The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – My New Home and Me by Holly Seaver

Episode Date: May 24, 2026

My New Home and Me by Holly Seaver https://www.amazon.com/My-New-Home-Holly-Seaver/dp/1968640460 Five children go to homes that are very different from their own. Their worries and fears turn into surprise and joy when they meet friendly new people, try tasty new food, and learn that the thing that makes us friends is what we have inside. About the author Holly Seaver is a Christian mother, grandmother, foster mom, nurse, cat mom, and grateful wife of Ralph Seaver, Christian father, grandfather, foster dad, and technical wizard. They live together on beautiful Cape Cod. She can be reached at: [e-mail]. All profits from this book are donated to organizations who help foster kids.

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and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the host or the Chris Foss show. Some guests of the show may be advertising on the podcast, but it's not an endorsement or review of any kind. Today we have an amazing new young lady on the show with us. She's got several books we're going to talk about. Her book will lead off with his entire. titled My New Home and Me by Holly Severe. He's going to be joining us on the show and getting in all the deets about her books,

as the kids say. I don't think the kids say that, but I just make it out. Anyway, Holly Seaver is a Christian wife, mom of multiracial and multicultural, adoptive family, foster mom, and children's book author. Her writing is inspired by her family's lived experiences. All the profits from her books are donated to organizations that help kids. Welcome to the show. How are you, Holly? Thank you. Very, very thrilled to be here.

And we're thrilled to have you. Give us your dot com's, websites, emails, social media. Where do you want people to get to know you better on the web? I am on Instagram, Holly Ralph Seaver. I'm on Facebook, Holly Ralph Seaver and on Talk 2. Holly Sever, yes. The TikTok, man, that thing's getting really, it's been popular for a while. It's just getting really popular. But no, it's been going good. somebody yesterday who I think was on selling protein bars and they with their company and they're healthy and they they've been just making bank on TikTok where usually used to have to fight for

shelf space and retail. So it's just wild what you can do over there. Tell us a 30,000 overview what's inside this book, My New Home and Me. There it is right here, my new home and me. I wrote this because a friend of mine who is also a Christian foster and adoptive mom said, Wouldn't it be great if we had a book about children coming into foster care, coming into a new home, coming into a home that the configuration is very different than their own, and the family members are very different than their own, and maybe it's multicultural and multiracial, and talk about the nervousness that the kids go through when they're coming into foster care.

And it would be great to have a book that shows them that you feel nervous in the beginning, but you're going to find wonderful people there that are going to care about you and love you. And you're going to form a different kind of family. And that's okay. And this is an important transition. This child is dealing with the loss of their parents in some format of it or another, right? Being abandoned maybe or feeling rejected or whatever sort of issues go home. And it's a hard transitional period, I'm sure.

You're like, who are these new people? and you're wanting to be accepted because that's kind of how you are as a kid. You know, you're not really, I'll just go to my own life now. I'm five years old. I think I tried that at five. So now you tell the story with five children going to homes that are different than their own. Tell us how, maybe how that plays out. They're all very interesting.

We have an Asian girl. We have a Caucasian child. We have a red-headed kid that goes into a Hispanic home. We have a boy, a tween with dreadlocks that probably, came from an urban setting and it's going to live on a farm. And then a Caucasian girl that goes into a black family and an African-American family. So they have to deal with the home configuration. The home is much bigger than theirs.

Maybe they lived in an apartment, now it's a house. And they're meeting all new people. They're in a place they've never been before. There was people they've never been before. And we wanted to explore that from the, from the, through the eyes of the children. How does that feel to them? But give them a happy ending.

There's going to be people there that are going to love you and care for you. And when I first wrote the book, I thought the book was primarily for foster and adoptive families. But the book has more of a reach than that. What if children are moving into a blended family, they're going to spend half the time with one parent, half the time with another parent. They're in a new home. They've got new people that they're going to be living with. What if kids are, which happens very often in this country right now with the opiate problem, what if the kids are moving in with grandma and grandpa?

