A record number of kids are currently in Alaska’s Foster Care System. Caseworkers are overloaded. Families and kids are frustrated, but it’s not all bad news. Communities around the state are developing solutions to both support families who are involved with the system and prevent kids from going into foster care in the first place.
This event brought together community members with diverse experiences and questions. During the forum we encouraged questions and comments from the audience. All community members were invited to participate in a conversation about making foster care successful and preventing kids from entering the system.
- Christy Lawton, the Director of the Office of Children’s Services
- Lola Stepetin, Director of Family Services with the Nome Eskimo Community
- Amanda Metivier, Director of Facing Foster Care Alaska
- Laura Ingham, foster mother & former foster child
MODERATORS:
LINKS:
- Alaska’s Office of Children’s Services -State agency in charge of child welfare
- Alaska Center for Resource Families – Trains foster and adoptive families
- Facing Foster Care Alaska – Supports foster children
- Beacon Hill – Helps maintain relationships between foster children and their biological parents
- Alaska Youth and Family Network – Supports parents who are trying to regain custody of their children
RECORDED: Wednesday, April 27 in the Alaska Public studios
Eric Bork, or you can just call him “Bork” because everybody else does, is the FM Operations Manager for KSKA-FM. He oversees the day-to-day operations of the FM broadcast. He produces and edits episodes of Outdoor Explorer, the Alaska-focused outdoors program. He also maintains the web posts for that show. You may have heard him filling in for Morning Edition or hosting All Things Considered and can still find him operating the soundboard for any of the live broadcast programs.
After escaping the Detroit area when he was 18, Bork made it up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where he earned a degree in Communications/Radio Broadcasting from Northern Michigan University. He spent time managing the college radio station, working for the local NPR affiliate, and then in top 40 radio in Michigan before coming to Alaska to work his first few summers. After then moving to Chicago, it only took five years to convince him to move back to Alaska in 2010. When not involved in great radio programming he’s probably riding a bicycle, thinking about riding bicycles, dreaming about bikes, reading a book, or planning the next place he’ll travel to. Only two continents left to conquer!
