Walking with Moms Foster Wisdom and Holistic Health Support

Matt Darrah (00:01)

Hello and welcome to All Things Foster, a place for coffee, connection, and community. Before we get to our episode today, I wanna thank Sundy Sharp with AMC Mortgage in Amarillo. She can help with any residential mortgage needs and specializes in first time home buyers to help start their journey to generational wealth. She's a local lender, but is licensed to write mortgages in the whole state of Texas. They have lots of... ⁓

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Guys, from a personal perspective, I say this a lot when we're talking about the show sponsors. Sundy is a great, great lady in my BNI chapter. And so, just thank you, Sundy, for your continued generosity ⁓ to this organization. Today's title is, Walking with Moms, Foster Wisdom and Holistic Health Support. And today our guest is Kristen Bostic. I said it wrong, Kristian Bostick. I'm sorry, let practice that and let's don't miss it. How are you?

I'm good. How are you? am good. you're you're with Coalition Health Services. So kind of tell us a little bit. What is that? What do all do? Right. So Coalition of Health Services is a really great sort of umbrella of all these different organizations in our community.

We have everything from resources and support for parents with children that have disabilities. We have the Panhandle Breast Alliance that's there to kind of help with breast cancer screenings. And then of course we have Texas Home Visiting, which is what my program falls under. Texas Home Visiting is really geared towards that early childhood sort of window. ⁓ My program, Nurse-Family Partnership, specifically serves pregnant women all the way up to age two.

All right. So. ⁓

So, you talk about from birth to two. Let's talk a little bit about what's the importance of getting those moms, those young moms, those first-time moms and those new babies. What are they facing? What do you guys do to help with that?

Right, so specifically we ⁓ try to enroll these first time moms. Our program is an evidence-based program. So our science shows us that this is when moms are most accepting of long-term behavior and lifestyle change. So it's a big time whenever, mean, arguably like one of the most important times, is bringing this new life, this new soul into the world. And so we are here to kind of help give them tools and resources.

bring the brain development aspect in. We know that that baby's brain is developing during pregnancy all the way up to age three. And so anything that we can do to improve outcomes for that mom and that baby to support that brain development at that critical time, we know that that's going to produce measurable improvements and good outcomes for them moving forward. Right. Right. So what, so I know you said you do, you do home visits with the moms.

every week or two, is that right? Yes, so we enroll these first-time pregnant women before they are 28 weeks pregnant and then we do home visits. We are a team of six registered nurses. Most of us all have our lactation counselor training also. We have a few girls that are still working on it. But we do those home visits every one to two weeks starting in pregnancy all the way up until their baby turns two. We're very flexible with our clients because we recognize we're there to meet them where they are.

These visits are usually an hour to an hour and half or so and we're gonna go over teaching We're gonna go over resources if they're not already involved in health care. How do we get them involved in health care so they can see a doctor? We're gonna help them with wick. We're gonna do whatever we can to support that family. Okay. All right, so so ⁓

What's the risk if they, because these are first time moms, what's the risk if you guys don't step in and intervene? What do the statistics say that these kids are facing?

I mean, are they talking, are you, I mean, they potentially, if you guys didn't get involved, they potentially could be, you know, born with drugs in their system, malnourished, all those kinds of things. So I think what makes this a little tricky to answer is just that...

Each mom's goals might be a little different, right? And each mom's needs might be a little different. So we have a very individual approach to that. ⁓ Yes, since our moms are vulnerable, we do often, we see moms who are experiencing poverty, moms who are experiencing homelessness, domestic violence, substance use disorders. Mental health is a huge one. And we know that those have a negative impact on a developing baby, that that baby then is going to be more likely to have mental health issues, higher rates of abuse and neglect, ⁓ substance exposure.

or

⁓ just a lack of feeling safe and stable and that has implications long term. So ⁓ we're there to kind of, the nursing process, the first thing we do is we go in and we're gonna assess and we're gonna see specifically what this family's needs are and what their goals are to help them be the best mom they can be. I see, I see. And so how do you find,

How do you find moms? mean, you just go on the street and look for pregnant ladies? Sometimes. Our outreach coordinator, she is out there hustling all the time for those pregnant ladies. But we have really great relationships with our network partners. We have those relationships with places like Hope Choice and Haven Health Clinics, Texas Tech, OBGYN, basically anywhere that we can get in with them.

know, Regents Health Network does a great job of sending us referrals as well. So a lot of it is word of mouth. Sometimes our clients are like, hey, my friend just found out she's pregnant. You guys are so great. Let me tell her about you. yeah. OK. So very cool. So.