Oh, yeah. And now they're going to raise them and their home is going to be very different. We just wanted to put it out there. Sometimes I have a wonderful story, a lived experience story. We have two older children that we have adopted that are African American. And then we took in another little child for foster care. ended up adopting her too. But in the beginning, she used to call our older adopted child, that brown girl, that brown girl said, and that brown girl said this, because she had never

lived in a home. Oh, African-American people, maybe never even been all that exposed to different races and cultures. But now, instead of that brown girl, she calls her sister. Oh, and so that's, that's important to learn some of these lessons, because racism is taught children and some, something that's a part of them when they come together. But yeah, these can be different aspects. You've got different people from walks of life. And maybe that can help too with going to school. My parents, they moved around a little bit when I was young and it was hard going to new schools and meet new people and different kind of not really cultures, but I don't know, Utah does have its own culture. So yeah, it was a culture. From California to Utah will give you some headwhip and shock.

So yeah, these are really important aspects of what happens as children, giving them a book where they can understand it in their format of something very simple and easy to understand. They're not going to read War and Peace at five years old. There might be some kids out there. So good for them. Get out and touch some grass, folks, as the gaming kids say. See the sunlight.

But no, you're reading Warren Peace to be a little long for a five-year-old. But I'm glad there's something like this. Now, tell us a little bit about your background. you're a proponent of foster care and doing some of that. Tell us about how you got into that and how that's developed for you into these books. I'm a nurse. I'm a registered nurse. And I came into nursing late in life, excuse me, but I started working at an addiction

recovery facility. And I loved my work there. I love seeing people take the step to make a positive change in their life. So when the patients would come in and I would admit them into the facility, I would make small talk with them just so they would feel comfortable because they were nervous going there. And I would say to them, oh, where are you from and what you're feeling like and that kind of thing? And I would say to them, and do you have any children? And most of the time when they said, yes, I have children. I said, where are the kids?

And the kids many, many times were in foster care. And it just broke my heart to think that the opiate problem is not just. excuse me, not just for the patient specifically, but it's also for the, it's like a pebble and a pond, there's rings and it reaches every aspect of their family. So my husband and I are empty nesters, and we had a house with the kids, we're all grown up and gone, and I started thinking, hmm, maybe we could do this. Maybe we could do some foster care. We thought about it for a long time, and it was just something that just wouldn't leave my mind. And I started to, started finding other people in our age group, because we're grandparents, that were doing foster

care. And I thought, if they could do it, we could do it. So we started out, and we did some very short-term foster care in the beginning, kids that might have been removed from, from mom and dad, but then they were going to move to Grandma's house, but Grandma had to buy a bed or something. So it would be a very interim step for them. So we had kids anywhere for the first year, we had kids anywhere from two or three days to a month. And we really liked it. We liked meeting the kids. We would make them feel comfortable.

Come on in. We live near the beach. We'll go and do fun things. And we want you to feel very comfortable and very happy while you're here. Yeah. So then after about a year, I think my husband went a little crazy one night and said, why don't we do some long-term foster care?

And have the kids for a longer period of time. Get into a routine with them. Get to know the kids better. And we did. And we took in three girls. And it was a wonderful, wonderful experience. We just loved them from the day they came in. And we had them for nine months. And they were able to go home. Oh, really? That's the goal of foster care is that you're able to go home. Mom did what the Department of Children and Families was asking of her. She did. And the kids were able to go home.

And now we're friends with them. So we're like extended family. And it's just wonderful. It's the best case scenario. Yeah. Yeah, it's almost like being grandparents. You take care of and send them home again after a while or something. It's one of those things. So do you speak, do you tour, do you talk to people, you advocate online or or advocate in many ways to teach people about the benefits of foster care and?

Yes, I've been able to speak locally. We live on Cape Cod, and I've been able to speak locally about it. And like I said, there's a lot of grandparents. It's an older region that really attracts a lot of retirees, and a lot of grandparents and aunts and uncles are taking in their grandchildren because of the opiate problem. So I speak locally, and then I was able to last May speak on the PBS show, stories from the stage, and that was wonderful. And I went on there and was able to tell them about foster care and about that particular

situation, that it's not terrible. foster care isn't awful. You can do it and like you said, you can be like extended family to these kids and you can give them a good time and you can make them feel happy and stable while they're with you. Do you recommend the, I don't know if it is it called temporary foster where you're housing some folks, maybe their families going through something or like you said, drug addiction and or permanent foster care? Is that a thing? I don't understand the parameters of that. I know there's people, like, especially in this society right now with what's going on with immigration. There's people that are taking in family, families that are in danger of being deported. But we haven't done that. We just do the kids.

