Fostering AfterCare

Aging out of foster care often feels less like a graduation and more like an eviction. One day, you’re told to pack your things. The next, you’re expected to step into adulthood with no clear foundation and no one to guide you.

In this episode of the Fostering AfterCare Podcast, Angie shares her own story of being abruptly displaced under the CARS agreement, navigating college while homeless, and wrestling with deep questions of id...

Welcome to the very first episode of Fostering AfterCare! I’m Angela Banks—though you can call me Angie. This podcast was created for us, by us; for adults with foster care experience and anyone walking the long road of healing beyond survival.

In this episode, I share the heart behind this podcast, the story that sparked it, and what you can expect this season. We’ll talk about why your identity is not defined by trauma, and why h...

Growing up without a stable foundation changes everything. For many of us who aged out of foster care, the “what if” questions don’t fade with time — they deepen. What if I had a home that felt safe? What if I had parents who protected me? What if I didn’t have to survive before I could dream?

In this episode of the Fostering AfterCare Podcast, Angie opens up about the grief that comes not only from loss, but from absence. Absence ...

The Unwritten Guidelines of Adulthood: What We Weren’t Taught Before Aging Out Featuring Lola Bunn's poem: "I'm an adult"

Expectations are often what we’re met with after foster care, with very little guidance and sometimes even less grace. Because we should already know.

But turning eighteen doesn’t mean we were taught how to be successful, healthy adults. It simply means the responsibility shifted.

In this episode of Fostering Af...

You Are Not Broken, You Were Just Unprotected Featuring Kassandra Villarreal, M.S., LPC Associate

Angie is joined by her sister in Christ, Kassandra Villarreal, a Counselor and LPC Associate with a Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. With professional experience as a Youth Specialist at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services and a deep commitment to su...

The Fragility of Trust: Learning How to Build Healthy Relationships After Foster Care

“Connectedness has the power to counterbalance adversity.” — Dr. Bruce Perry

The challenge of acquiring, maintaining, or even desiring healthy relationships after foster care is that many of us are neurobiologically inclined to accept unsafe or unhealthy connection simply because it feels familiar. And layered on top of that is the reality that ...

The Power of Validation The Cost of Self-Worth After Foster Care

Featuring Ivory Bennett, Lived Experience Partner

 

Angie is joined by her lived experience partner for this episode, Ivory Bennett, an advocate, educator, and writer who spent 17 years in foster care across multiple placements and school systems in Pennsylvania. Ivory holds a dual Bachelor of Arts in Africana Studies and English Literature with a minor in Theatre Art...

After the Sand: You are not Behind, You are Rebuilding

The feeling of being “behind” after foster care isn’t just in your head. For many of us, it’s the result of trying to build a life without ever being given a stable foundation to begin with.

In this deeply reflective episode, Angie explores the persistent belief of being “behind” in adulthood after foster care. Through powerful storytelling and vivid imagery, she introduces the...