Fostering Change

As you likely recall, in Season 5, we moved to posting new episodes of Fostering Change bi-weekly. Well, we’ve just met so many amazing humans that we thought we’d make an exception during National Foster Care Awareness Month, so we have four episodes running this month!  Before we get on to today’s show with the amazing Benjy Grinberg, just a suggestion to visit the Comfort Cases website - www.comfortcases.org, and see all of the programs we are working on this month, with some genuinely unique organizations. Thanks.And now, as they say… “On with the Show!”On today’s episode, Rob Scheer speaks with Benjy Grinberg - yes, a GOOD HUMAN.Benjy is the Founder and CEO of Rostrum Records, an independent record label known mainly for developing artists early in their careers and championing their vision. Grinberg started in the music industry at Arista Records as an assistant to record executive Antonio “L.A.” Reid. A career-long champion of the indie community, he leads the labels’ well-recognized, innovative, artist-centric approach driven by his commitment to ensuring the long-term success of his artists. Over the course of two decades, the label has had a diverse roster of chart-topping artists, including Mac Miller, Wiz Khalifa, DC The Don, The Bird and The Bee, 24hrs, Mod Sun, Rockie Fresh, Problem, KT Tunstall, and more. How does this relate to Foster Care? Well, Benjy recently became a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate)! CASAs are everyday community members appointed by a judge to advocate for children in need of care. On today’s show, Benjy speaks with Rob about why he chose to become a CASA and what it means to him.Definitely an inspirational conversation.To learn more about becoming a CASA, please visit https://nationalcasagal.org/To learn more about Benjy:Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/benjybenjyLinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/benjy-grinberg-ba85653/Our next episode will air on May 21. You can also catch up on previous episodes of Fostering Change by visiting www.comfortcases.org/podcast or your favorite podcast outlets.If you have any comments, questions, or guest suggestions, we’d love to hear from you!  Please write to us at info@comfortcases.org.As always, thank you for listening!

May 1 was the first day of National Foster Care Awareness Month. The team at Comfort Cases wants to take a moment to thank and recognize all of the foster parents, foster families, youth who are currently in foster care and those who have “aged out”. Thank you to the CASAs and the social service agencies and workers who are doing their best.And thank you to YOU, our faithful (and new) listeners of Fostering Change. We produce this podcast for you and in support of all you are doing. Thank you for your comments and sharing episodes with friends, family and colleagues.We couldn’t have asked for a better guest for this first episode airing during National Foster Care Awareness Month.  Award-winning journalist Rob Henderson vividly recounts growing up in foster care, enlisting in the Air Force, and surprisingly attending elite universities in his raw coming-of-age memoir, Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family and Social Class.Rob’s book was an instant USA TODAY Best Seller.  In the book and in his interview with Rob Scheer (who is a Navy veteran), he discusses his pioneering concept of “luxury beliefs”: ideas and opinions that confer status on the Upper Class while inflicting costs on the less fortunate.Rob Henderson was born to a drug-addicted mother and a father he never met, ultimately shuttling between ten different foster homes in California. When he was adopted into a loving family, he hoped that life would finally be stable and safe. Divorce, tragedy, poverty, and violence marked his adolescent and teen years, propelling Henderson to join the military upon completing high school.An unflinching portrait of shattered families, desperation, and determination, Troubled recounts Henderson’s expectation-defying young life and juxtaposes his story with those of his friends who wound up incarcerated or killed. He retreads the steps and missteps he took to escape the drama and disorder of his youth. As he navigates the peaks and valleys of social class, Henderson finds that he remains on the outside looking in. Rob Henderson is a columnist at The Free Press and his weekly newsletter is sent to more than fifty thousand subscribers. Learn more at RobKHenderson.com.To find out more about:Visit Rob’s Website and Subscribe to his newsletter: https://www.robkhenderson.com/Twitter: @robkhenderson To learn more about or purchase Troubled, please visit: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Troubled/Rob-Henderson/9781982168537