Yeah. I know there's some kids have been left behind, too. And that's been an issue. But how big is the need for people to provide foster care? Is there enough people out there yet? It's enormous. It's absolutely enormous. We, whenever the one child would leave, we'd get another phone call immediately. Wow. Taking somebody else. It's enormous.

But a lot, like I said, a lot of grandparents, and I have to give the grandparents' props for this, there's a lot of grandparents stepping up to the plate and taking care of these children. And I just, I'm so proud of my generation for doing that. Yeah. That's really good. There's another thing you could write about in one of your books that's becoming really huge that I just became aware. They have a term for it. It's so huge.

It's called the sandwich generation. That's what they're calling millennials, I guess some Gen Xers. But basically, it's people who are sandwiched between taking care of small children and taking care of their parents. Yes. And a lot of times they're having to move them in. You know, maybe you could do a book on what grandma or grandpa moves into the house and Alzheimer's, dementia.

It's a sad thing. Additional. Yeah. And so they call it the sandwich generation because they're stuck between. two pieces of people they have to take care of. And it's like a double duty because raising kids is hard. It is hard. Every now and then you have to unchain them, let them out of their cells and let them do the chores.

And then before they have to feed them a couple. Some slog and they put them away. I'm just kidding, folks. That's not legal. Don't call CPS. I don't have kids. That's why. Anyway, they won't let me keep them in like I keep my dogs and crates.

That's probably a good thing. But yeah, these folks take care of small kids and then sometimes you've got another toddler walking around the house. It's dementia and Alzheimer's. It's gotten really bad. It's awful. And so you're dealing with two people who don't have a clue what's going on, including probably yourself because that's where I would be if I was stuck in that. But this is evidently becoming a big thing. People are living longer than they've ever lived in human history. And sadly, our brains aren't quite keeping up with it. these things that you do. You have care and compassion for everyone.

There's a second book, I think we wanted to profile on the show, and that's called Jack and Max, The Happy Home of Foster Care Story by you. Tell us a little bit about that, if you would. That was the first book that I wrote on foster care and adoption, and I didn't even write the book. It's a true story of how we got our two cats that they came. One of them was living on the street, so he was in a very unsafe environment. and he went into a home with a very nice lady.

And then one day she brought in another little cat, and they became bonded brothers. And then one day the lady couldn't keep them anymore, and they went into a shelter. So they were with lots of other cats. But one day they got in a car and took a very long ride and came to Cape Cod and this became their forever home. So I realized that in taking in foster kids,

this was very much like what the kids go through. One child that we had for a while was telling us. telling me, oh, I've been in a bunch of different homes, which is very unfortunate, but sometimes it happens. And I said, oh, let me tell you the story of my cats. They bounced from here to there to their forever home. And I said, that's the goal for you to find your forever home. So I tell them that story, to give them hope, to encourage them, and to let them know, there's light at the end of the tunnel. And all my books are illustrated by my granddaughter. She does a lot. a beautiful job with them. Very, very nice job. And the books are not only for the kids that are

going through these, the situation in their life. It's also for their friends. Maybe their friends are living in an intact, mom and pop, Ozzie and Harriet type of home and everything's wonderful. And they don't always think about what somebody else is going through. So I want their friends, their peers, to have empathy and to be kind to everyone, to somebody comes into their school in the middle of the school year. Why did they, why are they here? How did what, what happened? Why did they have to move? Excuse me. And so I wanted their peers to understand that different people have different circumstances and you can still be friends and you can certainly be kind because kindness didn't doesn't cost anything. Yeah. It's better to get along than not get along. That's what we find

recently in wars we like to start in 2026. I think we're and around and finding out. Both these books are ways to help people understand foster care. If people are foster care curious out there, I guess I'll call it for how many's sake. I'm foster care curious. What are some of the things that maybe you need to have that would qualify someone? So if someone's out there thinking about foster care, what are some of the qualifications they want to have or maybe a setup financially, et cetera, et cetera? It's different in every state. So you would have to go to your state department of children and families and ask them. There's usually a class you go through so you can learn a little bit about what goes on with these kids. Some of them come from very traumatized backgrounds. And some of them really don't. They might not have understood what was going on in their home that made them have to go into foster care. So you'll get training, have some empty rooms in your house, maybe have a little extra because they're not going to pay you much.

