

1:04

joke all right you really got to hand it to short people as I sip my

1:12

do cuz they can't reach it that's mean I'm a short people like I

1:19

can say that I am short people ain't nobody ever in my life accused me being tall there's a YouTube series where you

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tell the dad jokes and whoever laughs first I love those I love those out

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hilarious I think the first version of that I saw was with famous people like Mark wallberg and uh um will frell well

1:41

and then your your other celebrity Duo is The Rock and and uh Kevin Hart oh do

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they do that series oh yeah all the time first one to laugh loses and then they'll crack they'll act like each other and so whoever laughs first then

1:53

loses to um one one quick point about my thoughts and doodles as to why I'm probably further in than you I refuse to

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flip over and right across the back okay because the middle spline it it bugs me

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so my method is I'm going to write all the way through it y flip it over and

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then ride all the way through it again so so it' be upside down it be inverted y once you get to the to the whenever I'm dead and gone and somebody finds my

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journal they're going to think this guy was dumb no that makes sense that makes sense I do I do not enjoy writing on the

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back side of it because of but I am I'm currently being efficient with my with my pel paper

2:30

I just throw things in there but I think that's spish I think that's Spanish for paper it may not be yeah it comes from

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papaya which is I think some of the original the original interesting papaya

2:42

was a fruit well so the leaves of it the Egyptians I believe wrote on ah somebody

2:47

tell me if I'm wrong probably am but I'm pretty sure the Egyptians wrote I got I got my guess as to who's going to tell

2:53

us right now I don't I'm full of him he's got dad jokes I've got random knowledge tell you you're wrong I bet

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you I bet you are Avid listener and Tony Greer will be swift to correct you on that yeah Tony if you're out there tell

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me if I'm wrong so we've got a cool guest MH I'm very excited about this we've done some work I'm wearing a

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hat I would say you belong here this morning Captain I don't know we'll find

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out we'll find out jury's out on it jury is yeah very much still out we'll we'll bring our guest on here in just a minute

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but first let's thank this week's sponsor today's sponsor of faith and fr

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none other than animals west of Greenville Tennessee yep longtime sponsor I guess as long as we've you

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know been in production all five months of it that's sa still fact at animals

3:42

West your pets are our passion our dedicated team offers personalized care Advanced treatments and a warm loving

3:49

environment because at animals West every tale tells a story Tony Amanda and the crew down on

3:56

the Newport Highway thank you for sponsoring faith and franch thank you for sponsoring me and Jared here at motion Creative Media taking care of

4:03

these animals taking care of these animals we are wet soppy muddy stinky but we do appreciate I showered this

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morning I shower too but hopefully I'm not stinky yet I think we're good it's

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funny because you just that it's funny because uh our guest and I were talking off camera

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beforehand about uh podcast and postproduction and editing and stuff and and she she mentioned that she had been

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on a few and one of them or a couple of sometimes we'll leave some of the blunders in there after even after

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making a verbal like hey we've got to cut this I said oh do I I've never heard

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any of those do I have a story for you I've got to listen to those um so you

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may or may not have heard one on this episode we'll see time will tell um because you have an opportunity we'll

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see to to either leave it or keep it or leave it or cut it but anyway if you

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only knew if you only knew we got the brain that you're with works with uh we

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came to her to know her through belong Tennessee kids belong yes a wonderful

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organization we did some uh some video work with them for a project that was

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with our friend Jordy who recently had an episode yes we uh it's a great

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organization that's how I learn about it and we just think that the world needs to know about it yes but we have Miss

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Aisha thank you for having me good morning good morning again good morning again so

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Tennessee kids belong it's in the Foster space yes we

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are in the Foster space and we really just focused on um just changing the

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experience and outcome of the children in care yeah um and we walk

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alongside um like the Foster families that are in care and you know how we got

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to a chance to work with you guys is creating a space to um for children that

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they looking for for every homes to have a voice so the thing that kept that kept

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hitting me in the face the day that we that we worked with you guys down there in mortown uh

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was the kids didn't choose this yeah they didn't choose to be in the situation that they're in you know and

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and so we've talked a number of times you've actually sat with our pastor we've talked and uh we're excited about

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hopefully the future and working together but what

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what do you think are some of the big challenges uh facing you know just the

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Foster industry in general and and and and that whole system you know again we've talked about it a blue million

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times off camera you can hear the words you know the system's broken we'll hear

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that normal people will say well the system's broken or it's it's bad it's it doesn't work and all these things

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but other than just attempting to fix a system you know what are the what are

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some of the challenges that you see with foster care it sound I know because I've talked to you you guys help with

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supporting the families you give them resources and stuff like that what what all yeah is a challenge well one thing I

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do want to say is that like we also he the system is broken the system is broken but anything that involves broken

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people is going to just be broken we're human at day yeah and so that's just

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that's just what it is and so um working in this space with Tennessee kids belong

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um we work to support the people but also we want

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them to be seen we want the kids a lot of those kids that came in that day for that video shoot um you will never know

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their back stories but you can see by looking at some of their eyes there's Brokenness and so you guys show up in

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that space um to not just to to do the videos and to take the pictures but

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really speak to some of that Brokenness whether it's playing a video game or cracking a j whatever sharing a smile um

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and so we never know and so I say all that to say that like when we look at a

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a system like the foster care system um I think that in the same space that we