So do a lot of your moms. So let me, let me.

The program is just for moms, right? Do you do anything with the dads? Do you have a separate program for that? So we don't have a separate program, but we do want to take a holistic approach. So even though we spend a lot of time marketing towards moms, we're there to support the family. The whole thing. We have content that's tailored for dads as well, because they have a very important role in this.

Sadly, we don't see as much involvement from dads, but we do want to make sure that they have a place in our program. ⁓ I had one client specifically that, you know, things did not work out and the father ended up raising the baby and I continued to do visits with the dad and the baby because they wanted it, they needed it, they were doing the work, you know? So they completed with me. That's cool. So do a lot of the folks that you guys work with, do they...

Do you measure, I don't know, are a lot of them from the foster care system? Do know, do you guys look at that? So that is considered one of our risk factors for eligibility in our program is whether or not they have a history of past foster care involvement or if they have been in the system at some point. I don't have that data with me specifically. I know that, like I mentioned earlier, a few years back we did get specific funding from the state for

serving youth in foster care because there is a need for that. absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Man. So what kind of things, I mean, I you said you guys, you can do some training on like ⁓ nursing and as far as nursing the baby, not RN, but what other kinds of things do you guys work with them on?

Right. So again, that's the thing that kind of varies mom by mom. I might have a 13 year old mother that's never touched a baby, you know, so I'm going to break it down to basics. I'm going to teach her. Do really? Have you really? I have. my gosh. It's it's a really difficult thing and you have to take it all the way down to this is how you change a diaper. This is how you hold a baby. This is how you feed a baby. This is what it means when your baby cries. ⁓ You know, really everything to kind of.

make it where mom is a responsive parent and able to meet her baby's needs with love and and

kind accuracy, it lowers the stress, improves the bond. ⁓ And then I might have a mom that's, you know, 46 and this is her first baby, like it finally happened and her needs might be a little different. She might need support and more teaching on health risks and, and things like that. So it kind of comes down to a lot of different things. We have several different domains. We address mom's maternal health. We address that baby's physical health and development. We're assessing their access to resources. We're providing teaching on caregiving, you know, all of those, all those basics. ⁓

You're

covering a lot of stuff and you're working with them for potentially two and a half, two to two and a half years. Yeah, sometimes pretty close to three if we sign them up early. Yeah, yeah. Wow. So let's talk, do a lot of the folks on your team, what's the exposure as far as personally with foster care? Do you guys have a lot of folks on your team that have foster care stuff in their background like they fostered or anything?

Or is it just you? I think it's just me as far as the personal experience. But you know, I think that anybody that's in the foster care community, we all know somebody that knows somebody that's experienced it in some way, shape or form. Obviously, you know, our clients have some of our clients end up having their own babies come into care and we help them navigate that as well. ⁓

But as far as in their personal life at home, I think that's just me. Just you. So let's talk about your journey for a little bit. Before we started recording, you had mentioned you had a family member who had some experience fostering, right? Right. So there were actually two. My great aunt, she had fostered several children and adopted several children with developmental disabilities and things like that.

And then my aunt, my mom's sister, she adopted two children as well from foster care. So is that what really kind of opened your eyes to want to step into that? Yeah, I think that that kind of started off this feeling of just a sense of responsibility. That this is what community means, that you step in for those kids if you have the means and if you can. Right.