And love kids, just love kids. When my husband and I became empty nesters, we just missed the kids so much. Some of the kids are uppity, and they went and moved to another state. Yeah. So we didn't get to have as many grandchildren around as we want. So now we have kids around all the time. Yeah. They get to have fun.

Cut those other kids out of the world that moved on. I taught them independence, and now I'm sorry. Sorry. Yeah, that's kind of the way. It used to be different where people moved in their locale, but I guess Levitown, all the 60 suburbia stuff. Got everybody moving about the country. And then they call you and go, hey, can you babysit the kids?

And you're like, you live 500 miles away from me. I'm not going to have them. I've got on a plane or in a car and on babies. I just realized, shit, I should have been a parent because then I could have threatened to put my kids up for adoption and bring new kids. And I could use this whole adoption thing. is a way to keep them in line. I could have been like,

Dad read Holly's book, My New Home and Me, and he can probably get someone to do the chores. Someone's active kid who's going to be like, all new chores, please stop me. Meanwhile, I got you. And so I can just ship you off to a Chinese organ harvester and give me a new BMW.

And it'd have been threatening that all the time. My dad was threatened violence with the belt. and he'd start unratching his belt. And that was a sign. Or he'd just shake it. And you're like, okay, we're at that moment. It's time to comply. And or sometimes you're like, let's roll the dice to see what happens because you're just like, I don't know.

Let's see how much gumption the old man's got chasing me around the house with the belt. But I could have just extorted him with gay. We can trade you out at any time. There's all a mess of those. What was that black and white movie with the kid who goes, can I have some, pooh, please. Oliver? Is it all her? Oliver. Yeah, I just play that movie for them every time they're being shits or when they got to be teenagers. I'm like, that could be you. That's right. Don't ask for any more fruity pepper. I'm pretty sure that kid's going to mow the lawn,

do the dishes, and yeah, that's why you have kids so you can have your own slave team. That's why I missed out. Anyway, don't do that, folks. These are jokes that don't write me. So, Holly, anything more you want to talk about on the show while we have you. year. The books are available on Amazon. They're also at bookstores are interested. They're available on Ingram Sparks. And like I said, they're not just for the kids that are going through this themselves, but it's to inspire empathy and understanding in their friends. It's a wonderful resource for teachers. It's a wonderful resource for counselors. When I got to read the book at my kids, excuse me, at their elementary school, the counselor, the school counselor, came

to me and asked me about the book and she said, I could use that book. That book is something that I can talk to kids about and just give them a lesson about or talk about the subject of being inclusive and also inclusive with whatever situations these kids are going through, foster care adoption, grandparent raised children, or even multicultural and multiracial. This is something I can use to talk to the kids to inspire kindness and empathy. Yeah. It's, it's, and the kids that are welcoming, the kids that maybe you're the native kids or kids that are there before, the other people are joining in the, in the adoption process, but can help them understand what these kids are maybe going through, what they're, what they're coming from. Because I just move in and, and you're like, hey, what's up and

yada, yada, yada. And so, yeah, these are really important things. So any future books coming out maybe you're working on. Yes, I have another book that I'm working on right now. I'm about three quarters of the way through it. This is going to be a book for tweens or maybe young adults. And it's going to be from their perspective, not from a younger child's perspective of the idea of foster care and adoption. And thank goodness I have a 13-year-old adopted daughter. What would you say in this situation? What's the language you would use in this situation? What would your attitude be. We're going to have a lot of attitude in the book. Oh, attitude. We're going to have a lot of funny stories, a lot of touching stories.

And, of course, I could take the stories right out of my own lived experience with these children. There's some funny things that really happened. And then it's going to be very touching, you know, in there as well, having a foster child come into your home. And it can get a little emotional sometimes with the other children that are there. So, how do that. So how? how they're going to progress through that. And it's really based on the situation, the three girls that I had for foster care that I had for nine months and got to go home.