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talk about the Brokenness we got to try to figure out where we can show up in that Brokenness oh yeah to do whatever

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we can and so like meeting with your pastor and all of these people it's not

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about identifying all the things but just trying to figure out what in the Tri Cities yeah what is

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going on here and what resources do I have and my power to to be helpful and

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that's what we do like we we sit and have coffee we have lunch we have people

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that are operating already in the community Ser the event for the kids yes

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and um even that that event in morrist toown the people that were involved in that um like the food that was served

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that guy he just he does that on the side you know and he he like we need

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lunch cuz it's going to be a long day all right I'm gonna pull out the grill you know I'm G cater this event and it's

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um we still talk about that today like um we usually have food delivered from

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but not that day we had food on the grill you know and I think that makes an impact too I mean even for the kids that

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are involved they're like there are people and they may not be used to this but there are people showing up and

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that's something that I think the the foster care system at least from a and i' I've never been in the system as a

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child but I can only imagine that's probably one of their biggest fears is is anyone actually going to show up for

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me yes and that I'm I'm you said that so well um when we think about the foster

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care system as long as I used to think about the foster care system in a way that is it's the kids and the parents um

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but what what I would would like to create within people is to think about

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to put themselves within the foster care system not saying you have to be a

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foster parent but like right I I think you guys now are a part of the foster care system because of the work that you

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guys have you showed up you took videos you you know you are the foster care system um your pastor he is the foster

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care system you know and when we think about that like and we

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and it kind of waters down like all the bad stuff we think about cuz we're like

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well we're just trying to come in and help like okay this is foster care you know yeah again we're just trying to

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show up for these kids what's important to know there is like

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help can be a lot of different things oh yes okay you just mentioned and I

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wouldn't have necessarily considered it but you said you guys are part of the foster care system

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you know I look at it as like all we did that day was to shine light on was took

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photos and videos of these kids you know and so it's like you mentioned the caterer right so it's like there are so

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many ways that you can help that doesn't even necessarily mean like actually

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fostering a kid there's tons of needs right tons of ways that you can get involved and tons of ways that you can

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help and I'll go ahead and apologize I don't know how the rest of your photo and video crew typically operate we may

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have like went too far with it we may maybe we were supposed to just be the

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dudes with the cameras and just you know flies on the walls but like I could I could not I could not do that after hear

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those kids talk that day wrecked me a little bit so a little little background about Jared and myself um Jared's a

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little more emotional at times than I am he'll describe himself as a crier I I don't typically get emotional about a

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lot of things um but that day absolutely wrecked me and I've said that to to

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other folks because there were there were some stories and I want to get into one in particular uh here in a little

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bit but there were some stories where they hit me like a ton of bricks that that day was Heavy you know from from

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our perspective and I know you guys working with it every single day I cannot imagine the load that you guys

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bear oh yeah because of the weight that that one day had just from the video

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guys perspective yeah and then you guys again day in and day out and um yeah

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just to to continually show up and be M be that

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Beacon be that person who's attempting to make change and and and driving that yeah that's yeah guys I I do want to

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back up just for a second Aisha just to to get a little more perspective on the

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character Aisha yeah um because you you practice what you preach we talked about

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that off camera not only are you you know working as a a member for Tennesse

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kids belong but you are actively in the fostering space so I want to know number

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one why um what what is the character Aisha's Mission within the system you

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know even outside of Tennessee kids belong because I think you play an important role in that but just so that we know the character more what got you

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into it and and what is your burden for it where do you feel like your place is um the first time I was introduced to

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the child Warfare system was when I was working in Knoxville at Chick-fil-A um

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and I shout out Chick-fil-A the Lord chicken yes well I didn't know what was going on but um once a week this girl

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would come in and then this lady with two kids would come in and then a guy would come in and then every time the

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the girl every time she made it to the register she was in tears and so I would always ask her if I could give her a hug

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and so I would give her a hug and this that happened for weeks and weeks and weeks right right right um I don't know

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why God blessed me with the space that I the living space that I had at the time but I had two bedrooms two bathrooms um

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and it was just you it was just me um and it was I mean I was working at Chick-fil-A so the rent was affordable

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um and one day I don't even know how we led to this conversation but she

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informed me that um I eventually found out she was having visitation with her kids okay um so the other lady was the

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casew worker and the guy was the the father um and she let me know that one of the

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things they were asking her to do was she couldn't be in the same household with the father but she didn't have

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anywhere to go so um I got this idea to get her to come stay with me and I told

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her that you could stay with me but I'm not going to give you a key to the house and when I leave like I just if you

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could leave too right um and one of the things that the courts were asking her to do was to look for uh employment so

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she used that time to look for employment yeah and so that's what we did you know things happen like she sto

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money from me one time but I remember not even um I had got to know her so

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well and I just think that now in hindsight um she was operating out her

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survival yeah and so I don't even think I think that she was still trying to

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figure out how to trust me the more I got to know her story like she experienced things that even though she

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was a mother she she needed she hadn't she was still stuck at a child's age you

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know because of stuff but um anyways one day she came back to the apartment and

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her hair was chopped off and I was like what happened and she said that they had

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court and um she said they would the parents wouldn't even look at her the people that were they were hoping to

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adopt the kids and she was tore up

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because she said they wouldn't even look at me it's like I wasn't even there right and like I I was I was upset I I

