From Heartache to Hope: The Church's Mission in Foster Care and Trauma Healing

What if we could help every child flourish in the face of adversity and trauma? Join us as we speak with two staff members of Christian Heritage, a non-profit agency in Nebraska: Roy Baldwin, the executive director, and Emma Sugita, CH’s training director. Christian Heritage’s mission is to see the gospel redeem the most broken families through their programs and services, including Beyond Prison, Families Together, and Care Portal. 

Roy and Emma relate stories of hope from the front lines of foster care ministry, touch on how their organization prioritizes the flourishing of their employees, and share practical ways believers and churches can come alongside foster care families. 

This episode is a must-listen for anyone wanting to learn more about the challenges and opportunities in foster care—or any trauma-informed ministry.

Bios:

Roy Baldwin currently serves as CEO for Christian Heritage in Lincoln NE. He is the former Director of Parenting and Youth at Focus on the Family. Roy has worked for over 25 years working with vulnerable youth and families and often writes about faith and families at SincereReligion.com. He lives in Lincoln, Nebraska with his wife of 27 years and has 3 kids. 

Emma Sugita lives in Lincoln, Nebraska with her husband Josh and 2 kids. She currently serves as the Director of Training at Christian Heritage. Emma has worked at CH for 6 years previously as a Foster Care Specialist and Licensing Specialist before her current role. 

RESOURCES: 

Christian Heritage’s website

Article:: Orienting our Hearts and Mind for Effective Foster Care

Previous episode: Becoming a Trauma-Informed Church

Download our FREE trauma-informed church action tool

Free e-book: 101 Ways to Overcome Burnout (includes 94 pages of helpful tools, research, and encouragement)

Spiritual First Aid certificate course

___________

This episode was produced by Wildfire Creative.

Theme Song “Turning Over Tables” by The Brilliance

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | TuneIn | Stitcher | RSS

Follow us on Twitter: @kentannan | @drjamieaten 

Follow on Instagram: @wildfirecreative

(Note to the listener: In this podcast, sometimes we'll have evangelicals, and sometimes we won't. We believe learning how to “do good, better” involves listening to many perspectives with different insights and understanding. Sometimes it will make us uncomfortable; sometimes we'll agree, and sometimes we won't. We think that's good. We want to listen for correction. Especially in our blind spots.)

Jamie Aten, Ph.D., and Kent Annan, M.Div. co-direct the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College and are also the co-founders of Spiritual First Aid.

—---

Episode keywords: foster care, parenting, trauma, church, burnout, self-care, trauma-informed, vulnerable children, youth, mental health, adolescents, ministry, trust-based intervention, healing, healthy churches, flourishing

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices