From Foster Care to Family: A Story of Healing and Second Chances with Christie Werts
About this episode
Christie Werts shares her journey from foster youth to adoptive parent, exploring themes of trauma, healing, and compassion.
On this episode of Fostering Change, Rob Scheer is joined by Christie Werts, a former foster youth, Army veteran, author, and adoptive mother whose life has come full circle through foster care. Christie shares her journey in her book, Life’s Sad Story, God’s Love Story, tracing a path from childhood trauma and separation to healing, compassion, and building a family of her own. This is an especially emotional conversation for Rob, who reflects openly on the painful experience of his own mother leaving him and his siblings — and the lasting impact that loss has had throughout his life. Together, Rob and Christie explore how childhood trauma shapes identity, how healing can emerge in unexpected ways, and what it means to return to the foster care system — not as a child, but as a parent determined to create something different. At the center of Christie’s story is compassion: a decision to foster and later adopt her husband’s ex-wife’s child in order to keep siblings connected and together. And by the end of the conversation, Christie leaves listeners with a message that becomes the emotional heartbeat of the episode: this is ultimately a love story — about God, healing, and hope…
More episodes of Fostering Change
- From Foster Care to Family Law: Susan Chesnutt on Justice, Healing, and Child Welfare
- From Trauma to Triumph: Dr. Danisha Keating's Journey of Foster Care, Healing, and Hope
- From Foster Care to a Billion-Dollar Brand: Carolyn Aronson's Journey of Resilience and Reinvention
- Listening First: Bridging Policy, Community, and Youth in Foster Care Support with Kym Renner
- Foster Dad: The Power of Showing Up with Corey McKinney
- Growing Up Scheer: A Father and Son's Perspective on Family, Foster Care, and Finding Home
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