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was just like having all these feelings and then um I remember one time she said after court um she had followed them I

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was really upset with her and I was like girl you're going to get in trouble you can't do that but in hindsight again I

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realized flight yes and I I later found out that the the parents which went on to adopt the girls um I think there was

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a boy too but and and now they have a great relationship their face with friends she send them Christmas cards

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holiday cards all kind of stuff but in the moment um that that Foster family

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could not have kids and they were they had got attached to the kids and so like

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looking back I see they were both operating in fear in the same situation but they didn't even have the capacity

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to see each other in that situation so I tell people that story because my

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passion for foster care did started with the biological familyes okay and so seeing her journey I think it was help

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for me because there's there's biases about biological fam oh yeah right and

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so I still um the kids are very much

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should where they should be like they um she just had struggles but like I I have

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so much love for her you know um and she never got the help that she needed MH um to just heal

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but I did not realized how much that would set the foundation or for my

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foster care Journey um and eventually um I was offered a job in foster care to

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recruit foster parents and that's how I started um and so having that experience

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was great in recruiting Foster fam because I felt like you had a unique perspective there yes and well you were

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were fostering people before like you were actually fostering like that's you you fostering her and props to you kudos

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to you because that takes number one that takes a lot of given trust because at that point time I mean she had not

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even earned yeah the trust to be in your in your house you openly let her in and

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then you even said even after stealing from you like no I understand why yeah um it doesn't make you love me any less

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like that is a beautiful beautiful example of just I think that the character that you have for fostering

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that's amazing something I didn't even know what was going I didn't I was just

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trying to be nice and but it is it is literally I mean I've been in foster

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care for 12 years at this point and it's like that's the story that's my why and of course being around the kids for so

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long it was inevitable that I was going to become a foster parent yeah one day like it was it wasn't if it was just

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when that's awesome I love it from being in that space with recruiting Foster families um one of the things like I can

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remember during during Co people were like want I think they were thinking the

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Foster like the world we were in was going to struggle but it wasn't it was like it was everybody was stuck at home

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and they had all this time and so they're going to do the one thing that they now have time to do which is become a foster par okay but um so you saw a

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spike in parents com yeah it was like a lot of yes cuz everything was

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virtual I thought about that but the problem is that that um it was an

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isolating period already right we're stuck in our home and being a foster parent is already isolating oh yeah and

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so to have like a isolating way of life

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into this new culture that we didn't know if it was going to be short term or long term um what you saw is that year a

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year and a half later like parents were closing their home and so like at that point I'm just like we don't we didn't

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have the we had the capacity to recruit Foster families but we did not have the capacity to support them to yes to

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also yes CU they needed I'm like they need support they need Community Support they need a team of people you mentioned

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that when we were talking with our Pastor John uh some of the training and the resources that you guys offer and

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it's things that I had never even thought about like in regards to trauma training and and and you know you

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mentioned specifically and and you probably didn't even realize that but you asked the person if you could give them a hug

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yeah a lot of people especially in the South would just give you a hug but they don't they don't realize that that may

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be that may be trigger a trigger for some kid or something who's got you know what I'm saying so like all these things

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that I had no clue now I'm privy to that information

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and it's like no that you guys do so much more than again finding homes and

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and and opening homes and getting homes to open and things but it's like okay that's great but we've got to help them

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succeed yeah because the the journey is great well we don't we don't understand

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the trauma that a lot of kids have been through um and if you don't prepare families for that and I think a lot of

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people that go into foster care at least again I I have a brother who is a foster parent uh we have friends at church that

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have just entered the system as well we all know in the back of in the back of our mind like there's going to be some

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troubling situations but I don't think a lot of people understand how to work through those yeah troubling situations

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um just things to avoid and and ways to react to situations stuff like that that's something that I didn't know you

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guys did and and so you guys take it the extra mile which again I applaud you for that because you you truly are setting

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these kids and and the family as a family unit you're setting them up for Success long term yes so within the

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faith uh the faith community um we work we work with alongside the Department of

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Children Services and private providers for recruitment so we do that um by

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doing panels and all this stuff but um so with finding creating Community for

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the families that that take in these children within the faith community yes we want you to be trauma trained because

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um it's uh the faith community they the foundation is to serve Y and so we just

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want them to serve well um and and we really encourage the faith community to

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um to be trauma aware and Trauma informed um and what I have found is

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that it it's helpful not just for the Foster Community like well it's helpful

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for people in general I'm intrigued because yeah you're probably going to learn how to pick up on those things

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yeah and you can at that point you can identify yeah and then now you know how

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to to interact with that person moving forward you I think I think having that training goes deeper too because and

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we'll just talk on the faith community specifically a lot of a lot of the times whenever we Believers as a whole see a

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problem we're like oh just you know give it to Jesus lay it down you know and and pray through it and it's like yes you

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have to do those things but there are also some practical things that we have to do as well um in order again to to

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set those those family units up for Success exactly you you can't give a family a child who has had a horrible

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situation and say you know pray through it with this child like you've got to pray through it with the child but we

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also need to be equipped with some practical things in order to to make this relationship work exactly yep and I

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think again that's that's a step that you guys take that I admire um you you give some practical implication yeah

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yeah I'm excited about uh I know I know John and I both left that that meeting

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on on Cloud9 and really energized and excited uh about you know a future uh of

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helping in some facet with uh you know you and Tennessee kids belong and I know

