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Eric Liszt had been a foster parent for six years when he met his foster daughter, who we will call Angelica to protect her privacy. She was only four, but she was already experiencing intense psychological distress, and was hospitalized multiple times. It wasn’t long before he was traveling internationally to try to reunify her with her father, hoping that the family connection would be what she needed to thrive. The post Season 2 Episode 3 – Eric Liszt appeared first on The Future Is Family.

In this Episode of What The Foster, Alejandra moves to the United States to live with her new family, but it isn’t the ending she imagined for herself. For more information on foster care in New Jersey, visit www.embrella.org To hear more true stories from foster care, visit www.futureisfamily.org The post Episode 11 of What the Foster – Alejandra Part 2 appeared first on The Future Is Family.

Alejandra tells her foster care story, starting in a small town in Colombia where she faces neglect while her mother and father struggle with addiction. She and her brother end up in a foster home, but the neglect and abuse get worse, leading to her brother’s death. When the neighbors notice the physical abuse, they call the police, and she is removed from the home. She moves a few more times before a family from the United States shows interest in adopting her. For more information on foster care in New Jersey, visit www.embrella.org To hear more true stories from foster care, visit www.futureisfamily.org The post Episode 10 of What The Foster – Alejandra Part 1 appeared first on The Future Is Family.

Since entering foster care, Stephanie had relied on her social skills to navigate her life.  Now that she was preparing for college however, all of the emotions and trauma that she had been running from were catching up to her.  This week, in our final episode of Season 1, listen in to learn how a bathroom door set Stephanie on a collision course with her past trauma and helped lead her to her future career with Wells Fargo. For more information on foster care in New Jersey, visit www.embrella.org To hear more true stories from foster care, visit www.futureisfamily.org The post Stephanie, Part 3 – WTF? s01e09 appeared first on The Future Is Family.

In foster care after immigrating to the United States, Stephanie was determined to make the most of her life.  After being separated from her mother and siblings, Stephanie wound up in a transitional living home.  In this episode, Stephanie shares with us the ways her time in that group home affected her, and shows how she worked to achieve her dreams despite the setbacks associated with removal.  Listen in to hear about her experiences with prison food, independent living and the beginning of her life after foster care. For more information on foster care in New Jersey, visit www.embrella.org To hear more true stories from foster care, visit www.futureisfamily.org http://www.futureisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/wtfs01e08.mp3   The post Stephanie, Part 2 – WTF? s01e08 appeared first on The Future Is Family.

http://www.futureisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/wtfs01e07psa.mp3 This week, we meet Stephanie, a German immigrant who ended up in the New Jersey foster care system after her arrival in the United States.  Today, Stephanie works for Wells Fargo in public relations, but in 2006, that future seemed distant.  Separated from her family as a teenager, Stephanie found herself in a group home, getting meals from the juvenile detention center next door.  Follow Stephanie as she navigates the foster care system and tries to find success. For more information on foster care in New Jersey, visit www.embrella.org To hear more true stories from foster care, visit www.futureisfamily.org The post Stephanie, Part 1 – WTF? s01e07 appeared first on The Future Is Family.

In the last part of his foster care story, Shakree receives a book that inspires and shapes his life’s journey and he navigates state programs to help him pursue his dreams.  Meanwhile, Ananda also heads to college. She doesn’t share her past with her new friends out of fear that it will alter their perceptions of her.   For more information on foster care in New Jersey, visit www.embrella.org To hear more true stories from foster care, visit www.futureisfamily.org http://www.futureisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/wtfse01e06.mp3     The post Shakree & Ananda, Part 3- WTF? s01e06 appeared first on The Future Is Family.

Ananda is forced to reevaluate her idea of a “foster kid” when she becomes one. Shakree has to figure out where he, and his daughter, are headed in life. http://www.futureisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/wtfse01e05.mp3 The post Shakree & Ananda, Part 2 – WTF? s01e05 appeared first on The Future Is Family.

Shakree’s mother died when he was five, leaving him to bounce from home to home for much of the next decade. Ananda’s mother’s troubles sent Ananda from New Hampshire to New Jersey to live with her stranger of a father. How do these adolescents respond to developmental years filled with turmoil and instability? Listen to find out. http://www.futureisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/wtfse01e04.mp3   The post Shakree & Ananda, Part 1 – WTF? s01e04 appeared first on The Future Is Family.

Kaysie would not be adopted. Left to figure out her own future, she began a new chapter in Camden, New Jersey. This week on What the Foster?, witness the final part of Kaysie’s story as she finds the path that would eventually turn her from an average high school student to a successful, driven social worker and advocate for foster youth. What the Foster? is produced by embrella, a New Jersey foster care non-profit.  “For more information on foster care in New Jersey, visit www.embrella.org. To hear more true stories from foster care, visit www.futureisfamily.org.     The post Kaysie, Part 3 – WTF? s01e03 appeared first on The Future Is Family.