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
Georgette Todd: That's When Everything Changed
Jayne Amelia speaks with former foster youth and now child advocate Georgette Todd. Georgette is a speaker, author, and a foster care and child abuse prevention advocate. Georgette spent her teenage years bouncing around from home to home in the broken foster care system before she emancipated at age 18, with no safety net or anyone to depend on. Through sheer determination, Georgette went all the way with her education and graduated at the top of her class, serving as the commencement speaker at her college graduation. She is the first in her immediate family to get a college education and nationally, and represents the less than 4% of former foster youth who obtain a college degree. Georgette is the author of “Foster Girl, a Memoir.” She has worked in the social services field for over twelve years. Her personal stories and perspectives on foster care have been featured on NPR, CBS Radio, KPBS, San Francisco Chronicle, San Diego Union-Tribune, and other media outlets. Georgette received her Master of Fine Arts in English, Creative Writing Nonfiction from Mills College, BA in journalism from CSU, Sacramento, and a Grant Writing Certificate from San Diego State University. She now lives close to the ocean in San Diego and is working on other book projects. The 10th Anniversary Edition of her debut book, "Foster Girl, a Memoir," will be available on October 1, 2023.
She is an advisory Board Director for Angels Nest, which supports the Toros Guardian Scholars, former foster youth as they complete their higher education at Cal State University Dominguez Hills. She also works as an outreach coordinator for Connect Our Kids which creates innovative software that finds families and supportive networks for youth in foster care.
To learn more, visit the author's official website at www.georgettetodd.com. If you are a child welfare professional or CASA interested in Connect Our Kids, you can email Georgette at georgette@connectourkids.org
Foster Girl - A Memoir
Angels Nest
Connect Our Kids
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