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John like we have cr at church right celebrate recovery and so John specifically was like really excited

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about the trauma training because I think trauma can mean a lot of different things for a lot of different people um

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and yeah so so those things are great resources now specifically we met on on

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a I forget exactly what y'all call it but it's essentially the kids day where

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yes belong Sunday Bel okay is that what we did oh no no the event that we belong

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project belong project yeah we were we I specifically took photos of the

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kids uh Garrett and Jordy handled the video side of things and we'll we'll not

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give any specific details of the of any of the cases but like once those videos got live yeah and I saw the finished

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products and heard the kids stories from their perspective because Garrett and I

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weren't in the interviews right we were just interacting with them on the day and and interacting with the task we got

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to do the fun part we did and and that that place into Gary and I's personality so much like we're cut ups and and we

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just love to to be with people and and and and chat people up and whatnot J was

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in there doing the interviews um I don't know how he did it after hearing some of those videos well so we got to hear we

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got to hear some of the you know the post interview commentation and again going going back

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to some of the cases and then being able to see the final product um that that is where that day was very heavy because I

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know on on our side of things from the from the content creation we were highlighting the happy moments of that

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day but I can only imagine yeah and again not mentioning any names but I

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remember a specific case that that came through that day that was probably the heaviest one of the heaviest stories that I had heard in a long time you know

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this kid had been in the system for you know 10 plus years and essentially I guess was about

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to age out yeah and I would assume that is probably not his

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first um project like that maybe yes it's common to have multiple he's

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probably had a more than one occasion of doing that very thing and the thought that kept running through brain whenever

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I learned that backstory was I wonder if if that kid thinks to himself when I

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come to these events like is he numb yeah is he numb to like is this even worth it or is this just going to be

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another day where yeah you know I got burgers and I get to to play basketball and get some supplies and things and

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then I've got to go right back you know that that is where the weight of it finally hit me cuz I was like dang no it

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it is important that we're showing up for that kid yeah it is and and all of them but like that story specifically

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was the one that hit me like a ton of bricks because I can only imagine and I'll never be able to fully understand

27:07

what he felt that day exactly and I feel like you made a good point too about

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like we saw the fun CU I was out there with you guys I um we got to do the fun part we did and just minutes later Jordy

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had to and so when I think about stuff like that I'm like kids are

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Masters at wearing masks oh yes and some of the masks that they have to wear for

27:34

to show up in these spaces are it's really challenging to just kind of sit

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with that yeah um and to think like while we're out we were out there just blowing bubbles and play playing

27:47

basketball and as soon as it was time for them to just go have a chat yep y

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like these burdens start coming out and like their hopes and desires or also

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their the the their disappointments also come out you know and and it's the most

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basic things just like the things that we often take for granted as we're building our own famili you know one of

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the questions that they asked that day uh and all all the kids got to give their unique answer and it was really

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cool to see their their perspective and it's like well what describe describe to me a

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perf day yeah what's a perfect day look like and it was the simplest of things

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and it's like oh man I had never even thought that that's what a kid would think would be Perfection you know what

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I'm saying it's like oh wow we we make this thing so much harder than it's got to be and and

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well and again on the on the heavy side of that as they're answering that question are they thinking to themselves

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is this day ever actually going to happen yeah I may never have this day and that's where I have a big burden for what you guys do is again going back to

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the the case that I brought up he's been through this for 10 plus years at what

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point in time does he finally just say no nobody's nobody's going to show up and then hopefully hopefully that one

29:11

day somebody does like those are the things that I think about on on a on the deeper scale but just for some context

29:16

uh folks for the things that we're talking about here so this day specifically the I belong project um

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Tennessee kids they bring these kids into a facility they're they're given supplies they get to have a fun day um

29:28

they get to do the things that they enjoy like play video games color build Legos you know board games they get to

29:34

interact with with humans other humans um that are showing up for them and you guys do it in a Great and Mighty way I I

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again I have a burden for it because I have seen you guys make those kids feel like rock stars and I want you guys to

29:47

have whatever billboard you need yeah to continue to make kids feel like rock stars cuz that is awesome and for for

29:55

anyone who wants information on Tennessee kids belong we'll give some information at the at the end of the show but I I think it's an amazing thing

30:02

that you guys do for those kids yeah those video days um and that video is really just like a almost correct me if

30:09

I'm wrong I didn't mean to cut you off but correct me if I'm wrong that is essentially what I would call a a plea

30:15

for adoption exactly day yes we we started doing that we've been around

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since 2016 and the I belong project is at the heart of what we do um and it is

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um really to to highlight the personalities the desires and the wants

30:34

of those children and it really gives them an opportunity to to own their own

30:39

story and to have a voice in their story um but it allows it's really all about

30:47

them but um our goal is to increase increase and and quicker adoptions for

30:53

um these kiddos that are often Overlook so hard plac cases yeah and we we mostly

31:00

had teenagers yes day it was which are the hardest placement cases yeah and those kids were lovely like gosh most of

31:07

a lot of those kids we probably would have put in our own car and just like yeah you're coming with me you know um

31:14

and so they know that they are misunderstood they know that they are

31:19

judged they know that they are labeled hard to place kids are not dumb a girl that she does what I do in Memphis um