So it's based off of that and then throw in some other funny stories as well. So I'm hoping it's going to be touching and funny. And it'll be something that'll open in some kids' eyes to, wow, this is what this child is going through. And this is what their home is like. And like I said, hopefully inspire empathy and kindness. Yeah, we need more of that.

We need to understand there's people to go through these journeys. And doing it as a teenager and foster care is really hard because you're dealing with your emerging ego, who you are and stuff. And it's a confusing world. Then you're dealing with all the angst of growing up as a teen and peer pressure and trying to fit in and all those crazy things you're doing. And then you've got puberty. and so you're dealing with all that and suddenly girls or boys or whatever is your thing and you're like

trying to navigate that. It's a lot to take on in junior high in high school. It's a lot. Being a child is kind of easy, but once all that kicks in, it starts really complexing things. I just like to go back to playing with my talking

drunk of the dirt, please. I just do that and I don't have to worry about dating and marrying and getting a job and bills and wait, this sounds like a really a deal. I've been doing this wrong the whole time. So, yeah, it's, how did you know when you knew you could write, writing a book for the first time?

I had no idea. You could pull that off. I had no idea. Of course, I've gone through school and in college, and you have to write a lot. Yeah. I make you do that. But the stories that I've started out with were just lived experiences, what happened with the cats and how I could apply that to the foster.

kids, and then my new home in me was a suggestion from a dear friend. And so that's how we came up with that one. And what I do with the books, I don't take a profit from these books at all. It's a wonderful local organization, and people know this. People who foster in different parts of the country, they know this as well. There's usually a foster closet, what we call a foster closet in your area. And these are people who run an organization where there's gently used, or brand new clothing, socks, shoes, everything, from babies up to adults that a foster family,

a kinship family, grandparent raised family, adopted family can come in and get whatever they need. Sometimes as a foster parent, you've got a call in the morning, hey, you're getting a kid in the afternoon, and you're like, oh my gosh, and they come in with nothing. They don't have any clothing or anything. So these foster closets are invaluable to foster families. And the foster closet that helped me the most living here on Cape Cod is the Cape Cod foster closet. They're just wonderful, wonderful to me. I would go in there if we took in a new child. And I could walk out with a whole season full of clothes for that child.

And I didn't have to spend the money. I didn't have to do the shopping. The kids can come in themselves, pick out the clothing, pick out what they want. And those organizations are just a lifeline for foster and adoptive families. That is awesome. That is awesome. It's very important that we have stuff like that. Is there any ways people can contribute in some way they're to support and clothing or finances or stuff like that? Is there anything they can do to donate or any charities or anything like that? Absolutely. Yep. Look for your local foster closet in your area. Ask around. There's probably one in every region in the country. And if there's not and you're a little entrepreneurial, maybe you could start one. But there's always, even if you don't foster, there's always ways to help out a foster or adopted family or a grandparent raising a grandchild. Cook them a meal.

Give them a gift card. Treat them to an activity that a family fun activity that they might not be able to afford because all of a sudden they're parents again and they weren't they weren't counting on this at all. So don't give them a hand. Ask them what they could, what kind of help they can use. Even if you don't foster and adopt, there's many ways to help out. Most definitely. It's an important thing. Rising tide lifts all boats.

There's some really great kids that have come from foster care and issues with home. And sometimes that gives them a much more bigger drive to do more or to try and excel. They're trying, of course, make their place in the world. And sometimes you have to grow up a whole lot quicker doing that. And it gives them the ability to have that support. Or, yeah, as being supportive. What are some misnomer's maybe that some misinformation maybe that people that have about foster care that maybe isn't true and will be helpful if they knew it wasn't, maybe? A lot of people think, oh, I don't want to take these children their trouble.

We're going to be a little unstable when they come into some brand new person's home. But for the most part, like I said, you can just be their extended family. Oh, we're going to, you make them, when they come into you, you make them feel at home. Here's your bedroom. And do you like the colors in here? Maybe we could change the colors, give you a new comforter. Do you have some pictures of your family? Let's put them up around your room.

What are your favorite foods? Let's go shopping and get your favorite foods. What do you like to do? Let's, what do you like to go for walks or do you like to go for bike rides or you want to just play in the backyard? Tell me what you like. And then we'll make this feel like home. for you, the home away from home. And we're going to make you feel comfortable while you're here. Right now, we're a different kind of family. And that's what you want to make the kids feel like.

