From Foster to Forever

From Foster to Forever

Rachel Fulginiti

There are many ways to build your family. Fostering-to-adopt is not the easiest, but it's a beautiful and profoundly impactful thing to do. Join Rachel Fulginiti, a voice actor and two-time foster to adopt mom, as she shares her own story and the stories of others who have successfully navigated the foster care system and landed at adoption. We explore the complex journey, touching on subjects like welcoming newborns or older children into your home, resiliency through loss and heartbreak, transracial adoption, special needs, co-parenting through a divorce, and more. We also aim to amplify the voices of adult adoptees...

Transforming Lives Through Foster Care: A Conversation with Dr. John DeGarmo

Transforming Lives Through Foster Care: A Conversation with Dr. John DeGarmo

Rachel Fulginiti sits down with Dr. John DeGarmo, a powerhouse in the world of foster care and adoption, to dig into the importance of providing every child with a forever family. Dr. DeGarmo shares his heartfelt journey into fostering, sparked by personal loss and a desire to help kids who have faced unimaginable challenges. With over 60 children welcomed into his home, he’s not just talking the talk; he’s living it. We dive into the nitty-gritty of what it means to foster, the misconceptions t

Feb 25, • 50:45

From Cancer Survivor to Mom: Heather Keller's Adoption Journey

From Cancer Survivor to Mom: Heather Keller's Adoption Journey

Actress and cancer survivor Heather Keller joins us today, sharing her inspiring journey as a foster-to-adopt mom in a transracial family. Heather shares what led her to fostering and how she managed to begin the journey while also performing a one-woman show overseas. As the episode progresses, we discuss the unique challenges and joys that come with raising a child of a different race and how it has opened her eyes to the realities of the world around her. Heather opens up about her experience

Feb 18, • 58:13

Family Dynamics: Therapist Jeanette Yoffe on the unique needs of adopted children

Family Dynamics: Therapist Jeanette Yoffe on the unique needs of adopted children

Jeanette Yoffe dives deep into the complexities of foster care and adoption in this enlightening chat. As an adult adoptee, she shares her personal experiences, revealing how her journey through the foster system shaped her career as a psychotherapist advocating for children in similar situations. We discuss the crucial role of emotional support for kids grappling with grief and loss, emphasizing that they can't always piece together their stories alone—sometimes, they need a little help from th

Feb 11, • 1:11:52

Navigating the Emotional Rollercoaster of Foster Care

Navigating the Emotional Rollercoaster of Foster Care

Maryanne shares her compelling journey as a foster parent navigating the complex and often tumultuous world of foster care. She emphasizes the emotional rollercoaster that comes with fostering, highlighting the unique challenges of raising children in limbo while waiting for legal resolutions. Maryanne's story dives deep into her experiences with sibling sets, the impact of the legal system on children's lives, and the importance of community support. The conversation also touches on the weight

Feb 4, • 1:06:28

Empowering Foster Families: Brittany Viebrock on Support and Community

Empowering Foster Families: Brittany Viebrock on Support and Community

Brittany Viebrock, the Program Success Manager at Austin Angels, joins Rachel Fulginiti to discuss the vital support system for families and youth navigating the foster care system. The mission of Austin Angels is to walk alongside these families, providing volunteers who offer relationship-building and wraparound support. Brittany shares her extensive experience working with children in foster care and highlights the significant difference that community support can make in reducing the number

Jan 28, • 48:20

The Power of Kinship: How Naika Became a Foster Mom

The Power of Kinship: How Naika Became a Foster Mom

The heartfelt discussion between Naika Andre and Rachel Fulginiti delves deeply into Naika's profound journey as a foster mom, focusing on her experiences caring for her godson amidst challenging family circumstances. The episode begins with Naika sharing the pivotal moment when she stepped into the role of a foster parent due to her godson's mother's mental health struggles. This transition was not just about taking on a new title but involved a significant emotional commitment and responsibili

Jan 21, • 49:59

Adoption, Sobriety and Resilience: a conversation with Beth Dubber

Adoption, Sobriety and Resilience: a conversation with Beth Dubber

In this episode, we welcome Beth Dubber, a busy still photographer and an adoptee who later became a foster-to-adopt mom. Beth shares her multifaceted story, including her experiences with IVF, adoption, and navigating life as both an adoptee and an adoptive parent.She discusses the challenges of infertility, her sobriety journey, and surviving breast cancer. Beth opens up about the emotional and psychological aspects of adoption, societal perceptions, and the complexities of her experience. She

Jan 14, • 1:05:52

Young, Queer and Suddenly Dad: Billie Oh's Unexpected Foster to Adopt Journey

Young, Queer and Suddenly Dad: Billie Oh's Unexpected Foster to Adopt Journey

I found my way to Billie Oh via a beautiful article in the Huffington Post about their experience with Single Foster Dad Adoption. Billie began the foster journey with no intention of adopting, but life had other plans. No stranger to the foster care system, Billie grew up having foster children in the home. In addition, Billie's aunt and mom (the great writer Jeannine Ouellette,)had been in foster care as children themselves. Billie felt a calling to help. Suddenly welcoming a two year old into

Jan 7, • 1:05:30

Using Your Sphere of Influence with actress Jen Lilley

Using Your Sphere of Influence with actress Jen Lilley

Days of Our Lives and Hallmark Channel star Jen Lilley is a foster-to-adopt mom and philanthropist who donates tons of her time, money and energy to championing the cause of foster youth. In this episode she takes time out of her busy filming schedule to discuss why she chose to spotlight foster care and adoption as her cause of choice. In the episode Jen details how she and her husband decided to begin fostering and how they ultimately adopted two siblings, as well as eventually having two biol