31:27

shared a text message with us um there was a kid that showed up to one of their

31:33

video I belong project days and um he has a mentor that she is connected with

31:40

and this day he was out with the mentor and he text her from his phone and her

31:46

his question was are you still showing my video yeah and when she sent it I was

31:52

like oh my gosh like I mean it was motivation and I was like

31:58

I didn't I mean I knew some of them like some of them have to have cared but like

32:04

you just think maybe some of them don't want to be there but when he sent that text to her I was like no some of these

32:11

kids they want oh yeah they want to be there so he was asking if if if his video was still out there me yeah we

32:17

were he was asking if we were still sharing his video and so and I think that speaks even more to what you guys

32:23

do because in the back of his mind then he still knows there's there's a chance yeah this thing can this video can help

32:28

me it can help me it can help my case well and you made a very good point Captain um it gives them the opportunity

32:35

to basically take their name off of a data sheet because in in a lot of systems you

32:42

know we we look at you know name uh age height weight sex race whatever we

32:48

dehumanize we dehumanize it on on a spreadsheet and maybe it has a photo beside it you know but that gives them

32:54

the opportunity to jump off of the data sheet and we can hear their perspective yeah and again and I want this to be a

33:01

gigantic billboard for for what you guys do I think that is just something that you guys do that takes it the extra mile

33:07

is you are giving them the power to say here's my side of the story yes I may have a bad situation I may have been in

33:14

bad situations I may have made mistakes mistakes horrible circumstances but I also have a side too by the way I just

33:21

want to go to the beach I just want to celebrate my birthday I just want to go out to that nice restaurant I just want to do all the

33:27

other kids want to do the simplest of things that that that a lot of those kids that day answered for their perfect

33:33

day I was like oh man I completely take it's it's like a day at the park with my

33:39

parents or with my family and I'm like oh my gosh well even then again they get to in a sense defend themselves because

33:45

I think one of the questions like what is a misconception that people have about you yeah again what do that data

33:51

sheet say but what do you have to say right you know um I I think that's a wonderful opportunity Forum there a lot

33:58

of power in it too so that's the actual I belong project day um for for our

34:03

listeners out there that's what we got to experience with Jordy that's where we met Aisha y um and the I belong project

34:09

so that's that's the context for you know everything that we're talking about today really I may actually share some

34:14

of those videos now that yeah that it sounds like it's encouraged and because I was I was hesitant because I I don't

34:20

know like the red tape you know with regards to like DCS and stuff like that I don't know any of those things and I

34:26

certainly you guys had on public yes with the parental rights are terminated for those kiddos and so we have more

34:34

ability to to share like that which makes sense because you're trying to help them get placed so you would want

34:41

as many people to see it as possible I would imagine yes we encourage like when I work with within the churches um

34:49

we sometimes when I think churches think about foster care um just like a lot of

34:57

other platforms is is thought about it in such a complicated it is complicated

35:03

it is complex it is layer but where we can enter into it it doesn't have to be

35:09

I meet with businesses and I let them know like you sell coffee invite Foster

35:14

fence in here for a discounted coffee just to say that I see you I appreciate

35:20

you and I'm showing up it will make a difference I guarantee So within the faith community we're like share the

35:26

video show show one video that's all you got to do talk to the

35:31

church well we're working on that I can't wait for that to happen because again I I want I want you to be able to

35:39

essentially springboard the platform even more yes if more faith like here um

35:45

a CH Heritage Baptist in Johnson City they um heard about a need within the

35:52

the um child Warfare system and they figured out how to use their space to

35:57

accommodate that and I when I was encouraged by that cuz I'm like we don't have to attack the entire issue like

36:04

every Church doesn't need God has given um un so many skills within the

36:12

faith community everybody doesn't have to do the same thing they just need to do what they can do well you know

36:18

whether that is simply to um walk beside places financially or if that is to just

36:24

um continue to bring awareness because they have large platforms fire the grill

36:30

up fire the grill up yes find your B ring find your Bing do you know how many

36:37

like if we have coffee and food like hey yes that is where the magic is bring

36:43

the coffee bring the food everything else work people typically follow the smell food but I think again that's just

36:48

so important because traditionally and and this I believe is an unfair assessment maybe that's put on the

36:54

foster care system is the only thing that you hear traditionally uh from the Foster system is you know adopt a kid

37:01

adopt a kid adopt a kid but there are so many other things that you can do even before that again just to to make them

37:07

feel normal again to give them those opportunities yeah certainly there's a need but like you mentioned though I

37:13

mean you think about you think about a church if everybody was the preacher

37:20

yeah right well look at all the other things that wouldn't get done I mean

37:25

because that's the thing like and but takes everybody it takes everybody to make it work it takes everybody to to to

37:30

move it forward and to make it a success if you can call it a success but like it it takes everybody doing different

37:37

things uh and here's the thing like yeah you you you may be very

37:43

blessed financially guess what there's a need yeah very blessed financially may

37:49

not have the ability to be a parent though so so you have your spot help you

37:54

have your spot again you talked about platform and raing awareness and constantly being you know essentially a

38:00

megaphone for for the system and the issues and the fixes and things like that there's so many ways that you can

38:06

help that go beyond you know being a parent yes we literally find we help

38:14

people identify that and then like okay let's walk in that space um with our

38:20

thing is Foster friendly communities and we break that down with Foster friendly Faith Foster friendly businesses and

