On today’s episode of Fostering Change, we continue our special acknowledgment that May is National Foster Care Awareness Month. We hope you have taken some moments to reflect on what you can do to support those in the foster care system: donate, volunteer your time, mentor, or even consider taking steps to be a CASA or foster parent. Thank you for all you do!

If you’d like a simple way to support Comfort Cases, here’s an idea: You can participate in the Hundred X program. Click on the following link, and you’ll be guided to complete surveys about brands and companies you are familiar with. Comfort Cases will receive $1.60 for every survey you fill out (and it only takes 2 minutes max for each!) https://programs.hundredx.com/givewithoutspending

Now, on to today’s episode: For 8 years, we have worked with the team at Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield in Indiana, and have expanded that partnership throughout the country, literally giving away THOUSANDS of our Comfort Cases backpacks to social service agencies and youth experiencing foster care.

Today, we speak with Aimee Christian, a Fostering Connections Case Manager with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. Aimee and Rob Scheer have a lively discussion that focuses on the positive changes that can be made to improve the foster care system.

Some of the points they cover include changing our vocabulary so we’re not labeling these youth, changing the focus from just on the child to the entire family, and building and improving relationships with the birth family and the foster family.

Aimee and Rob will certainly motivate you to—at minimum—give new thoughts to the foster care system and—at best—possibly motivate you to consider becoming a foster parent yourself!

We know you’ll enjoy this interview. Thank you again to Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield for being such a valuable and supportive partner to Comfort Cases all these years! ​​The partnership between Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Comfort Cases has grown since 2018. Since the expansion, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s affiliated health plans have hosted dozens of packing parties across 16 states, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico, providing thousands of Comfort Cases and XL duffel bags to youth in foster care nationwide.

For more information about the foster care system or how you can support Comfort Cases, please visit our website: www.comfortcases.org. If you have any questions, comments, or guest suggestions, please reach out to us at info@comfortcases.org.

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In this week’s episode of the Comfort Cases Podcast, Rob Scheer sits down with Amy Vale, foster parent and founder of For the Cubs, a purpose-driven brand creating sensory tools to support emotional regulation in children and adults alike.

Amy shares how her own foster care journey inspired a mission: to design products that provide real comfort, like Percy, a weighted plush bear that mimics the feeling of a hug. Their conversation explores:

✅ The power of pairing entrepreneurship with advocacy

✅ How sensory tools support those facing trauma, ADHD, anxiety, and more

✅ The lack of comforting resources for children entering care

✅ What empathetic corporate responsibility really looks like

This powerful episode is part of our ongoing spotlight series for National Foster Care Awareness Month. Don’t miss this heartfelt discussion about healing, innovation, and how we can all do better for youth in care.

🔗 Learn more about For the Cubs: www.forthecubs.com

📅 New episodes every Tuesday in May

💙 Learn more about Comfort Cases: www.comfortcases.org

📧 Contact: info@comfortcases.org

🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Google Podcasts—wherever you tune in.

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May is National Foster Care Awareness Month, and we’re kicking it off with one of our most powerful episodes yet.

This week on Fostering Change, host Rob Scheer is joined by special guest co-host Jennifer Perry, Executive Director of the Children’s Action Network and Co-Founder of FosterMore. Jennifer’s tireless advocacy has brought national attention to the urgent needs of the 108,000+ children in U.S. foster care currently waiting for adoptive families.

Together, they sit down with Lara Love Hardin, author of The Many Lives of Mama Love—a 2024 Oprah Book Club selection and New York Times bestseller. In this profoundly moving conversation, Lara shares her remarkable journey through opioid addiction, incarceration, the devastating loss of her children, and how she fought her way back to rebuild her life.

This episode is a raw and inspiring look at:

The transformative power of storytelling

The realities of addiction, incarceration, and recovery

The broken pieces of the foster care system—and how we can fix them

The power of second chances and redemption

🎧 Listen, share, and comment on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts—or wherever you get your podcasts!

📅 New episodes air every Tuesday throughout May in honor of National Foster Care Awareness Month. Remember to subscribe so you don’t miss a single story.

🌐 Learn More & Support:

Comfort Cases – https://www.comfortcases.org

📧 Contact: info@comfortcases.org

🔗 Featured Organizations:

Children’s Action Network

Website: https://www.childrensactionnetwork.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/childrensactionnetwork

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/childrensaction

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChildrensActionNetwork

FosterMore

Website: https://fostermore.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foster_more

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/fostermore

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FosterMore

📚 About Lara Love Hardin:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laralovehardin

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laralovehardin

📖 Buy The Many Lives of Mama Love: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-many-lives-of-mama-love-a-memoir-of-lying-stealing-writing-and-healing-lara-love-hardin/19897569 or wherever you buy books

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