And did you, who'd you get licensed with? So I was initially licensed through CPS. We got licensed right before privatization happened. Okay, so you had to transition over to St. Francis then? Yeah, no, it was great. We got our license and then like a month later they're like, by the way, you got to get relicensed. ⁓ you have got to be kidding me. You had to start the whole thing over? Basically, yeah. Like a lot of our stuff transferred. But we had to kind of go through that process again.

Wow. So did you stay with St. Francis? Did you do a different agency? Initially, we went through A World for Children. Okay, yeah. ⁓ They're wonderful. Great, great agency. Did you guys ever get a placement package from us? I don't...

anybody show up with a bunch of stuff and drop it off at your door? Like at my house? Yeah. I don't think so. Really? When was this? But you know, it was a crazy time because we got licensed in 2019 and then, you know, placement number one came the day we got our license in July and then placement number two was November and then it was like boom, was, you know, COVID. COVID, yeah. Everything's kind of a blur. Yeah, wow. we...

I would be shocked if you guys didn't get a placement package. But I know those first days are chaos, but we... So do you know what our placement package is? I don't. So when a kiddo comes into care, when they get sent to a family, we show up, we contact the family, every kiddo gets a suitcase, a Bible, a teddy bear, a book, toy, and a blanket. And then after that, it's whatever they need. So it could be clothes and...

shoes and diapers and car seats and all the things. So, ⁓ A World for Children is really good about referring us. They may have missed you. don't know. That you may be forgetting, because I know we try to be there within 24 hours of placement. ⁓ And so, we did 80 placement packages last year, which was our best, our most. And then last week we...

We did our 80th for this year. So we're trying to double what we did last year out of 600. Right, about 600 kids come into care in the Panhandle in a given year. And so we're gonna get to where every kid that gets a placement package was made there yet. So let's talk about, you don't mind. You said the licensing process was crazy. You get licensed with one, then have to switch over and then.

You know, all that stuff. But let's talk about that first placement. I can see it in your eyes. What was that like? Honestly, I don't think there's anything that can really prepare you for it. And it's crazy because you go through all these classes, you jump through all these hoops, it feels like the day is never going to come, and you're kind of waiting for it. And then you get your first placement and you're like, wow, that was actually really easy because now I'm here.

responsible for someone else's kid. There should be more involved, you know, but like I said, we got our first placement the day that we got our license. It was actually July 3rd, 2019. So pretty, we just passed that anniversary. And I remember our fad worker opening up her car and coming up to my house and answering her phone. And she's like, the Bosticks Yeah, I'm at their house right now. And then she puts the phone aside and she's like, do you guys want a five week old baby girl? And so I was like,

Okay, I guess it's happening today, you know? Wow. And so, yeah, she came that evening and it's just, it's pretty surreal. And then she's been here ever since. Yeah, so you guys adopted her? Yes, we did when she was two. Awesome. So what was the, I mean, the licensing process is chaos, right? But talk us through those first few days. mean...

You're probably stunned that all of a sudden you had this little person that you were responsible for. How was she? Did she struggle? Was she kind of just felt safe pretty rapidly? So, one thing that I noticed right off the bat was that she definitely seemed sleepier than a lot of newborns and we knew that substances were part of her removal. And so, it took her a few days to really kind of wake up. But she she settled in pretty readily and you know...

She had a lot of tummy issues, but other than that, she did really well. And then her parents were very involved from the get-go, so we kind of settled in, right? Finding the new normal. Right, right. That's good. And then you got one more, is that right? Yes. So when that kiddo was about six months old, my mom gave me a call. My mom's also a nurse and a coworker, friend of hers.

had a niece that had just delivered. And this niece was experiencing homelessness and addiction. And she was kind of in a place where she knew that she was not going to be able to do the work to get her baby back. So she knew that wherever her child was going to be placed would most likely be an adoptive placement. she, I guess they had heard about us fostering, and so they requested that we take the baby. And I was a little apprehensive. Yes, six months apart. Yeah.

