Breaking Cycles, Building Support: How Safe Families Helps Families in Crisis

Behind the Curtain: Honest Conversations about Foster Care and Adoption

This episode is Part 2 of Rebecca's conversation with Tammy Pulsifer. Here is the link to go back and listen to Part 1: Part 1 with Tammy Pulsifer

Tammy Pulsifer, Director of Community Engagement at Safe Families for Children Tallahassee, shares how their organization builds support systems for vulnerable families to prevent children from entering foster care. The conversation explores the profound isolation that leads to foster care placement and how Safe Families creates communities of support for parents in crisis.
• Safe Families provides a "circle of support" for families who have no one to call during crises
• Children enter foster care when parents have absolutely no support network to help them
• The organization helps parents develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills rather than creating dependency
• Trauma affects how people respond to challenges - what appears as simple to some may be overwhelming for others
• Family coaches help parents set achievable goals while volunteers provide practical support
• Small "1% changes" compound over time to shift the trajectory of families' lives
• Safe Families operates in 42 states and 3 countries, with various ways to volunteer
• Children in foster care experience PTSD at 2-3 times the rate of veterans returning from war
Visit safe-families.org to learn how you can get involved in your state.

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1. Introduction to Tammy and Safe Families (00:00:00)

2. Creating Support Where None Exists (00:01:21)

3. Building Skills and Independence (00:05:11)

4. Understanding Trauma Brain (00:10:25)

5. Small Changes, Big Trajectory Shifts (00:14:12)

6. Getting Involved with Safe Families (00:20:12)

7. Lightning Round with Tammy (00:21:47)