For decades, child welfare systems have been receiving disability and survivor benefits owed to youth in foster care. Often these dollars are not saved for those children, or used for their unique needs.
Amy Harfeld, national policy director for the Children’s Advocacy Institute, has been among the staunchest advocates working to stop this practice. She joined the podcast to talk about the history of this issue, what states are doing to reform, and why she is optimistic about federal action in the near future.
Harfeld has served as the national policy director for the Children’s Advocacy Institute since 2010. During this time, she has also spent time leading the National Coalition to End Child Abuse Deaths, the Children’s Leadership Council, the American Bar Association’s Commission on Youth at Risk, and served as pro-bono government affairs liaison for the National Association of Council for Children.
Thanks to Lyssn.io for sponsoring this week’s episode.
“Life is not what happens to you, but how you respond to it.”
In this transformative episode of the Resilient Voices & Beyond Podcast, host Michael D. Davis-Thomas (MDDTSpeaks) reconnects with long-time friend and fellow advocate Ashley Watkins—and what unfolds is nothing short of sacred. Together, they journey through Ashley’s powerful testimony of resilience, healing, and divine surrender.
Ashley Watkins, a spoken word poet, therapist, foster care advocate, and founder of Her Untold Stories Heard, opens up about her evolution—from surviving childhood trauma, navigating the foster care system, and enduring abuse, to stepping boldly into the woman God called her to be. In this vulnerable yet victorious dialogue, Ashley shares how she moved from living in the shadows of her pain to reclaiming her voice, redefining her worth, and helping other women heal through truth and transparency.
“Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” – Colossians 3:23
In this deeply moving episode of Resilient Voices & Beyond Podcast, host Michael D. Davis-Thomas is joined by author, advocate, mother, and lived experience leader Kayann Foster—a woman whose life and work exemplify faith, resilience, and radical healing.
From surviving childhood trauma, homelessness, domestic abuse, and aging out of foster care, to becoming a Lived Experience Consultant for the Department of Children and Families in New Jersey, Kayann’s journey is one of extraordinary transformation. She shares her story with humility and honesty, reflecting on the path that led her from survival mode to sustainable healing—both for herself and for the communities she now serves.
Reclaiming Humanity & Tenderness
Welcome to the cypher! Audio Nuggets is where you will find a symbiotic force; both the heaviness of the air to breathe, and the light of freedom of liberation. Where human consciousness is alive. Each voice has a moment to spotlight their IT; their shine; their journey; their truth; their gold. And through the tenderness of love, we will aggressively claim our voice and own our right to humanity. We are blessed and honored to be joined by Dr. Resmaa Menakem for this episode, Reclaiming Humanity Tenderness.
Embodied provocateur, multiple-levels thinker, and structural paradigm shifter Resmaa Menakem, is an author, agent of change, therapist, and licensed clinical worker specializing in racialized trauma, communal healing, and cultural first aid based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As the originator and leading proponent of Somatic Abolitionism, an embodied anti racist practice for living and culture building, Resmaa is the founder of Justice Leadership Solutions and the Cultural Somatics Institute and is an educator and coach. Working at the intersections of anti-racism, communal healing, and embodied purpose, Resmaa Menakem is the challenging yet compassionate coach we all need in this time of racial reckoning and near-global dysregulation.
We can’t explain what you’re about to listen to. Jump in with tenderness and love for the people. It is our role to tend to things. This is a time to reclaim the things we have been thinking are unclaimable. Because there’s a little bit more room now. The cultivation of glue. The glue of peoplehood.
Supporting Parents Instead of Punishing Them, with Nora McCarthy
Our latest episode features Nora McCarthy, director of the NYC Family Policy Project and founder and former director of Rise, a NYC parent advocacy organization. Nora discusses her recently released article about the harm CPS investigations cause to families. Over a third of all US children will experience a CPS investigation by age 18, and over half of Black children. This, paired with the statistic that only 7% of families take advantage of resources offered by the child welfare system, shows that changes are needed for parents to feel safe in asking for help.
You can read Nora’s article here: https://imprintnews.org/opinion/child-welfare-reckons-with-the-harm-of-investigations/258536.