38:28

there's literally unlimited things that that we do um it's one of the things I

38:34

really enjoy about this job because it's not it's it's not the same in every

38:40

space and I really enjoy meeting people that just simply have a heart for people and they're just like what can I do and

38:49

like what do you do well let's start there um so many wonderful things like even with Pastor John some of the stuff

38:56

that we talked about um very practical stuff like he he kept saying he goes

39:03

easy that's easy you know that's easy and I'm sitting there thinking yeah you know what it it it really really oh you

39:08

need clothes y got a closet full stuff I don't you know what I'm saying like it's it's easy to meet those needs but it I

39:15

think it mostly speaks to an awareness thing like once you know that that need exists it's like oh I can help yeah I

39:23

can help well John's very good too just shout out to John Buchanan um our our Pastor John's very good too again about

39:30

practical application and and that's where even my thought earlier of like you know lay it down at Jesus's feet and

39:36

pray your way through like yeah those those things um are certainly words but like what action are you putting with

39:43

those words you know what are your practical applications for what you've just said he's very big on that and I

39:50

think some people just need to sit down and have conversations cuz they don't even realize um um so many times we

39:57

enter into spaces with our heart without um H communicating well and so we don't

40:05

truly understand the need um and so we may think about foster care and we may

40:10

think of entering to it with our heart and a whole lot of biases and just be

40:17

doing it all wrong you know and we think oh they need this and this cuz we for some reason we this is a whole another

40:23

conversation but we attach foster care with poverty which is weird like just

40:29

the two are not always in and so we start thinking about all of

40:34

these things that we would give to like the homeless community and just like they are not the same it's not the same

40:41

and so but I don't fult anybody for this it's just like we just need to have these conversations yeah we need to have

40:47

those conversations there's an education and awareness yeah and traditionally I don't think those things have been made clear so it's like now that we can make

40:53

those clear people do know how they can help you know how they can find their path whether it be firing up a grill

41:00

whether it be providing a space for you guys to do the project whatever you mentioned a simple I don't know if it's

41:05

an actual program you guys have or or help uh to to to create and continue but

41:11

it's essentially like okay if you know if you have a foster family at your

41:16

church give them a Friday night where you either maybe maybe you cook the meal

41:22

for them y that's one thing that they don't have to do that week uh or maybe maybe you give them reprieve you know

41:28

that you give them a day to go be be people and and you watch the

41:34

kids for a bit you know so it's like there are so many ways that you can help

41:40

and here's the thing I bet you're equipped to do it oh yeah um you're equipped to do something yes so that was

41:47

the rap um R that's it it that's it we we walk alongside the Faith Ministries

41:52

to encourage them to create rap Ministries um and it's just how it sounds a team of people within the faith

41:59

community that are dedicated to a family to to essentially wrap around them and

42:04

we just talked about the endless possibilities there where it is giving them a um a day off or um coming to

42:11

Mother lawn or they have really sick kiddos and they're a single parent so they need somebody to go pick up the

42:17

groceries yes um they just need somebody to vent to or just need to go to coffee with them that understands the space

42:23

that they're in um we even talked about um if you are a church and you want to

42:29

encourage people to become foster parents if you're going to do that also become a church that's going to support them so maybe throughout the training

42:36

you know they have a family they have a night that they got to go to training take some food over there to them like

42:42

so they don't have to cook make it easy for them to get certified you know absolutely and so and then further walk

42:49

alongside them and um when we think about the people that are in our faith

42:56

they go to church with us like isn't that what we're already doing and we're already trying to show up for them you

43:02

know and so why not show up for them and we how many baby showers do we throw because somebody is having a child or

43:09

how many times do we grieve with people because they have lost someone you know and so I thought of that exact example

43:15

like you think about all the meals that are made you know especially in the South like you mentioned you have a

43:21

death in the family you're not that's one thing in the South you're not going to have to worry about for at least a week is food yeah you're you're not

43:27

going to have to cook for then here's the thing after the week mhm MH that help

43:35

and this is this is bad but like the help quits you know the help goes away and then you're back to and and I know

43:41

you appreciate the help I've been there like it's it's very welcome but fostering it's not just a one time thing

43:48

you know like it's it's a continual so yeah you there's ways to continually support and continually help well

43:54

continually support and I think you know again shed positive light you mentioned like baby showers and things something that just popped in my head is I've

44:00

never seen a shower thrown at least in my experience for a family who just adopted a kid yes like how much that

44:06

would mean to a I've seen that once and I was like that's such a cool you guys are acknowledging the fact

44:13

that yeah we're going through you know training we're we're you know incorporating somebody now in into our

44:19

family our life changed overnight yeah our life changed overnight essentially I think shedding light on that again a

44:24

foster shower would be something that's like pretty cool we have a rap team that

44:30

um they in Kingsport and they they have a family that they just started rapping

44:35

um and she needed another bedroom in her

44:41

like she had this room but it needed to qualify as a bedroom so it needed a door and something else and somebody on that

44:49

rap team did uh was like a contractor and so they went over there and and

44:57

and I was like that is so like he used his skill that he paid for to just like

45:04

um to help her out and so to him it was nothing but for her it's probably like oh my

45:10

God yes and it did mean a lot and so like the what in the South like you said

45:17

you can guarantee week two weeks top and support for anything and then it fades away but with those rap Ministries but

45:24

we're encouraging yes the continual and their structure we teach the the faith community like the

