During the month of September, we are re-releasing your favorite episodes of all time. Listen along and find answers to your common questions. Whether or not you have heard these episodes before, we are excited for you to be encouraged, equipped, and find hope. You don’t have to journey alone!
In terms of foster care, my guest has experienced it all. She entered foster care at age four and then reunited with her mom only to be removed from her mother’s care again. In total, she had twelve placements, lived in a group home, and would finally make the decision to emancipate.
Tori Petersen is a bestselling author, national speaker, and Bible teacher. She shares her testimony and life as authentically as possible to help and offer hope to others. Tori is known for her fierce advocacy work for foster care, adoption, and vulnerable children. At home, she is a wife and mama, who deeply values family, community, and hospitality.
In this episode, Tori shares what life was like as a young child, the ups and downs of her life in foster care, positive aspects of her experience that made a lasting impact on her life, how she found hope for the future, and much more.
- [BOOK] Fostered: One Woman’s Powerful Story of Finding Faith and Family through Foster Care
- [BOOK] Breaking the Patterns That Break You: Overcome the Pain of Your Past and Experience Real Healing That Lasts
- StrengthsFinder Assessment
- Follow Tori on her website, Instagram, or Podcast
- Give to The Forgotten Initiative
- Foster Care & the Church
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TAKEAWAYS FROM TODAY’S CONVERSATION:
1. Children enter foster care from all circumstances.
Tori went from eating crab legs and steak to mac and cheese and peanut butter sandwiches when she entered foster care. When police rushed into her home on a drug raid, her home didn’t feel unsafe in spite of the circumstances. When a child enters foster care, it is a scary experience, and can even feel like they were taken away from a better situation.
“I was growing up in a pretty normal environment for the most part. I trusted the adults around me.”
2. It’s important to invest in getting to know children in foster care.
Regardless of if children are in our homes for a month or a year, it is important for them to feel like you care and accept them. When children are in and out of the system a lot, it can feel like no one truly knows who they are or even cares to take the time to understand them.
“I was always coming into a new family and trying to adjust, trying to be accepted, and to be loved. Always feeling out people, always learning people, but never feeling like people are trying to know you.”
3. Stable relationships can make all the difference.
Having people in her life who were reliable and stable made all the difference in Tori’s life. She knew there were people she could call upon when she needed something. She had community. This doesn’t mean that children won’t still struggle to feel like they belong, but finding their community full of supportive relationships can help them overcome the many obstacles they may face.
“To create a healthy environment for foster kids, they need community. Community is seriously what has gotten me to where I am now.”
Meet Our Guest
Tori Petersen is a bestselling author, national speaker, and Bible teacher. She shares her testimony and life as authentically as possible to help and offer hope to others. Tori is known for her fierce advocacy work for foster care, adoption, and vulnerable children. At home, she is a wife and mama, who deeply values family, community, and hospitality.
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