Dec 14, 2024 • 1:00:54

Quick Season 1 Update

Quick Season 1 Update

Just a quick message of thanks and gratitude for supporting the show and an update on what's next. We're currently working on a Season 2. I am also finishing up an offering that I hope to have out in early summer: Two new books:From Foster to Forever: Surviving the Journey (A handbook for Parents) and From Foster to Forever: A workbook to help you decide if foster-to-adopt is for you. I'll have a pre-order link up as soon as it's available. In the meantime, if you have already left a rating/revi

May 7, 2024 • 3:45

Unconditional Love: A teacher adopts her student

Unconditional Love: A teacher adopts her student

I couldn't think of a better way to close out Season One than by sharing Stacey and Demi's unique story. It begins when Stacey was a new teacher in her first job. Demi was a pre-teen with a challenging family life. At school she was "always in trouble", but Stacey found a way to connect with her. When Demi ended up needing a foster home, the only person she could think of to call was Stacey. And so began their life together. This is such a great conversation because we have both Stacey and Demi,

Apr 2, 2024 • 1:10:32

Safe Surrenders, Inspiration, Resilience and Commitment

Safe Surrenders, Inspiration, Resilience and Commitment

This is a very special episode because it features our first nanny, Morgan, who we met when she first arrived in LA from the East Coast. Morgan found out about foster care and foster-to-adopt through working for us and decided it was something she felt called to do. Her husband agreed and shortly after becoming certified, they received Ventura County's 13th ever Safe Surrender baby. They went through the process and adopted him and have since gone on to foster multiple children, providing a safe

Mar 26, 2024 • 58:44

Transracial adoption & co-parenting through divorce

Transracial adoption & co-parenting through divorce

This episode tells the story of Amy and Tiger, two creatives who "met old" and wanted to start a family. With money constraints, they found their way to foster-to-adopt, and after an arduous fostering process, were able to adopt their daughter. We discuss so many topics on this episode:-The feeling of "otherness" that can sometime occur as an adoptive family. -Transracial adoption and as white people, some ways to support an African American child. -Tokenism and representation in the media.-Thei

Mar 19, 2024 • 53:27

Single dad fosters many before finding forever

Single dad fosters many before finding forever

Jay Shindell found fostering by "accident". The single dad was only originally going to do emergency placements but soon after welcoming the first baby into his home, he was in love and wanted to adopt. He survived multiple placements, supporting many birth families and helping them get on their feet before finally finding his son (who you can hear cooing sweetly in the background throughout the interview!). Jay talks about how he dealt with loss, how he remembers and honors the children that ha

Mar 12, 2024 • 55:06

Reunification & depression lead to magic

Reunification & depression lead to magic

Jesse and Hope have been foster family advocates for years, helping others to navigate the foster-to-adopt journey, after adopting two children of their own through the Los Angeles foster care system. Indeed, they also helped my husband and I when we were embarking on ours, sharing strategies for everything from what questions to ask when considering a placement, to interfacing with the County and more. It was wonderful to meet again after so many years and discuss the foster-to-adoption process

Mar 5, 2024 • 56:11

Ups and downs interfacing with challenging system

Ups and downs interfacing with challenging system

Kira Cook always knew she wanted to adopt. She decided to foster-to-adopt soon after having a biological child. In this episode she details the difficult reunification of her first foster daughter and how she subsequently found the child that would become a part of her forever family. She talks about the challenges of working with the foster care system, maintaining the birth order between children, her pre-conceived notions about drug exposure and gives advice about how to move forward if some

Feb 27, 2024 • 49:35

Two dads adopt an older child through foster care

Two dads adopt an older child through foster care

Ted and Carlos adopted Daniel when he was eight through the foster care system. His parental rights had already been terminated and he'd been through multiple failed placements before arriving in their home. On this special episode, we get to hear from Daniel, himself, about his experiences, as well as chat with Ted and Carlos about the joys and challenges of adopting an older child who has been in the system longer and how they surmounted difficulties through love, patience and perseverance. Th

Feb 20, 2024 • 57:13

Infertility and Loss led to foster-to-adopt, the best decision ever.

Infertility and Loss led to foster-to-adopt, the best decision ever.

In part two of my initial two "mini-sodes" to kick off this podcast, I interview my husband and best friend, Joe Fulginiti. Joe and I already knew we hit the lottery with our relationship. When we began to struggle with fertility challenges, health issues and carrying a pregnancy, we wondered if we could just be happy being child-free. We did a lot of soul-searching and figured out we still wanted kids. That set us off on a quest for how to do that. We researched many different avenues for start

Feb 6, 2024 • 34:19

Facing fears and finding forever through foster-to-adopt

Facing fears and finding forever through foster-to-adopt

In this inaugural episode, I introduce who I am, why I decided to start the show and how my family came to foster-to-adopt. I give a brief background on my career as an actor and then a voice actor and audiobook narrator as well as my relationship with my husband and our surprise struggles to have children. I go on to detail how the intentional building of our forever family unfolded over the past decade. I share other options we explored for starting a family, such as IVF, "straight adoption"

Feb 5, 2024 • 26:42

From Foster to Forever - Trailer

From Foster to Forever - Trailer

This is the trailer for the brand new "From Foster to Forever" podcast. Season One features interviews with a variety of folks who have successfully navigated the foster-to-adopt journey and arrived at forever. Topics discussed include how to handle the ups and downs, dealing with loss, transracial adoption, co-parenting through a divorce, same-sex parenting, being an older parent, adopting an older child, and signs and synchronicities, among many other things. The show is hosted by award-

Feb 1, 2024 • 1:00

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