But we obviously we did it and she's still with us too. So it was a wild ride, but it was definitely our ride and I don't know that I would change a thing. And she's probably about three right now. No, she actually is going to be six in November. wow, apparently I can't do math. 2019 just doesn't seem like six years ago. No, that's what I said, it's all a That's insane. Yes. Wow. So I always ask this question.

Were there things in your community that people did that were like super impactful and really supportive or were there things that you wish that people had done that they didn't do because they didn't know or anything like that? What was your support wraparound family, church, whatever? What was your support like with these, when you got these babies? Did you have any?

We did we had a lot of family support and we still do and that's the thing that I'm really grateful for You know part of The reason why I decided to transition to this job at nurse family partnership was because of that second placement I remember when I worked at the hospital taking FMLA leave or this second baby, which I hadn't done for the first My supervisor basically told me that fostering was a hobby and that it shouldn't interfere with my job. my gosh and

And this is a nurse at the NICU? Yes. A place that's supposed to be for families, you know? ⁓ And so, ⁓ I actually spent that time on FMLA to find a job that was more family-friendly and I definitely did. The job that I have at the Coalition with Nurse-Family Partnership, they're very supportive, family first, and they recognize that... We call it like a dual process, right? To be able to support those families.

in the community, have to take care of our families at home too. Yeah, absolutely. And so that was really impactful for me. I can't get over that. Your boss saying it's a hobby. ⁓ we're feeding and clothing and caring for these babies. This is not... I'm not going fishing. Right, right. Yeah, so it was something. Wow, that is something. That's... Wow, wow.

So did that experience influence your job choice? I mean, I know you said you wanted to get a job that was more family-friendly, but did your fostering experience influence the decision to come work here? I think it did. Unfortunately, in the healthcare field, sometimes there's different attitudes around things. There's still a lot of stigma around things.

And I think that that's why sometimes we have, it's that whole upstream versus downstream approach, right? We have so many people falling in the river and the healthcare system usually just kind of pulls them back out, right? Whereas Nurse Family Partnership has that upstream approach. We're looking at why people are falling in. ⁓ I like that. And you see it in the NICU, you know, we take care of these families going through really hard things and then their time with us is done and they just go and we don't really know what happens to them.

I remember working in the NICU and I definitely had a soft spot for those families going through hard things. The families that faced judgment and criticism because they were dealing with addiction or homelessness or whatever else. so, getting the chance to work with those families individually and build those relationships and help develop those systems with them to break those cycles was really impactful for me. Yeah, I think that's just so, so important, ⁓ you know, to be able to catch that

these issues before they happen. I mean, ideally, in a perfect world, there wouldn't be a foster care system. wouldn't be children having to be removed. ⁓ But that is the reality. mean, people are broken people. ⁓ But ⁓ being able to jump in and hopefully prevent that from happening, man, I can just see a huge

value to that. mean, man, you talk about changing a generation, right? Because so many times, kids that have been in care end up with their kids in care. mean, it's a generational cycle. And so if you can interrupt that generation, you can impact many generations by ⁓ stepping in ⁓

stepping into that role and preventing that. Wow, that's awesome. So when you talk to somebody that's saying, hey, I think I might want to foster or something like that, what does that conversation look like with you? I'm always supportive of it. I think that we all kind of go into fostering with...

an idea of how that's going to go or what our goals are with that. And so I think it's a great need and I think that people should and I want to be part of that village for them because I think that across the board, whether we're talking about having a baby or taking care of someone else's baby, the general theme is that like we're missing out on the village. So if I can be part of that village for somebody, I'm going to.

But I also try and hit them with a little bit of the realism, too. Like, I don't want to scare them, but I want them to know that, like, fostering has changed me as a person, as a mom, as a nurse. You know, it impacts you and you start to see a lot of the inequities that are out there, you know? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I do know, you know, we measure recidivism in prison, right? When someone's...

