Episode Summary

Marriage is hard. Add kids. Add trauma. Add foster care. Add special needs. Now multiply the stress.

In this episode of the Dream Small Podcast, Jason and Whitney talk honestly about what it takes to protect and strengthen your marriage while fostering and parenting children with trauma, disabilities, and high needs.

With divorce rates hovering around 50 percent and dramatically higher among families raising children with disabilities, this conversation matters.

We are not claiming to be perfect. But after nearly 14 years of marriage, multiple foster placements, adoptions, court cases, sleepless nights, and emotionally charged seasons, we have learned a few things that have helped us stay connected.

If you are a foster parent, adoptive parent, special needs parent, or just a tired spouse trying to stay close, this episode is for you.

What We Cover in This Episode

• Why roughly 50 percent of marriages end in divorce

• Why parenting increases divorce risk

• The staggering divorce statistics among families raising children with disabilities

• How fostering stretches your marriage in unique ways

• The number one key to staying connected: communication

• Assuming positive intent in your spouse

• How to check in emotionally during stressful seasons

• What to do when one spouse is emotionally done for the day

• Serving each other instead of keeping score

• Protecting physical intimacy after kids

• Why marrying the right person is the ultimate life cheat code

• Putting Jesus at the center of your marriage

Key Takeaways

1. Assume the best in your spouse.
2. Don’t assume they are against you. Assume positive intent.
3. Communicate daily, even briefly.
4. A simple “How are you really?” can protect your connection.
5. Say when you are done.
6. It is not weakness to admit you are emotionally empty.
7. Parent as a team.
8. Especially in foster care, you must be aligned.
9. Marriage takes sacrifice.
10. Selfishness is one of the biggest marriage killers.
11. Intimacy requires intentionality after kids.
12. It does not just happen automatically anymore.
13. Faith matters.
14. A Christ centered marriage changes everything.

Encouragement for Foster and Special Needs Families

The stress is real. The exhaustion is real. The court days are heavy. The behaviors can be overwhelming.

But your marriage can survive it. Not perfectly. Not without hard conversations. But it can grow deeper if you choose to fight for each other instead of against each other.

Connect With Us

We would love to hear what has helped strengthen your marriage.

Email: dreamsmallpodcast@gmail.com

Instagram: @dreamsmallpodcast

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Adoption day is often imagined as a magical finish line. A perfect moment where everything suddenly changes. But the reality is both simpler and deeper than that.

In this deeply personal episode of the Dream Small Podcast, Jason and Whitney share the real story behind the day their daughter’s adoption became official. Just four hours after leaving the courthouse, they sit down to reflect on the logistics, emotions, surprises, and sacred moments that marked the day she officially became theirs forever.

This episode pulls back the curtain on what adoption day actually looks like, from the sudden call announcing the date, to the courtroom experience, to the unexpected realization that in many ways, nothing changed at all because she had already been their daughter in their hearts long before it became legal.

In This Episode, We Discuss:

The Surprise and Waiting Leading Up to Adoption Day

After months of uncertainty, court dates, and waiting on the system, the adoption date finally arrived with only about ten days' notice. What had felt distant and uncertain suddenly became real overnight.

We talk about:

• Living in the uncertainty of the foster care system

• The emotional rollercoaster of waiting for permanency

• How quickly everything can suddenly change

• Preparing your heart and your home for adoption day

What Adoption Day Actually Looks Like Logistically

Many people imagine adoption day as a dramatic life-changing moment. But the reality is often far more practical and surprisingly ordinary.

We walk through:

• What happens at the courthouse

• Who attends and what roles they play

• How the judge interacts with the child and family

• Funny, unexpected moments during the hearing

• The waiting, the photos, and the practical flow of the day

The Small Faithfulness That Changes Lives Forever

Adoption day is not the beginning of love. It’s the recognition of love already lived out in ordinary, faithful, daily moments.