45:32

the the bones of a rap Ministry okay and then encourage them like okay here is the bones of it you take this and at

45:41

least six months you're giving the these this family um this this support and if

45:47

you want to go longer you can but um and so it really exposes people like how you

45:54

guys were exposed to it behind the lens of a camera it exposes this team of

45:59

people to foster care in a different way right that's y that's awesome actually I

46:05

forgot that y'all had I remember it now because you gave us some some paperwork in the rap ministry that's awesome yeah

46:12

so you have I think I saw in your lap earlier um some resources I believe uh

46:17

maybe some statistics would you like to hit us with any of those things and maybe to our listeners as well yeah so

46:23

when they hear about Tennessee kids Bel long and we talk about like how we recruit so we recruit families and then we recruit a community for those

46:30

families and then we also work in Coalition so we work we do work with chamber of commer and all these other

46:36

places that are already um impact the community to help them also impact the Foster Care Community um and so you know

46:46

we're nothing without the numbers right yeah I mean the fact you got to have measurables yeah you have to have you

46:52

have to have some measurables and it always impresses me because like we're out here doing this out you having these conversations but like there is impact

46:59

being made and so like the biggest thing that I was thinking about was that like how many kids that we have done their

47:06

videos and so we have done over 700 videos at this point um since we've

47:12

started and over 400 of those have went on to be adopted that's phenomenal yes

47:17

it is it's great like those are great outcomes our goal last year was to do

47:23

that's a 60% kill kill rate right there that's awesome it's amazing like it is absolutely amazing um what we have been

47:31

able to do with these video shoots um but yeah so last year our goal was to do

47:37

150 videos and we did like 206 videos you guys are exceeding exceeding

47:44

expectation over half of those those kiddos got placed um where they got ad

47:51

right beautiful so it's just like it it works and you know we are in the faith

47:58

communities we're bringing more churches to walk alongside us which is odd that's

48:04

my happy place um there's just amazing people already doing amazing work and to

48:10

further extend their work by like you're already you're already in the the the

48:16

jails you're already in the homeless communi you're already focusing on poverty like it's nothing to also like a

48:23

lot of those social wounds that churches already focus on you wouldn't believe

48:30

how they are attached to the foster care and a lot of those people that end up in

48:36

forcing situations like either they were in foster care themselves and they never got the support and it's just this

48:42

continuous cycle and so it's like why not understand foster care um and so we

48:47

are growing in those areas we have faith cohorts um across the state of Tennessee

48:54

that are constantly growing and just in the last month alone U we found out that

48:59

in some parts of Tennessee that um churches have reached out to folks just like me and like Hey we're ready to

49:05

start a cohort in this County um and so right now for Northeast Tennessee I just have one and I meet with churches um

49:14

that are it's it's nice to work in this space with other people that also have

49:20

the passion so they just encourage each other um and so yeah so that is that is

49:26

growing we have our foster friendly businesses and so we have a app called The Foster friendly app where we connect

49:32

Foster families to okay to to the churches to the businesses to resources yes that's awesome nice y'all my goal um

49:40

this year was to get like 10 businesses on that app it is February

49:46

February and it has exceeded oh you what's the number listen I can't oh my

49:53

God you need to set Higher Goals I know like I didn't realize call I ain't calling you out but uh I believe Jesus

49:59

said oh you have little faith you know call me out call me out no it's it's funny because it's funny

50:07

mou wide and I will feel it when we go at church uh when we go to do like our Easter Canadas or or Christmas kadas we

50:14

always buy the books so that the the singers can can follow along and there's

50:19

always this dilemma of like okay we usually have about this many in the choir and it's like how many books should we buy and whatnot and it was

50:27

funny because you know James uh he's he's our he's our pastor's brother he's

50:33

he uh he said listen I bought 50 books and we're going to fill them and we're going to fill and he ended buy books

50:39

it's like you know it's it's one of those things where it's like yeah you just you know don't don't don't box the Lord in don't box

50:47

the Lord there a lot of people here that have been fortunate to be business owners that they seriously have a heart

50:53

for foster careing adoption and um whether they've adopted themselves or their family with foster parents and

51:00

like it's so it's been amazing to enter into some of these like we just got Vision um oh my gosh not Vision virtual

51:08

Quest they're they do the virtual reality in the in the mall Vision Quest

51:13

that's what it is Vision Quest something like that I know which one you're talking about it's the one that uh it's at the end cross from the optometrist so

51:19

that's where I go to the eye doctor in the mall yeah and so they have that they have that space that place is massive by

51:26

the way it's really it's a lot of lights it's a lot of lights it is massive we

51:33

had our we had our daughter in there for her birthday uh last month her her birth well beginning of this month um she did

51:39

a little princess birthday party at the The Little Princess Place there right across from the VR place I'm like sis

51:45

why don't want go to the VR place she want her princess birthday that's cool so they're on the roster then yes they

51:51

were excited and the thing that I've learned is that like that's like total oppos oppos of the business that you

51:56

would think would be on the roster which again is awesome yes but people like that like

52:01

they they were almost honored to be brought into the space it's like yes we

52:07

want to be a part and sometimes I don't think people realize like how the

52:14

business that they have could be beneficial to well again a virtual reality well but it's the awareness

52:21

thing though some foster parents was like we want to um have discounts to do birthday