Once someone's been in prison, the likelihood that they're going to go back is higher. And we measure that in foster care too. And in Region 1, which is the whole panhandle in the Lubbock area, it's 45 % of kids that have been in care come back into care within five years. And the truth of matter is we're not doing a good job with getting the parents the help that they need.

or deciding earlier on that this isn't going to work, it's not going to get any better. ⁓ But I do know that a lot of ⁓ kiddos end up being removed just because the family is poor, because they can't afford this or that and stuff like that. ⁓ And so yeah, I can definitely see the inequities that you're talking about for sure. ⁓

Yeah, and that's, you know, I, since coming into the nonprofit world, I've learned of so many great resources and things like that, but, and it's really heartwarming to see them, but there's always stuff that you wish there was a little bit more, you know, and the way these systems sometimes miss people, right? But one thing that we talk about in Nurse Family Partnership a lot is that sometimes we are planting a seed, you know, it takes generations to, generations of trauma, generations of poverty to get to where we are.

And we're not going to be able to fix that with one baby, with one pregnancy. But if we can improve that outcome for that mom and baby even a little bit, if we can plant that seed, then hopefully generations from now, you know, it's going to get better. And, you know, I can't help all the kids in care right now. But if I can help my two girls, you know, and hopefully plant that seed, you know what I'm saying? I definitely do. I definitely do. My parents adopted five of us. ⁓

And it's been tough. And it's not 100 % that are doing well. So I won't get into all that. But yeah, when you step in there,

you can break generational curses, you can. And ideally, you break them while they're still at home as opposed to once they've been removed. So, yeah, can definitely see that. I like your metaphor of you're planting that seed because they say you don't plant a tree for you, you plant it for the next generation.

If you could, you shared some statistics with me of some measured outcomes. These are real numbers, right? Yes. Yes. So one of the really great things about being an evidence-based program is that we do have data and measurable outcomes. So Nurse-Family Partnership actually started back in 1977 in Elmira, New York, and then it expanded. About every 10 years in 87, we went to Memphis, and in 94, we went to Denver.

And again, we were there to try and improve outcomes for some of the most vulnerable. We are able to find, since those studies are several decades old now, moms that were involved in our program, we see a 61 % reduction in arrests of the mother after being involved in our program, a 59 % reduction in arrests of that child by age 15. We see outcomes in babies' development as well.

I'm sorry, 67 % fewer behavioral and intellectual problems in these children by age six. Fewer ER visits for accidents and poisonings, not only through those toddler years where, you know, sometimes you end up in the ER for those things, but also through those adult years, a 56 % reduction by age 21. 48 % reduction in child abuse and neglect.

Obviously, we also have better health outcomes. One of the things we shoot for is term deliveries, you know? And so we have, let's see, 18 % fewer cases in preterm birth. But if you're looking specifically at women who are smokers, it's a 79 % reduction. And then other things like 35 % fewer cases of pregnancy-induced hypertension. So just overall, I mean, and this is 40 years worth of data.

of being able to show that if we can intercede with the mom shortly after she finds out that she's pregnant, then you can change the trajectory of the whole kid's life. But then you said really focusing in on the first pregnancy, you potentially can significantly affect the follow-up, you know, the next pregnancy and the next pregnancy or whatever.

Right, right. Wow. So are you guys, I know you said you're a nonprofit, so do you guys receive like Medicaid funding or like state funding? Is it all private donation? No. do you guys operate? So we receive a mix of federal and state grants. Our biggest one is MIECHV, which is Maternal Infant Early Childhood Home Visiting, I believe is what it stands for.

So we do get some private from like, you know, United Way and things like that. But the majority of our funding is coming from that. And honestly, ⁓ my program director, she's the one that writes all the grants for us. So she'd probably be better to speak on that. I just curious if you guys, I wasn't sure where the funding came from at all. You know, as to Medicaid, like we don't necessarily accept Medicaid, it, because we don't bill insurance or anything like that.

But it is considered one of our eligibility criteria. Like if that mom is eligible for Medicaid, you know, she's on our list. She's one that's for us, you know. Do you know how many moms you served last year? Just a guess or even if you got the numbers. I don't know our site last year. I know currently we have 136 families on our caseload. Nationwide, we serve about 54,000 families a year.