Today’s episode of Fostering Change is an in depth discussion with Susan Rich, founder and president of 7th Generation Foundation, about FAS: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.  FAS is close to home to our host, Rob Scheer, as one of Rob’s children has FAS.  And although the diagnosis for Rob’s son was that he may never walk, or even talk, his son has achieved amazing things in his life, including being the President of his Student Government in High School, and has been accepted into the college he’s loved for years.Susan and Rob discuss the importance of animal therapy on those diagnosed with FAS (one reason Rob and his husband Reece moved his family to a farm!) 7th Generation Foundation operates an inclusive, sustainable green care farm animal sanctuary with programming for children and youth.Author of The Silent Epidemic: A Child Psychiatrist’s Journey Beyond Death Row, Susan and Rob also discuss the thousands of inmates on Death Row who were in Foster Care and diagnosed with FAS at a young age. This is not a coincidence, and there is much that our society can do to curb this horrifying statistic.To learn more about or to purchase Susan’s book, please visit: www.prenatalalcoholexposure.com To learn more about 7th Generation Foundation, please visit:Website: www.7thGenerationFoundationInc.org or www.dreamcatchermeadows.orgFacebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TheDreamCatcherFarm Blog: www.bettersafethansorryproject.comBook: www.prenatalalcoholexposure.com 

After you listen to today’s episode of Fostering Change, take a moment. Take a breath. Reflect on what you heard, and ponder how you would handle the situations that our guest Jackie Polk faced.Here is part of the note Jackie sent us when she inquired about sharing her story:I'm a boy mom of 3. I have 8 year old twins, and an 11 month old baby. 6 years ago I completely rebuilt my life from rock bottom. My rock bottom was filled with drug addiction, domestic violence and having my children removed from my care. I changed everything about my life and regained custody of my children and have been sober for almost 7 years. I'm happily married to an incredible man who's also in addiction recovery.  I share my story in order to inspire and encourage others to never give up on themselves no matter where they find themselves in life. There's so much of my story that I could feel guilty or embarrassed about which would make it easy to keep to myself but there's so many people struggling the same way that I was and I want them to know that there's hope for a better life. I'm no more special than anyone else, I just decided I wanted a different life and I worked really hard to have it.In our interview, Jackie stated: “Foster care gave me the chance to be a better person… a better mom.”Our host, and founder of Comfort Cases Rob Scheer shared that “We all have the ability to change and write your own life chapters. Don’t let anyone else write them for you.”A reminder that Fostering Change now posts on alternative Tuesdays.  Our next episode will drop on April 23!  You can always catch up on previous episodes of Fostering Change by visiting www.comfortcases.org/podcast or your favorite podcast outlets.If you have any comments, questions, or guest suggestions, we’d love to hear from you!  Please write to us at info@comfortcases.org.As always, thank you for listening!

Jerold Hawkins was introduced to Rob Scheer and Comfort Cases in 2023 when the company he works for, Aptiv, held a “Packing Party,” packing up backpacks filled with new essential items to be delivered to local social service agencies for distribution to youth entering foster care in Michigan.Following the event, Jerold reached out to us because he wanted to share his story: his experience in foster care, moving to a variety of homes over a 5 year period - recalling “all my life’s belongings dumped into a black trash bag.”Jerold shares his journey with Rob and also his now mission to help make positive change to the foster care system. We know you’ll enjoy today’s episode.A reminder that Fostering Change now posts on alternative Tuesdays.  Our next episode will drop on April 9!  You can always catch up on previous episodes of Fostering Change by visiting www.comfortcases.org/podcast or your favorite podcast outlets.If you have any comments, questions, or guest suggestions, we’d love to hear from you!  Please write to us at info@comfortcases.org.As always, thank you for listening!

