Jesse and Hope have been foster family advocates for years, helping others to navigate the foster-to-adopt journey, after adopting two children of their own through the Los Angeles foster care system. Indeed, they also helped my husband and I when we were embarking on ours, sharing strategies for everything from what questions to ask when considering a placement, to interfacing with the County and more. It was wonderful to meet again after so many years and discuss the foster-to-adoption process.

In this episode, we hear their story and talk about going through the county vs. a foster family agency, being older parents, the difficulty of reunification and the loss of a child in your life, in utero drug exposure and special needs, meant-to-be-coincidences and synchronicities that helped them trust and know they were on the right path to adoption and how they knew that their second and third placements would be permanent.

They also share about their short film "Family: A Love Story", about their foster to adopt process, directed by Sarah Prikryl.