52:27

parties and they mention that place and I was like okay we'll give it a world

52:32

yeah you make it happen yes and so um and so we just recently had a lot of

52:37

photographers come on and um and so so yeah like that's we operate in the

52:44

business world too and it's been great yes it's great to get those discounts for the Foster family um and get them on

52:51

the app um but it was even greater for me cuz I'm such a human and a people

52:56

person is to like get the why behind some of those people that are you know

53:01

seeing yes like yes we'll support family yeah that's fine you know I want to know the why though you

53:08

know yeah that's rad absolutely now you told you told us the other day how many

53:14

how many was it uh in the state of Tennessee that are currently in the system we're we're just under 9,000

53:20

which um we were Teeter tottering on that line for a little while we got over 9,000 but now we're just under

53:28

9,000 um and so so yeah and still still a a need to be met yes in Northeast

53:35

Tennessee um solivan County um is has the highest need right now then we

53:43

Washington County um and so really just trying to focus on those areas and

53:49

just bringing you know my hope is that the more Community Support that we have

53:55

people are more um especially when you think about people that move to this area and they don't have a lot of family

54:00

and they're like I want to be foster parents but I don't have a lot of support and so I really want to create

54:06

so much support within the community that more people feel um encouraged to do it encour to they know they've got

54:13

the backing yes huge that is huge um you know we we talk about this uh at the end

54:20

of that at the end of that uh meeting at Still Waters the other day and uh

54:26

you know John was like we've probably got tons

54:31

of people in our community in our area who you know perhaps they

54:38

are relatively young empty nesters at this point they' still got a lot of parenting they've got some parenting

54:44

left in them they can do it's like you know a lot of times a lot of times with with I've heard of it I'm not there yet

54:49

obviously but like a lot of times when you have kids when they leave the the the the

54:57

couple you know they're left yeah and so like a lot of times they've wrapped their identity in the kids and so it's

55:03

like they they stay they they have a void yeah there you know um have a little bit of a a what to do at that

55:10

point in time our life now 25 years is you know now different because we're

55:16

empty nesters I see that with with our kids grandparents I mean our our grandparents or well the kids

55:22

grandparents like they love having them over and I'm like you guys don't love your peace and quiet they're like no we

55:27

like to peace and quiet but sometimes it's too quiet yeah like because they had you know well with my mom and dad

55:32

they had three boys yeah you know Sarah's parents had her and her brother so it's like they miss the noise

55:37

sometimes I'm like how can you miss the noise but like they do well but that's a perfect example of like you could give a family reprieve for a day yes because

55:44

that's that's I think that's the Allure of being a grandparent is like you can send them home you

55:50

know and send him to the send him back home like that's the but like you can

55:55

still do that and you're helping and so yeah I think I think if there's anything that that a listener should be

56:02

encouraged from this episode is that there's a way you can help um and so

56:09

speaking on that I don't want your phone or your email inbox to blow up if that's

56:15

not the preferred communication method but in the event that a listener is like

56:20

oh dude I've got this business we definitely can help or whatever what

56:25

channel would should we point them to in regards to to to to becoming a help blow

56:32

blow my email it she wants email so we can put the email in the description

56:38

there description below Reach Out TOA okay perfect yeah Aisha Tennessee kids

56:44

belong I don't know what we'll put her we'll put her in we'll put the handle down in there um are there any other resources that you can turn our audience

56:51

on to maybe anything resonated maybe a church is is is has heard this and they're like oh I want to we we we can

56:57

help yeah how do we get involved yes um it just depends on like how people want

57:02

to get involved like I I think the best thing to do is just to reach out and let's just have a conversation um and so

57:09

you guys have a website as well correct yes check out our website there's so much information on there for the F Foster friendly Community for the

57:15

business and the faith side there is a ton of resources to just figure out what it is and then I where you can fit mm

57:22

where you can fit and if the website answer the question like bet we can just talk yeah we can just talk and like

57:29

whether it's to go um on to do something with me or um to give their time or

57:37

resources or whatever that is to become a foster friendly business right um it's literally endless this space is endless

57:45

that's what I've learned to the need the need is endless too Bingo the need is inless Aisha thank you thank you for

57:51

having me thank you for coming on today this has been again I I get excited talking about your guys' mission um

57:58

because that that One Singular day that that we had with you guys it it hit me

58:03

like a ton of bricks so I appreciate what you guys are doing and I I look forward to continuing to finding our

58:09

place uh in that thank you guys finding our Bell to ring finding our Bell to Ring to start having a bill and at the

58:18

end um speaking of ringing Bells if this episode has rung any bells uh and our

58:25

listeners ears we would love to hear about that what are some things that our listeners can do to to help the episode

58:30

Help the channel here yeah give us any sort of feedback um rate US leave us a

58:36

review stars and bars we read every one of them good and uh good and bad we appreciate all of them um other than

58:43

that again if I I my goal and my prayer for this episode is that at least one

58:49

person one entity one business one Whatever has now been eye opened and they're like oh

58:55

I can help yeah and they reach out so reach out to Aisha we'll put her contact information below as well as uh the tkb

59:03

tkb um you can watch some of the videos there if you want to I will caution you you better have a box of tissues get the

59:10

clean X's out get the Kleen X's um man tough stories here's the hard part yeah

59:17

I will see you guys in the next one he didn't make that very hard again all right y'all have a good one we'll see y'all later thanks again