Holy smokes. You have 136 cases in Amarillo? In Potter and Randall County, yes. Oh, wow. So it's not the whole Panhandle, it's just Potter and Randall. 136 families. Wow. That's a whole lot of trees being planted. Yeah. Man, that's... Wow. And you said 54,000 nationwide.

Wow, that is tremendous. So what do you know why they started this? Like back in the 70s, do you know the story for that? So this program was started by Dr. Olds, who's actually a clinical psychologist. I think he was really catching on and recognizing kind of what we were touching on earlier about how important it is to catch that brain development, right?

We know that most of baby's brain that they're going to have for the rest of their adult life is developed by the time they're age three. And so that's part of why our program focuses on that prenatal tattoo. Because like we talked about earlier, not only is mom most willing to make those long-term lifestyle changes in her first pregnancy, but also we are capturing that most crucial time of brain development. We know that there is a psychology of poverty, that mom being experiencing poverty and all these...

other risk factors during her pregnancy increases her stress hormones and that alters the way baby's brain develops in utero. And so we're there to kind of try and offset that as much as we can. And sometimes that is just having one good support person. yeah, absolutely. You gotta have, you know, it's like throwing a drowning person a rope, you know. ⁓ Yeah, that one. So I know you said you have six nurses, right? Right. So, I mean, do you do...

Do you guys utilize volunteers for things or any of that kind of stuff? On occasion, not often. You know, the nurses, we do our home visits and things like that. We are trying to have more events. We actually just had our graduation that we celebrate every year and it was actually our biggest graduation that we've had. We had, I think, 35 moms and babies that graduated. It was pretty big. And so our outreach coordinator, Deedee, she's really great. She gets...

like AmeriCorps kids to come help us keep everything running and stuff like that. So ⁓ there's probably not... mean, you know, it's not like... We use volunteers like every day, sending, delivering placement packages and stuff like that, but there would be opportunities to volunteer with you guys. Yeah, potentially at one of our events, you know. Okay. All right. So, let's see here.

Okay. So what do you think kind of keeps you going? mean, what's the drive for you going into work every day? You know, they say if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life, right? What is that for you? What keeps you coming back day after day? So, you know, all of our moms are coming from different situations and...

Not all of them are super committed. go through hard things. You want to carry that weight a lot of times for them as they go through these really difficult things. And you don't always sort of get that back. But every now and then you do have a client or two that really makes an impression. and you know, I think I kind of hold those really, really close. You know, um I had one client in particular, she herself had been in care and

you know, professionalism. It took everything I had not to just bring this little girl home. Because she was a minor, she was unaccompanied she was going through really hard time. And I just had to be there as her nurse and, um you know, support her the best way that I could. And when she graduated, ⁓ she ended up just crying and hugging me and telling me, how she knew that this really meant something to me. And it does, like, ⁓ like I said, I think it's important to be the village.

and to show up for these moms who don't have other people showing up for them. Our second episode, are you familiar with Fostering Independence? you heard of them? No, I don't think so. So Amber started it a couple years ago and they have some homes, I think they have four, maybe five homes for girls that are aging out of care. And so as a matter of fact, we have an apartment, garage apartment, and one of her girls is living back there right now.

But yeah, so she, as those girls are 18 and aging out, she folds them in and gets them case management and helps them get a job and helps them budget and helps them get a car and all the things. so, yeah, it's, mean, gosh dang it. It's really, the point I was going for is,

we had her and one of her girls on the podcast. And this young woman was... she'd aged out and she wanted nothing to do with continued care or anything like that after care. So she ended up pregnant in Lubbock, kicked out of her bio mom's car and had nowhere to go. And no one to go to. And thankfully somebody knew somebody who knew Amber.

who got her from Lubbock, her up here, got her stabilized, got her little boy born, and he's just over a year old now. She is actually like a junior board member for Amber and stuff like that. So, I mean, but she just needed one person to give her a hand, you know? Right. And so... Yeah, that makes a really big difference, and we see stories like that a lot, you know?

