In the season 1 finale, Foster Light's founder and Keep Me in The Light's host, Katie Welch, sits down with her husband Nick Welch. They share lesson learned through 8.5 years fostering, the ways it's impacted their marriage, mental health and the ways it's changed them for the good.

Be sure to get your ticket's for Foster Light's Golden Gala Fundraiser! This super fun event held at Hotel Kansas City on May 31st will be a night filled with dancing to live music, yummy food and drink, incredible auction items - and all proceeds help fund Foster Light's work to be a stabilizing force to foster families, so kids in care leave better than when they entered.

Get your Golden Gala tickets here!

Follow us on instagram! @fosterlight

Check out our website! www.fosterlight.co

Ever wondered what the first few hours, days, weeks or months look like when you welcome a new foster placement into your home? Katie and JJ have created a little roadmap for you to follow with tips on how to make those kiddos feel safe and welcomed into your family!

Today, Katie & JJ sit down to discuss 5 things they wish they knew before stepping into foster parenting. You'll get a quick crash course on trauma behaviors, how fostering impacts your marriage and other close relationships, and walk away with a list of questions to process through if you're thinking about stepping into foster parenting! They also discuss some ways you can support foster families in your community if it's not your season to say yes yet.

Questions to work through if you're considering foster parenting:

•  Why do I want to do foster care?
• Am I trying to rescue kids?
• Do I have margin for this?
• How do I typically handle chaos?
• Is my marriage and other key relationships stable?
• Do I have regulated coping skills?
• Can I tolerate ambiguity?

Visit Foster Light on the web!

Check us out on instagram!

Today, Katie sits down with KMITL's co-host, JJ Harper, talk about her journey navigating infertility. JJ shares learning about her diagnosis, wrestling with next steps, and ultimately her and her husbands decision to step into the world of foster care.

Foster Light

@fosterlight.co

It's no secret that foster parenting is inherently stressful. We're not just talking about hard days, but entires seasons, years, decades of chronic stress! Chronic stress can take an immense toll on your spiritual, emotional, mental and physical wellbeing. We don't have all the answers, but Katie & JJ, (two foster mammas) sit down to talk about the lessons they've learned while enduring the chronic stress of foster life.

fosterlight.co

@fosterlight.co

Our guest today is Jonathan Kindler, a licensed professional counselor, professor, a pastor, a podcast host, dad, husband, former foster parent, and most importantly: Katie's brother! Talking with Jon is amazing because you get both clinical insight and spiritual perspective to conversations about emotional and spiritual wellbeing.

Jon has spent more than a decade helping individuals and couples navigate anxiety, trauma, relationships and grief - always with a blend of compassion and biblical truth and practical wisdom. He serves on faculty at Living Faith Bible Institute where he shapes future counselors, and he's the founder of Sound Mind Counseling in Kansas City.

Jon also hosts the Sound Mind Podcast. There, he explores mental health through a biblical lens. We are so excited to hear from him today, his story as it relates to foster care and the grief that comes with it.

Jon's counseling practice, Sound Mind

Jon's podcast, Sound Mind

fosterlight.co

@fosterlight

Katie sits down with Zoya Maverick, a former foster youth, a fierce advocate and tender-hearted voice in the foster care community.

Zoya brings both lived experience and deep compassion to the conversation, sharing honestly about the challenges and the beauty of walking through hard seasons. She's someone who doesn't shy away from the ache, but she also points us back to the light. I can't wait for you to hear her story.

www.fosterlight.co

@fosterlight.co

Today's guest is Rachel Savage, a mom of five, both biologically and through foster care. Rachel has walked through deep grief and has remarkable resilience. After being on the front lines in Afghanistan, becoming a parent, a foster parent, and then walking through the tragic loss of her husband a few years ago, Rachel has continued to parent with extraordinary courage, faith and love. Her story is one of heartbreak and hope: holding onto the light in the middle of pain. She shares with us what it looks like to keep going, to keep showing up for her kids and to keep choosing joy and light in the midst of darkness and sorrow.

fosterlight.co

https://www.instagram.com/fosterlight.co/