They're going to be safe. They're going to be welcomed. We're going to be, we're going to make them feel valued. We'll introduce them some kids in the neighborhood. We'll take them and check out their new school or whatever it is. Maybe take them to church to Sunday school and meet some kids there. So you want to have the, you want to, you know the kids are coming in. This is not their choice. That's the thing that really gives you empathy for these children. This is not the choice. They didn't want to be removed from mom and dad and wherever they were living. Well, they've ever known. Even if it was not a good situation for them, sometimes they're not even aware of that, that, that, that, why did I have to leave? Why, why couldn't I stay there? So you're just,

and mom and dad love me. Yes. And they're working through some stuff right now. And so we're going to be here for a little while while they're working for things, but they really love you. And we're so glad you're here. We're so glad that you're going to be with us. For as long as you're here, we're going to try to have a good time and do some fun things together. Yeah.

And I think that's really important because one of the things kids do feel like in divorce and things of this nature is they feel rejected. Was it me? Did I cause the problem? Did, did mom and dad have to put me up for adoption because they didn't like me? Did I do something wrong? I can imagine just the whole host of, and I've had a lot of people on the show that have, they've gone and done the journey and either tried to find their parents or found their parents.

And that's a mixed bag, too. Some of the parents didn't want to be found. And I can, you can see how there's this hole that is going to develop in them because they because they can't, they feel rejected and unloved. And I've got a friend right now who's going through a divorce, and it's harder on him because he grew up at foster care, being adopted and moving for family to family. And so for him, the divorce is, it opens up a childhood trauma wound.

And I'm like, you really need to go sit down with that, because this is going to hurt worse. This is hurting you worse than most people. And divorce is pretty bad not to minimize it. But what I'm trying to say is the trauma of it can be a lifelong effect that people have. So having that love and care and support, it's got to be really, you probably do have some kids that come to you from trauma, either sexual or abuse, physical abuse, or there's a lot of weird stuff that goes on in drug homes and maybe they're exposed to chemicals or something like that. So there's probably additional stuff you've got to be, you know, kind of aware of in things like that. That's why you go through the training before you become a foster parent.

They'll recommend books to you that you know about kids with trauma. And like I said, most kids, it might act out a little bit, but most kids respond to loving kindness. And they're going to appreciate that you're there for them and that you're in their corner, so to speak. And you're going to take good care of them. The other misconception, I think, about foster care is people say people who love kids and think about doing foster care, oh, I'd be so sad when they left. You know what? If you have taken the time and you've made the effort to make them feel loved and cared for in your home, then you've done your job.

And it's okay to feel sad when they leave because if they're leaving and they're going back to their home, you're absolutely done a good job. job. Yeah. They, this is what is supposed to happen. They're supposed to go back to their parents. So if you've been that safe place for them to land in the interim, yeah, the first, I think the first two kids we had, my husband and I, he cried when they rolled down the trial with the social worker to go to their homes. It can be, it can be, it can pull on your heartstrings. Yeah, because you kind of know them, you, you see the vision for them and, and you, you, you want to, want something to be good for them.

And yeah, that can be, that can be hard. That's the, that's the one reason. People, I love Huskies and people. And we went about a, one about a year and a half without huskies because I need to have two hernia surgeries. And it just was not going to be chasing a puppy around with hernias. And what I'm chasing around now is this giant 50 pound puppy. But he, it's hard to give him back and let him go.

But I imagine that some of these, the indelible mark you're going to leave on a lot of these young people is going to impact them forever. I mean, I've had to sit down with children in my relationships and they have to explain why mommy's an alcoholic and daddy's an alcoholic. And I'm here to balance things out and your parents love you, but they're really in, they have their own problems right now. And because of last, they'll be like, why does mommy drink and why does mommy get angry and hit? And you've got to explain to them. Your mom doesn't. does love you, but there's things that they're going through. And, and, and, and, of course, the kids, they don't understand any of this. They're just like, I don't, and a lot of them, they just think

that's the way it is, if they've lived in that situation for some time. And so, seeing a healthy, moving to a healthy situation, even if temporary can give them a blueprint for, hey, there's, there's some better ways to behave with children when you have them and yada, yada. And that's what the Department of Children and Families does as well. Not only did they make sure the kids have a safe place, but they give their parents' goals. You know, sometimes their goal is parenting classes. Sometimes it's sobriety. Sometimes it's get a stable home. Your home isn't stable. You need to get a good living environment for these children. And once they move through those steps, that's what leads to reunification of these children that they can go back home. Yeah. Yeah. It's, I think. It's, and there's probably lots of foster children. There's probably more children than there are foster homes currently.

