Bonus Babies
The Anthem Award winning BONUS BABIES podcast is the only one of its kind that features the compelling true-life hard-hitting stories of those with a lived foster care experience and the people who care for them––all via the unique 360* lens of a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteer. Through raw first-hand accounts, BONUS BABIES reveals the daunting complexity of the foster care world while documenting the challenges, failures and successes of the system as well as the people and the agencies involved. The creator and host, Jayne Amelia Larson, is a CASA - a Court Appointed Special Advocate volunteer for youth in foster care. In the same way a CASA works, she explores all things in the foster care maze by talking to kids, parents, caregivers, attorneys, social workers, therapists, adoptees, adoptive parents, members of community and social programs...anybody and everybody who will speak to her to keep the conversation open and the information flowing about all things CASA––to give a forum to help people understand what it's like to have a lived foster care experience. Original music by Christina Apostolopoulos. Emma Karpman is our Social Media Manager. Audio engineering and mixing by Adam "Yukon" Harr of Blue Oak Mastering. Executive Producer is Jake Eberle. Cover art by John Crowther.
Bonus Babies
Ron Jenkins: One Of The Reason Kids Don't Get Help Is Because They Don't Learn How To Trust Again
Jayne Amelia speaks with child advocate and mentor Ron Jenkins. Ron is a former foster youth who along with his siblings was placed in foster care after his mother died of cancer when he was two years old. He bounced around in foster care for several years until he was adopted by a friend of his mom, but that didn't turn out well for any of the kids in that home. His foster mother was a cruel and abusive drug dealer, and Ron was sexually abused but two women before he was in his teens. At the age of 13, Ron was thinking of taking his own life. A stranger's good will and mentorship allowed Ron to see a way out. He was a talented athlete and focussing on football helped him heal too, and he ended up playing football at Fresno State and studied to be a social worker, and then worked with youth in the juvenile justice system for the next 30 years. By age 23, Ron had lost four brothers, three to violent deaths related to drugs and another murdered, but still has his sister who he calls "his world." After two failed marriages, Ron got into therapy and worked through his childhood trauma and says he is now a better man because of that. He's now a football coach at Southwest College, and continues to be a youth advocate and volunteers helping kids get through trauma just like he suffered.
If you or someone you know is harming themselves, or thinking about harming themselves, go to: crisistextline.org.
or call 988 for the suicide and crisis hotline.
See a great KCAL news segment on Ron here.
A great article about Ron is in his college newspaper is here.
And the Carissa Phelps and Ron Jenkins story in film is here.
Check out Wake Up the movie about what's happening to kids in foster care.
See bonusbabies.org to learn more about what we are doing and please donate to support us by making a 100% tax-deductible contribution. EVERY PENNY OF YOUR CONTRIBUTION GOES TO RECORDING AND PLATFORMING THESE STORIES. Yeah!
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