This episode is a reminder that God often works through small yeses, quiet obedience, and everyday faithfulness to change lives forever.

Because forever families are built one small act of faithfulness at a time.

This Episode Is For You If:

• You’re a foster parent wondering what adoption day looks like

• You’re considering foster care or adoption

• You’ve adopted and want to reflect on your own story

• You love hearing real stories of God’s faithfulness

• You want encouragement that small acts of obedience matter

Support the Dream Small Podcast

If this episode encouraged you, you can help us continue sharing stories of faith, foster care, and everyday obedience:

Support the podcast financially: https://dream-small-podcast.captivate.fm/support

Contact and Follow Dream Small:

Email: dreamsmallpodcast@gmail.com

Instagram: @dreamsmallpodcast

Facebook: Dream Small Podcast

Twitter/X: @DreamSmallShow

Music credit:

"Paradise Found" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Foster care is hard. Not just emotionally, but practically. Kids often arrive with nothing. Families are stretched thin. Support can feel fragmented or temporary.

In this episode of the Dream Small Podcast, we sit down with Renae, Executive Director of Resources of Hope, a nonprofit based in Whiteland, Indiana, that is quietly and faithfully wrapping around foster, kinship, and adoptive families with the kind of support that actually meets real needs.

Renae shares her own foster care journey, including the painful experience of stepping away from fostering after a difficult placement, and how God used that story to shape her deep empathy and leadership today. From there, we dive into the heart of Resources of Hope and the many ways they are serving families across Indiana.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode

Renee’s Personal Foster Care Story

Renee opens up about her lifelong desire to foster, how she and her husband stepped into foster care in 2017, and the difficult reality that led them to step back. That painful season became the foundation for how she now leads Resources of Hope with compassion, understanding, and a deep respect for foster families.

What Resources of Hope Really Does

Resources of Hope exists to wrap around foster families for the long haul, not just in a one-time moment of crisis. Their programs are built by listening to foster parents and responding to what families actually need, not what outsiders think they need.

The Clothing Boutique (Not Just a Closet)

Their largest program is the clothing boutique, which serves an average of 82 children per month. Children receive up to two weeks worth of clothing, including pajamas, socks, shoes, underwear, diapers, hygiene items, bedding, and more.

Families can return as children grow or change sizes, because foster care is not static. This ongoing access is a lifeline for families navigating constant change.

Teen Connect

A Friday night program for youth ages 12 to 17 in foster, kinship, or adoptive care. Teens share meals, talk through highs and lows, and participate in practical life-skill activities like car care, self-defense, and basic home skills. It is not therapy, but it is meaningful connection and support.

Birthday Blessings

Every child deserves to be celebrated. Resources of Hope provides a full birthday experience in a bag, including new toys, books, clothing or pajamas, party supplies, and a birthday dinner. These bags are intentionally customized and affirm each child’s identity and dignity.

Foster Parent Training and Support Groups

Resources of Hope offers DCS-approved trainings and monthly support groups that count toward required foster parent hours. One huge differentiator is that they provide childcare, removing one of the biggest barriers foster parents face when trying to attend training.

Recharge Events

These events offer foster parents a few hours of childcare so they can rest, reconnect, or simply breathe. Resources of Hope partners with churches and youth groups to make these nights possible.

Butterfly Blessings

Recognizing the lack of support in many rural areas, Resources of Hope launched Butterfly Blessings to bring clothing and resources directly to families up to an hour and a half away. Partnering with churches, they set up pop-up boutiques so families can shop locally and with dignity.

Holiday and Community Events

From the annual picnic to Hope for the Holidays, these gatherings go far beyond a simple event. Families share meals, shop for every child in their home, receive holiday food, and experience community with others who understand foster care life.

Teen Shopping Spree

Each May during Foster Care Awareness Month, teens new to care receive a $200 shopping spree focused on essentials first. Sponsors make this possible by directly funding individual teens.

All...