Oh, definitely. Definitely there is. And like I said, the book, this new book, My New Home and Me, it's also for blended families. And like I said, like kinship families and that kind of a thing. Yeah, there's, I read a statistic that said only 60% of American children grow up in an intact mom and pop family. The other 40% are not growing up in that kind of a home. home that could mean a divorce, that could mean foster care adoption, some disruption in their home. And these are the kids that need us. These are the kids that need and need our help.

And those families that are caring for those kids, they could use a hand. So if it's anything you can do for them, think about it. If you can volunteer in a foster closet, if you can just reach out, like I said, and give them a gift card or say, hey, can I come over and give you a hand at the house or whatever you need. We need a village to raise these kids. Yeah. And as much support as you can. And a lot of older people, too, maybe this is a really good thing for them. Since people are living longer and they're living older, they're getting more and more isolated because they can't. The kids, like you said, the kids move away and yada, yada, and and so just having other kids come in their life.

As long as you keep busy in this world, you tend to live through retirement. What's that old thing about retirement? If you don't find something to do with yourself, you usually pass away in a few years or something like that of retirement. Because the body, the universe just goes, yeah, you're not breeding. You're not raising kids. We don't really just, you're just hanging around, taking up space. We'll move you along.

And that's the thing. But if you find something to do with your life when you retire, and get an activity and a purpose. We're human beings. We're kind of purpose-driven. We're always trying to find that next whatever meal. So, you know, I know that I've seen a lot of elderly people suffer with being alone and not having friends and family.

And the other thing, too, is when you get older, your friends and family, people tend to die away. You're not supposed to outlive your kids, but honestly, people don't want to, but it happens sometimes. And your friends pass away. I'm going through that now in my late 50s. I just friends all over, Facebook are falling over, and hopefully I won't. You're just like, wow, okay.

One of my friends used to tell me and who worked for me years ago, he used to say there's two times in your life, Chris. There's the times where you get invited to a bunch of marriages. And he goes, then there's the next time in your life where you get just getting invited to funerals, which all your friends disappear. I'm like, ah, man, that's something awful. And so you lose your friends. And so, yeah, bringing youth into the world.

I bring a new puppy every end, every 10 years or something like that, whatever it is, in my life. And, boy, having something youthful can be challenging. But, man, it'll give you a purpose, chasing them around and trying to care for them. But the love that you can get from them and the care and I think the rewards of those great emotions and giving, being grateful, I think those are things that can really sustain you in life and probably help a lot of elderly folks that might be shut in or need help. Yeah. Absolutely.

Yeah, because we all need community. And I think people die and I think maybe dementia, Alzheimer's, there's probably some studies on it that if you alienate yourself, you tend to fade off quicker because you need that interaction with people. They say that when we look each other on the faces, as we interact with each other as human beings, our brains light up with all sorts of activity and stuff that we're reading going on.

And if we're not doing that, then we're just sitting around, I don't know, drilling out the side of her mouth, looking at the TV, which I do on Fridays. Any of you? Relationships that enrich your life. We have a wonderful organization here on Cape Cod called Covenant for Care.

They will train some. Usually it's a senior citizen, go into a foster family house. They give you training and your corey checked and all that sort of thing. And get the mom a hand. And play with the kids for a little while. So the mom can, the foster mom and the foster dad can put their feet up for five minutes. There's ways to help.

And like you said, being engaged with other people, making these relationships, it just enriches your life. Now you've got somebody, you've got someplace to go. You've got a purpose. You have a friend. You have somebody who's glad to see you when you come. to their home. Oh, yeah. Visit with you and visit with the kids.

