Together by AGCI – Details, episodes & analysis

Today we’re chatting with AGCI adoptive parents Jake and Kaitlyn Hoermann. Jake and Kaitlyn adopted their sweet son, Martin, from Bulgaria earlier this year. You don’t want to miss their inspiring story of following God’s call to bring their son home.

We are so excited about our conversation with Amanda Purvis, consultant with the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development at Texas Christian University and AGCI Board member. At KPICD, her main focus is instructing systems, organizations, and professionals working with children who have experienced trauma, in Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI®). In addition to her incredible work with TBRI at KPICD, Amanda is the mother of five children, three of whom joined their family through adoption.

This is a heartwarming episode filled with hope and the life-changing impacts of TBRI that Amanda has witnessed firsthand.

Hear more about the incredible work that our team in Ethiopia is doing at the All God’s Children International and Tim Tebow Foundation House of Hope. We are joined by a very special guest, one of our Child & Family Social workers, Hosseana Solomon, to share about her experiences at our reunification home and what she hopes for the future of Ethiopia and Africa.

Today, we have the honor of talking to Pastor Doug Frazier. In addition to being the pastor at Living Hope Church, Doug is also married to AGCI President, Hollen Frazier and has had a front row seat to this work for decades.  

We’re talking about God’s heart for children in need, suffering, and how to get quiet and discern where the Lord is calling you. 

I really enjoyed our conversation and hope it challenges you to step up and care for those in need. 

Co-host Melissa Rush was recently in Ethiopia and had the opportunity to visit an Ethiopian Institution for the first time. Due to rules, we cannot photograph or video anything that we see but listen in as Melissa does a beautiful job explaining what she saw, experienced, and how it impacted her. 

We are up to some really exciting stuff these days and wanted to share with you about a new way for YOU to be involved in breaking the cycle for vulnerable children around the world! AGCI’s Jep Robertson (you may also know him from Duck Dynasty and Duck Family Treasure) and Campbell Haug share about why they do this work and how you and your family can be involved in seeing real lasting healing in the world around you. 

Today, we’re chatting with Special Education Coach Jessica Monteverde. Jessica has a master’s degree in education and in-classroom experience as well as experience working with parents and professionals navigating IEPs for the children in their care.  

Links to resources:

http://understood.org

http://pacer.org

http://readingrockets.org

https://schoolchoiceweek.com/how-to-continue-your-iep-if-you-start-homeschooling/

Spedhomeschool.com

https://www.wrightslaw.com/

Today, we’re chatting with Dr. Jana Hunsley about how to create connected foster and adoptive families. Dr. Hunsley is an Assistant Professor of instruction at University of Texas Dallas and studies family trauma, adoptive sibling support, and adoption therapeutic interventions. She is also the Executive Director of Project 1025, which offers effective resources to create connected foster and adoptive families. Dr. Hunsley has a unique perspective—she studies family systems and experienced the effects of adoption first hand when her parents adopted her 7 youngest siblings. 

Today, we’re celebrating all of the AGCI miracles of 2022! I can’t think of anyone more equipped to speak to this than AGCI President, Hollen Frazier. We’re chatting about all that God provided, answered prayers, and what’s next for 2023.