I was so excited about doing this podcast interview. Jillana and I have so many overlapping connections and passions: she lived in Guatemala (where our little boy is from!), she’s a foster mom, she’s adopted from foster care, she has teenagers, she has an ongoing relationship with a birth mom, and she has a child with special needs.
We could have talked for hours, but I limited myself to just around 30 minutes for this episode — and it’s packed with goodness! We dive deep into what it looks like to parent a child with special needs, the challenges and blessings of walking in proximity to birth parents of children we’ve fostered and/or adopted, and how living a love-stretched life has turned their world upside down in the most beautiful of ways.
Whether you are a foster parent or an adoptive parent or a parent of a child with special needs or whether your life looks completely different, I think you’ll find your heart resonating with her passion to love those who need love the most and to walk alongside them without criticism or condemnation but instead with compassion.
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In This Episode
[02:05] – Jillana introduces herself and her unique family.
[03:18] – Why did Jillana foster children before having children biologically?
[06:33] – What was her mindset before she started fostering?
[09:11] – An honest discussion on birth parents.
[13:31] – Parents with kids in foster care were often kids in foster care themselves.
[15:06] – Jillana offers advice on how to walk alongside other foster parents if you aren’t called to foster.
[16:50] – Hear about being welcoming but with boundaries.
[19:52] – What it’s like parenting a child with special needs.
[29:52] – The beauty of interdependency.
[31:22] – What does a love-stretched life look like?
Links & Resources