⁓ And that's one of the things that really frustrates me about working with low income families and families going through a hard thing is you hear so many negative stereotypes about like the handouts and things like that. this group of women that I work with, these are some of the hardest working people that I know and that's all they need is just one person to give them that boost up. But also, sometimes it's a network and that's why it's so important that resources work together.

That's why it's so important to... Even if you think it never crosses over into your realm of what you do, if you know somebody somewhere, you can help make that connection for somebody. Yeah, 100%. One of my taglines is, let's do this together. Because if we're all silos working in our own individual spaces and not paying any attention to anybody else, then we're all losing out. Sometimes just being able to get together with...

other people in the same field is just beneficial, right? It's just encouraging and all those kinds of things. so, yeah, think it's really important to—part of the reason we started this podcast is to show the community what's really going on. Connect foster and adoptive families with resources, but also share some stories. We have had some really tough stories, and we've had some really great stories.

and things like that. So to build that community with foster families too. ⁓ But also, like I say, point the community to say, these are things, these are places that you can get involved, these are things that you can do that make a difference. So, let's ⁓ see. So if somebody wanted to ⁓ connect with you guys, you are a nonprofit, you do take donations, right?

That I would have to check on, specific ins and outs of that. But, you know, ⁓ we get help wherever we can get it, you know? We have a quarterly community advisory board meeting that we host to give updates on what our program is doing and our data and our numbers and, you know, celebrations and things like that.

⁓ And sometimes that includes requests. So like for example for graduation we might put out a request for volunteers, for someone to donate food, for someone to donate goodie bags, for us to give away to these moms that are graduating and that sort of thing. So the opportunities do come up like that. Our next one is going to be, I think our next event is probably going to be our holiday event that we have at the Discovery Center every year along with our other home visiting programs, Hippie and Parents as Teachers. ⁓ So that's coming up. ⁓

And then as far as like referrals, basically any way we can get them, they can go to our website, they can go to the NFP site, I can hand out my business card. know? So we'll put a link to you guys' website in the show notes. ⁓ And ⁓ guys, so yeah, if you know of a mom that's pregnant or... Because you can... You don't have to start with them as soon as they're pregnant. You can pick them up at a...

a year old or something like that, right? Actually, no. So we do... You have to start at the very beginning. Right. So our program, we have some, we call them model elements. And since we are evidence-based, we've done a lot of science into the most crucial time and the most successful time. And so we do try to enroll them before 28 weeks. However, if you're ever in doubt, just send them our way. If we can't serve them personally, we know someone who can. Sure. Sure.

always willing to kind of help share. okay. All right. So like I said, we'll put a link to you guys' website down in the show notes. And Christian, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your story personally with your history of foster care and adoption and for the work that you guys are doing to help young moms. I just think that that's a really critical thing.

You know, these moms and dads, they do need that help. So I appreciate you coming on and sharing what you guys do. Sundy, thank you so much for your sponsorship again. If you need a mortgage, if you need to refinance, if you need a VA loan, she can handle pretty much anything. And so give her a call, 806-683-0313.

I'll put a link to her website down in the show notes as well. Thank you so much. We're going to have Anna on the podcast next week. She's going to share her story about ⁓ fostering and adoption, international adoption. so we do have, ⁓ we've done, as of last Thursday, we've done 80 placement packages this year, which is as many placement packages as we did all of last year. And so we need help.

in order to be able to get to where every kiddo gets a placement package. That's about 600 in a given year. ⁓ And so we ask folks to become placement package partners. that's, they can set up a monthly donation and, know, hundred bucks buys us all the clothes for one placement package. 50 bucks buys us a case of diapers a month. 10 bucks a month just buys us one outfit for a placement package. And so if you're interested in that, we've got a link down in the show notes.

And then our annual fundraiser is coming up October 11th. It's a sporting clay shoot out at River Breaks Ranch. We need teams and we need sponsors and silent auction items and all the things. So if you're interested in that, can check out the show notes on that too. And thanks for tuning in and thanks for coming, Christian. Thank you.