Today, we welcome back a wonderful guest, Charell Star. We first discovered Charell in 2021 from the “Humans of New York” column and video she was featured. We wanted Charell to come back on our podcast to give us an update on her work in the foster care system since then.Charell shares her common experiences with CASA and talks with Rob about the needs of youth in foster care, especially to promote reunification.“If we were looking to help people, and not penalize people for the unfair luck of being born poor in a system that doesn’t want to support those born without privilege. If we would spend even a fraction of what we spend to take their children away from them… we could actually solve this.”Later this Spring, Charell will be an Honoree at the 2024 CASA-NYC Gala.Charell has finished her autobiography. Once it’s published, you know she’ll be back on our podcast!You can learn more about Charell by visiting her here:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/charellstar/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charellstar/You can read Charell’s “Human’s of New York” story here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CUK7yfSrFT3/?hl=enA reminder that Fostering Change now posts on alternative Tuesdays. Our next episode will drop on March 26! You can always catch up on previous episodes of Fostering Change by visiting www.comfortcases.org/podcast or your favorite podcast outlets.If you have any comments, questions, or guest suggestions, we’d love to hear from you! Please write to us at info@comfortcases.org.As always, thank you for listening!

Often times when children are removed from their homes and brought to a social service agency or law enforcement office, they are not placed in a foster home immediately, and have to spend hours, a whole night, or even days sitting on an uncomfortable office chair, a lumpy couch or maybe an air mattress tucked under a desk. No privacy, and no dignity.Jennifer Tice and her team at LilyPad: A Soft Place to Land have taken steps to end this practice in their home state of South Carolina, and soon throughout the country. Lily Pad volunteers are building comfortable living spaces, within the state’s Department of Social Service offices, for children to feel loved and valued during an uncertain time.Each Lily Pad space is unique to the DSS office it is installed in. You can click HERE to see a “before and after” of what a Lily Pad space is like (or visit this link: https://www.lilypadinc.org/lilypadroomsbeforeandafter)On today’s episode of Fostering Change, you will learn, as Rob Scheer did, more about Jennifer and her family’s road to foster care, and why the name “Lily” is so important to them.All Lily Pad funding comes from volunteers and good humans like you - our listeners.  To find out more about LilyPad, volunteer, or see how you can get involved, please visit: https://www.lilypadinc.org/You can also follow Lilypad on social media:Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/LilyPad.ASoftPlacetoLandInstagramhttps://www.instagram.com/lily.pad.inc/A reminder that Fostering Change now posts on alternative Tuesdays.  Our next episode will drop on February 27  You can always catch up on previous episodes of Fostering Change by visiting www.comfortcases.org/podcast or your favorite podcast outlets.If you have any comments, questions, or guest suggestions, we’d love to hear from you!  Please write to us at info@comfortcases.org.

Happy Valentine’s Day! (one day early)On today’s special episode, of Fostering Change we bring in two of our favorite married couples:David & Julie Bulitt and Rob & Reece Scheer!  Yes, our host and his husband - co-founders of Comfort Cases - discuss relationships, particularly the issues faced by parents who adopt children and how to keep the marital relationship going strong!David & Julie have appeared on Fostering Change before. They have a unique perspective based on their careers as Julie is a licensed clinical social worker and David is a Divorce Attorney. David and Julie have been married for more than 35 years. They have four daughters and three grandchildren and are the authors of two books: Secrets of Strong Couples and the recently released, Couple’s Journal - Goal Setting for Strong Couples.Rob & Reece are soon to be celebrating their 21st anniversary, and as you likely know are the parents of five children, all adopted through the foster care system.In today’s discussion, you will hear the Scheers and Bulitts discuss issues they are currently experiencing as married couples and the solutions they have - including compromise - that keep the lines of communication open and flowing positively.  But they do admit that it’s not all “wine and roses” every day, and you need to work together and on a regular basis to keep the relationship going strong.The Bulitt’s new book, The Couple’s Journal is a terrific tool to do just that.  It helps couples set goals and arranges “check-ins” to make sure you’re actually working on those goals.  They also have a new podcast, Conversations for Couples that we encourage you to listen (after you finish this episode of Fostering Change, of course!)To learn more about David & Julie Bulitt:Website: https://thebulitts.com/ All social media channels: @thebulittsConversations for Couples Podcast: https://audioboom.com/channels/5118597-conversations-for-couplesA reminder that Fostering Change now posts on alternative Tuesdays.  Our next episode will drop on February 27  You can always catch up on previous episodes of Fostering Change by visiting www.comfortcases.org/podcast or your favorite podcast outlets.If you have any comments, questions, or guest suggestions, we’d love to hear from you!  Please write to us at info@comfortcases.org.As always, thank you for listening!