Episode 200! Headlines and a Youth-Led Mayoral forum in NYC
It is the 200th episode of The Imprint Weekly Podcast! On this week’s episode we go through some fun facts about the first 199 episodes of the show, and then talk to Cheyanne Deopersaud about the virtual mayoral forum on youth issues she organized and will host this week.
We discuss the many things going on in Washington, D.C., including a nominee to lead child welfare policy for the Trump administration; layoffs and reorganization of the agency he will likely lead; and new data on how much states rely on welfare funds to pay for child welfare services. We also discuss the end of the criminal case against a foster youth advocate arrested on Capitol Hill in December, and a few recent great reads from The Imprint.
Thanks to SpeakWrite for sponsoring this week’s episode.
“Your Story Is Your Superpower—Own It, Share It, and Let It Open Doors for You.”
In this transformative episode of Resilient Voices & Beyond Podcast, host Michael D. Davis-Thomas sits down with powerhouse speaker, author, trauma expert, and former foster youth Dr. Danisha Keating for a deeply authentic conversation about healing, identity, and turning pain into purpose.
From living in her car while navigating college, to raising her siblings while building a life rooted in impact, Dr. Keating’s story is one of resilience, grit, and radical self-determination.
She shares how her experiences in the foster care system and with generational trauma shaped her—but didn’t define her. Instead, she reclaimed her narrative and has since dedicated her life to empowering others to do the same through storytelling, education, and systemic advocacy.
As the author of Faith Through the Desert, From Foster to PhD: Letters from a Suitcase, and Taking My Voice Back: Healing What Broke Me, Dr. Keating is a leading voice in the foster care reform space and a nationally recognized coach for speakers and authors. Her mission is clear: to help others own their voice, craft their message, and step into spaces they were once told they didn’t belong.
Letting Go of Power to Give People What They Need with Heather Hanson
In this episode, Valerie sits down with Heather Hanson, Founder of Building Bridges, LLC, and a leader in the Colorado Partnership for Thriving Families. Heather takes us through the journey of The Story of the System—a project that was initiated, designed, and led by individuals with lived experience to transform the way Colorado’s systems engage with families. The project focuses on storytelling and qualitative data to ensure that the voices of those most impacted are heard and understood.
Heather reflects on the pivotal moment when the project idea was born, the power dynamics at play, and how this research led her to start her own consulting business, Building Bridges, dedicated to amplifying the voices of families in systems change. She shares insights on how shifting power from systems leaders to those directly affected by the system can drive sustainable, meaningful change. Tune in to hear about how lived experience leaders are reshaping policies and creating a future where families are supported and empowered.
Investigating Families, with Kelly Fong
Kelley Fong, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine, joins to discuss her work studying the impact of state child welfare systems and their policies on families. Fong, who has written several op-eds for The Imprint, is the author of Investigating Families: Motherhood in the Shadow of Child Protective Service, an examination of the front end of child welfare focused on Fong’s deep research in several New England States.
Reading Room
Investigating Families: Motherhood in the Shadow of Child Protective Service https://shorturl.at/dsb52
“Live life to the fullest, excel despite challenges, and never let those who wish you harm dictate your path.”
In this raw and transformative episode of Resilient Voices & Beyond Podcast, host Michael D. Davis-Thomas is joined by Maegan “Mae” Mason, a resilient advocate, mentor, and lived experience expert who shares her powerful story of survival, self-discovery, and growth.
Mae opens up about her early life—navigating a turbulent home environment that led her into the juvenile justice system by the age of 13. Through 12 years of personal turmoil, system involvement, and institutionalization, she encountered abuse, neglect, and the emotional weight of being misunderstood. Her story reflects the harsh realities many youth face when systems fail to meet their needs with compassion and care.
“Love is the Work.”
In this deeply enriching episode of Resilient Voices & Beyond Podcast, host Michael D. Davis-Thomas welcomes the dynamic State Representative Stephanie A. Young, a legislator, community leader, ordained minister, and fierce advocate for children and families. With over two decades of service in both public and private sectors, Rep. Young brings her unmatched heart, faith, and legislative impact to the forefront—guided by her life mantra: “Love is the work.”
