Join Attorney Shanelle Dupree as she introduces you to a topic often avoided, overlooked, and dismissed- the history of child welfare by race. She will explain the why behind Skin DEEP, the real reason this conversation matters, and how helpers who work with families can build trust.
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Shanelle Dupree Podcasts
We want to see people everywhere supporting the foster care community and experiencing Jesus together. So, in this podcast, we are sharing the stories of the foster care community to bring awareness that leads to action!
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Episode 12: DEEP Observations...Get it OUT!
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Episode 12 Description: This week’s episode discusses the power of getting our experiences regarding equity out of head. A tool I am so excited to introduce to the Skin DEEP community is the DEEP Observations Journal. It is a place to write the equity moments you encounter AND ask the next question- now what? Feelings do not equal facts, so it’s im…
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Episode 11 Description: This week’s episode discusses power within the child welfare system. People within the system have power- but with power needs to come an acknowledgement of the power and the proper use of it. We are discussing case workers, CASA’s, and Foster Parent’s power in the child welfare system. From your perspective, who has the pow…
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Episode 278: Looking Back at Our Trauma to Move Forward (w/ Byron Kehler)
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“When trauma is our teacher, we are ill-equipped to live healthy lives in healthy environments. What we learn, we live.” We know that trauma often accompanies children when they enter the child welfare system. Usually, we talk about the effects of trauma and how caregivers can respond with support. Today, we’re looking at trauma through the lens of…
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Episode 10 Description: Kinship families or keeping kids is an age old practice for many communities- and it’s making a comeback. This is the thing- it was a way of life for many families when situations didn’t go as planned. Now we recognize the benefits for everyone involved, keeping children with people who know, love, and whom they trust- it tr…
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Episode 9 Ties to Culture: A Heritage Journey Part II
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Episode 9: Loving, discovering, and embracing your culture is a beautiful thing. Join us as we wrap u an interview with Autumn a Chinese adoptee and program manger for The Ties Program, where she leads the China heritage journey program. Check out The Ties Program below. Website: www.thetiesprogram.com Facebook: Adoptive Family Travel - The Ties Pr…
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Episode 277: Pursuing Reckless Faith (w/ Beth Guckenberger)
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Whether it’s across the world or in all four corners of her home, my guest today has over two decades of experience in the foster care and adoptive community. Beth Guckenberger lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband, Todd. Together, they serve as the Co-Executive Directors of Back2Back Ministries, a nonprofit dedicated to providing comprehensiv…
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Episode 8: TIES to Culture: A Heritage Journey (part 1)
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Episode 8: Autumn is honest, reflective, and provides thought provoking dialogue on her journey of returning to her birth country of China as an adoptee. She is now leading the heritage journeys in China and provides a safe space and experience for other families. Join me as we take a journey on cultural discovery. Check out The Ties Program Websit…
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Episode 7: A Community of Excellence: Montgall Avenue and Gwen Calderon (part 2)
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Enjoy the conclusion of my interview with Ms. Gwen, a 92 year old resident of Montgall Ave. Community connection can start with a simple hello. Want to stay connected to Skin DEEP? Step 1: Join our newsletter, HERE. Step 2: Sign up for Going DEEP Coaching with Shanelle Dupree HERE. Step 3: Sign up for the Skin DEEP online course HERE. The promo cod…
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Episode 6: A Community of Excellence: Montgall Avenue and Gwen Calderon (part 1)
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Episode 6: A close knit community can get things done. Montgall Ave is an example of what can happen when neighbors come together to help support one another. Join me in chatting with Ms. Gwen, a 92 year old resident of Montgall Ave. Remember whatever community you are working with has strengths. Want to stay connected to Skin DEEP? Step 1: Join ou…
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Episode 5: Why Skin DEEP matters in child welfare
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Episode 5: Skin DEEP was created because of a deafening silence around the impact of poverty as well as Black, Native, Latino, and Asian families historical experiences in the child welfare system. When the conversation isn’t presented…it feels off limits. Equipping our family serving workforce is the goal for Skin DEEP and it begins with understan…
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Episode 276: More Than How Your Story Began (w/ Hope Watts)
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Adoption and foster care are often depicted in dramatic ways in the media. Whether it’s an adult suddenly discovering the truth that they were adopted or a depiction of constant conflict between a child involved in the foster care system and their caregivers, media can easily give us a skewed perspective of what life is actually like for the real p…
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Episode 4: Navigating the Child Welfare System
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Episode 4: The child welfare system can be overwhelming—policies, agencies, courts, and constant change. In this episode, we will discuss a potential solution to our complex systems. How do you manage navigating the child welfare system personally or on behalf of the families you work with? Share your thoughts HERE. Want to stay connected to Skin D…
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Episode 3: Remembering your why in helping families
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Episode 3: In child welfare, it’s easy to get lost in paperwork, policies, and constant demands. But behind every task is a family, and a purpose. In this episode, we’ll reconnect with the reason so many of us entered this field: to help, to heal, and to advocate for families. We’ll explore strategies to stay grounded in your “why” amidst the press…
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Episode 2: Toxic Courtrooms: Building a Better Child Welfare System
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Episode 2: The Judge sets the culture for the courtroom. They are suppose to be guided by their ethics- not bias. Yet we know toxicity can exist in the courtroom. We are naming 3 toxic courtroom experiences. to identify and pursue another way. If you have experienced a toxic courtroom environment, feel free to share your story HERE. Want to stay co…
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Episode 1: What is Skin DEEP? It’s not a skin care line! It is the decision to go beneath the surface level and talk about race, poverty, and bias that impact families in child welfare. We make race easy to talk about and bias impossible to ignore within organizations. If you are sick of the surface level conversations and ready to move into action…
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Episode 275: Finding Your Role in the Foster Care Community (w/ Thomas Dent)