There's ways to help. And if you're looking for ways to help or way to be engaged in your community, think about reaching out and finding some organization in your area that is supportive of de-foster care and adoptive community out there. Yeah. Can they reach out to you? Do you do any consulting for this or anything like that? I don't, but I'd be glad.

I will talk night and day. any day of the week for foster about foster care and adoption any day of the week. It's just, it's such a, such a something that's so needed in our society. And it's very challenging, but it also brings you great joy to do this. So yes, they can reach out. I don't know if you're going to post my email. They can, my email is on the back of all of my books. You can reach out to me anytime.

I'm glad to talk about foster. care and adoption. Like I said, day and night 24-7. It enriches your life and it's very, very needed in our society. I think more people should do that. I think more people should. Plus, the great thing is if your current children or teenagers are acting up, like as they tend to do teenagers, you know, you can just trade them out. I would have had kids if I don't know this was an option. Because then I would have been like, hey, when you're 12, you're moving out. And we're to trade you for some new three-year-olds that are happy to be here they're happy to be here our crap of that attitude with dad the wonderful thing about foster care like my husband and i

started out we did some very short-term foster care you you could name it to say i'm available from here to there and then you can be that interim person also the foster parents need a vacation so sometimes you could do what's called respite care so the foster parents are going to take a vacation the kids can you have these kids for a week and have them for a weekend. There's ways to help where you're where you are one-on-one with the kids. And then there's ways to help where it's more like the village is coming around and helping that family. There's lots of ways to get involved.

That's great. That's great. And yeah, shit, I could have had children like tires. You just change them every time they become teenagers and you start over again. You're like, hey, what happened? 13-year-olds? They wouldn't mow the lawn and do the dishes and do all my gaming raids that I have to do every week on my gaming duty. So they had to go.

But then I just go out in the adoption clinic and I go, hey, are you good at playing Call of Duty? Do you know how to do zombies really well? What's your kill ratio on Call of Duty? Okay. But we're going to adopt you. That's true too for like there's something called a visiting family resource. You could be that. Oh, yeah.

majors very definitely need that. They need somebody that's going to reach out and say, I'm going to take you out for the day or we're going to go do some video games or something like that. It's different from state to state, but look at what's out there. Look at what's available for you to reach out and be that person for a child that's going through something. And just give them that wonderful opportunity.

See, I can do that. I can be like, and then when the kid goes, hey, have some issues. Can I talk to about them? I'm like, that's a call of duties for you. Just go shoot stuff and kill it and everything's fine. That's how I work my shit out, kid, just like clearly. Clearly, this is the reason why CBS has my number blocked.

Maybe we do need a trade-out teenager service. I think there's some money here. I think we have some, I'm going to call it Jeff Bezos to see what you. Elon Musk is from South Africa. He's probably into child slave. Oh, wow. Oh, my God. We bash Twitter whenever we do.

Anyway, Holly, thank you very much. Give people a final pitch out to pick up your book and your dot-coms. Thank you. Yes, I'm on Instagram. I'm Holly Seaver, Holly Ralph Seaver. I'm on TikTok, Holly Seaver. There's a very robust society out there, or a group of children's book authors,

and we're out there supporting each other. I'm on Facebook, Holly Ralph Seaver, and if anybody wants to reach out to me, My email is holly.sever at comcast.net. I will talk any day, any time about the need for foster care and adoption and people in our area that become a village. All right. Sounds good then. I'm glad you're supporting the work and help people see the big vision of things.

Thank you very much, Holly, for coming the show. Thank you so much. Thank you. And thanks, thanks, Your Honors, for tuning in. Order per book, wherever fine books are sold. my new home and me and share the love and let people know it's probably this book is even great just for normal kids to understand different racial backgrounds different makeups of different people and why it's important to accept and all get along rising tide lips all those books

thanks for us fordance for tune to in go to goodrease dot com for chest chris fuss chris fos one on the ticot kitty and all those crazy places on the internet be good to each other stay safe we'll see you next time You've been listening to the most amazing, intelligent podcast ever made to improve your brain and your life. Warning, consuming too much of the Chris Walsh Show podcast can lead to people thinking you're smarter, younger, and irresistible sexy. Consume in regularly moderated amounts. Consult a doctor for any resulting brain bleed. All right.