Ending the Foster Care to Homelessness Pipeline in New York City
The transition from foster care to adulthood still happens for thousands of young people each year. It’s not easy anywhere, but perhaps nowhere tougher financially than places like New York City where the market rent is astronomically high and there is almost no vacancy.
Daniel Heimpel, managing director of Good River partners, and Tony Turner. director of the Fair Futures Youth Advisory Board, join to discuss a new venture they are involved in to try and leverage different kinds of philanthropic support, and new approaches to affordable housing, to ensure that youth who exit foster care dont do so into treacherous living conditions and predicaments.
Stay Ready For Freedom
Welcome to the cypher! Audio Nuggets is blessed for the gift to be joined by BeKura Shabazz for this episode- Stay Ready For Freedom.
BeKura Shabazz, a Virginia native, and a mother of four who through her challenges of taking on the system while trying to provide for her children as a single mother, learned the law to protect herself and many others navigating systems of oppression. She is the founder and President of the Injustice Reform Network.
This episode illuminates BeKura’s embodied liberation and freedom. The episode uncovers the interconnectedness of carceral systems and state violence, and how that has fueled BeKura’s purpose in the revolution. Political education, legal education, community education, and learning the language of the oppressor are tactics for BeKura in organizing and movement building, as she activates and unifies people in building a new world and building nets that work. BeKura’s network is her net worth.
The conversation deepens to explore the Injustice Reform Network’s pillars of criminal, family policing, environment, and housing injustice. Oppressive systems don’t narrow their scope; therefore, the vision and mission of the Injustice Reform Network can’t and won’t be narrow and siloed. Many individuals are impacted by a multitude of systems. BeKura reminds us of the need to expand our thinking and our learning.
Naming injustice for the safety and protection of her people is a requirement for the way that BeKura practices justice. The level of care that comes from protecting her village is the care that cares for her. BeKura leaves us with the most beautiful reminder—”We got work to do. If you are already ready, you won’t have to get ready!”
Investing in Family Legal Representation to Improve Outcomes [UPDATE], with Gwen Clegg
In this episode, we re-release the conversation with Gwen Clegg, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Office of Family Representation. At the end of the episode, Valerie and Gwen catch up on what has happened in the past year, including the office’s growth, impact, new innovations, and what’s on the horizon.
As a reminder, Season One hosts, Elliott and Tecoria, talked to Gwen Clegg about Oklahoma’s new statewide Office of Family Representation. The office was so new at the time of the recording that it hadn’t even launched yet. Gwen is a parent defense attorney who has been working tirelessly to improve the quality of family representation in Oklahoma for more than 15 years.
15,000 Adoptions for Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, with Rita Soronen
Wendy’s Wonderful Kids is a program of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption that for decades has focused on finding permanency for older youth in foster care, as well as children with special needs. The program, which received a $200 million commitment to expand in 2017, recently recorded its 15,000th adoption.
Dave Thomas CEO Rita Soronen joins to discuss the experience of scaling up Wendy’s Wonderful Kids and the lessons she learned along the way about how to get initial buy-in on an idea, and then keep support for it going.
Rita Soronen has been the president and CEO of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption since 2001. Prior to joining the foundation, Ms. Soronen served as the executive director of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Franklin County.
Thanks to SpeakWrite for serving as lead sponsor of this episode!
Reading Room
Wendy’s Wonderful Kids: The Biggest Game in Adoption Today https://imprintnews.org/adoption/wendys-wonderful-kids-biggest-game-adoption-today/30696
Nonprofits Are Simultaneously Contemplating Strategy on Two Fronts https://imprintnews.org/adoption/nonprofits-are-simultaneously-contemplating-impact-on-two-fronts/41366
Are 60,000 TPRs Necessary?
In this episode, Angela interviews Professor Vivek Sankaran, Director of the Child Advocacy Law and Child Welfare Appellate Clinics at the University of Michigan’s School of Law. Professor Sankaran encourages stakeholders to question whether TPR is in the best interests of as many children as we think it is. He and Angela talk about his article, The ties that bind us: An empirical, clinical, and constitutional argument against terminating parental rights, which found over 60,000 TPRs were granted annually between 2016-2019, despite a declining foster care population. While recognizing TPR is necessary in some cases, he poses some thoughtful questions for others.
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