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If you’re listening to this, chances are it was passion that first pulled you into your role in the foster care community—whether you’re a professional, a caregiver, an advocate, or a faithful supporter. But here’s something you might not have realized yet: just because you started in one role doesn’t mean that’s where you’ll stay. As we grow and g…
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Episode 274: Everything’s in His Hands (w/ David and Julie Zimmer)
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“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” – James 1:27 (ESV) You’ve probably heard this verse if you’ve ever been to an adoption or foster care training, attended a conference that discussed child welfare, or even just sat throu…
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Episode 273: Finding Hope While Healing from a Painful Past (w/ Destini McAlister)
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Content / Trigger Warning: This episode does contain mentions and descriptions of abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse. If any of this may be triggering for you, we recommend you either listen carefully, listen with someone else, or you may even consider skipping this episode. Unfortunately, so many children who enter foster care have experienced some …
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Episode 272: Striving for Racial Equity in the Child Welfare System (w/ Shanelle Dupree)
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The child welfare system can be confusing and complex. Families are often expected to navigate administrative systems, the criminal justice system, the legal system, and the social system—all at the same time and with no prior instruction. Our guest today knows the child welfare system inside and out—and she’s passionate about helping families navi…
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Episode 271: Foster Fathers (w/ Chris Easley & Kyle Seick)
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Note: In this episode, Jami talks about her pregnancy—but don’t worry, you didn’t miss another baby announcement! If you’re part of our TFI family, you know her sweet little one has already arrived. This episode was recorded back in January! Sometimes, it can feel like the conversation within the foster care community is predominantly shaped by fem…
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Episode 270: Recovering from Addiction to Achieve Reunification (w/ Jacob Jackson)
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There are many requirements that a biological parent must meet in order to reunify with their children. While these requirements are necessary to ensure that children are being reunited with parents who can provide a safe and stable environment, many parents struggle to overcome the circumstances that led to their children being placed in foster ca…
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Episode 269: Opening Your Heart and Home to Those in Need (w/ Sarah Hott)
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Foster care is both rewarding and challenging. It’s happy at times and sad at others; it brings hard days as well as beautiful moments. If you are in the foster care community, you’ve likely seen (or experienced) this firsthand. But what do we do when we come to the end of ourselves? How do we respond when we feel called to open our homes again to …
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Episode 268: Building Compassion for Those Struggling with Addiction (w/ Christina Dent)
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Substance use is a major factor in foster care cases; in 2017 alone, more than half of the children who entered care under age 5 did so because of parental drug use. Addiction is an issue that runs parallel to the foster care community, and it’s a struggle that agency workers and foster parents often witness firsthand in the lives of the families t…
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Episode 267: Beauty Woven in the Brokenness (w/ Austin Ludwig)
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Trigger Warning: We want to let our listeners know that this episode includes mentions of physical abuse. If you are sensitive to this topic, we recommend you listen with caution. Trauma is one of the hardest challenges to navigate in life. Whether it’s impacting you or someone you love, it can be easy to wish that trauma could be erased in an inst…
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Episode 266: Advocating for Whole Family Care (w/ Esther Sherrard)
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The child welfare system is not perfect. Not only is it subject to the types of challenges all government programs can face—such as a lack of funding, policy gaps, and inefficiencies—it’s also very overloaded. As a result, many biological parents don’t receive the best resources to help them navigate their circumstances, and often, they are confuse…
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Episode 265: Walking Through the Heartache of "Blocked Care" (w/ Eric & Diana Powell)
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Like so many families, Eric and Diana Powell entered into adoption with the best intentions. After their first international adoption from Thailand, they quickly started the paperwork for their second, knowing that the process is often long and fraught with delays. What they couldn’t know is that the next few years of their adoption journey would i…
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Episode 264: The Reality of a Caseworker’s Role (w/ Brittni Hodges)
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Foster care caseworkers often feel forgotten, isolated, and alone. From managing stressful workloads to coping with secondary trauma and sometimes facing frustration from families in crisis, it’s not hard to understand why caseworker turnover is so high. But here at The Forgotten Initiative, we believe well-supported caseworkers will more effective…
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Episode 263: Learning How to Serve the Foster Care Community (w/ April Hobbs)
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How much do you know about the foster care community where you live? Many people—both individuals and organizations like churches—want to support their vulnerable neighbors. But few are aware of the many practical ways they can help the children, biological families, foster families, and agency workers who make up their local foster care communitie…
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Episode 262: Hope for Healing from Adverse Childhood Experiences (w/ Angela Paganelli)
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Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) can affect children from any background, but those in foster care are especially vulnerable. There are ten main types of ACEs that have been identified—ranging from abuse to neglect to household dysfunction. All of them have the potential to negatively impact future outcomes for a child. Our latest guest, Angela…
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Episode 261: Helping Children Develop Positive Relationships with Food (w/ Madison Tyler)
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According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 13.5% of U.S. households were food insecure at some time during 2023. Unfortunately, food-related trauma is a common challenge for many children who have entered the foster care system. Whether it’s an aversion to a particular type of food, fear that there won’t be enough food, or a tendency to overe…
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Episode 260: Transforming Despair Into Hope (w/ Keristein Fox)
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For our very first episode of 2025, we’re bringing you another great conversation that sheds light on the real people of the foster care community. In this episode, we are talking to Keristein Fox. Today, she’s a happily married stay-at-home mom who loves watching her three children grow and thrive. But Keristein’s story wasn’t always this joyful. …
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