Sep 2, 2019
Carrie Thompson is the founder and executive director of the Family Room, a non-profit organization whose mission is to express the love of Christ to the community by meeting the practical needs of children and teens in foster care. Carrie and her husband also have personal experience as foster parents, and in this episode she shares about their journey from fostering to adoption. She gives practical insight into the largely misunderstood world of foster care, and provides practical tips and encouragement for anyone interested in starting their own foster care journey.
Time Stamps:
0:00 - Introduction to Carrie Thompson, Executive Director of the family room
0:57 - Carrie shares how her family started their foster care journey
3:25 - Misconceptions about foster care. What is the purpose of the foster care system?
5:20 - 48% of children who go into foster care are able to go back to their biological families.
6:00 - Carrie shares some of the most surprising parts of their foster care experience
7:30 - What challenges did you face once you brought your son home for the first time?
8:45 - How did bringing home foster children affect the biological children already in the home?
12:00 - Carrie shares the story of how they adopted their two sons
16:25 - Carrie shares about the challenges of having children of two different ethnicities
22:25 - How did family and friends react to the decision to foster and adopt?
25:30 - What is the difference between being pro-life and pro-birth?
29:30 - The Family Room
33:00 - The importance of community for foster parents
37:30 - Practical ways to help support foster parents through The Family Room
40:00 - What are the first steps to becoming a foster parent?
Links Mentioned:
Guilford County (NC) Foster Care - Find out how to get started
The Family Room - Facebook page
Family Room Email - familyroomtriad@gmail.com
Children’s Home Society - Adoption and foster care service
Seven Homes - Provides recruitment, training, licensing, placement, case management, and adoption services for foster and adoptive families.