Introducing Our New Executive Director, Linda Fiore

We're thrilled to introduce you to our new Executive Director, Linda Fiore. Listen to today's conversation about her journey to Creating a Family and where we're heading in this next chapter under her leadership.

In this episode, we discuss:

• What first brought you into the world of adoption, foster care, and kinship care?
• When you started out, what was your “why”?
• What values or goals drove your work in those earliest years?
• What was your first introduction to Creating a Family?
• When presented with the opportunity to pursue the position of Executive Director, what was it about our mission or the organization’s evolution that drew your interest?
• How did you know this was the right next step for you?
• What are the pivotal lessons or challenges that shaped your leadership approach?
• When you look at where Creating a Family stands today, what are our greatest strengths?
• Kinship care has become a growing focus area for us. Why do you think kinship support is so critical right now?
• What are some of the plans Creating a Family has to deepen our impact in this space?
• Our online education programs reach families and professionals across the country. From your experiences in the field, why is education so crucial in these spaces?
• As we continue to raise awareness of who we are and how we serve this community, what message do you want people to associate with Creating a Family?
• What stories or values do you hope will come through most clearly?
• Where do you think Creating a Family is heading in the next few years?
• Your “why” has probably evolved — what keeps you going now?
• What’s one thing you’ve learned that you hope every family advocate carries with them from today’s conversation?
• Finally, for those listening or reading who are inspired — individuals, professionals, or organizations — what can they do to join the mission of Creating a Family? 

Chapters

• 1:47 What first brought you into the world of adoption, foster care, and kinship care?
• 5:15 When you started out, what was your “why”?
• 6:52 What values or goals drove your work in those earliest years?
• 8:01 What was your first introduction to Creating a Family?
• 10:02 What are the pivotal lessons or challenges that shaped your leadership approach?
• 17:19 When presented with the opportunity to pursue the position of Executive Director, what was it about our mission or the organization’s evolution that drew your interest?
• 19:47 How did you know this was the right next step for you?
• 22:43 Kinship care has become a growing focus area for us. Why do you think kinship support is so critical right now?
• 26:11 When you look at where Creating a Family stands today, what are our greatest strengths?
• 30:07 What are some of the plans Creating a Family has to deepen our impact in this space?
• 31:57 Our online education programs reach families and professionals across the country. From your experiences in the field, why is education so crucial in these spaces?
• 36:48 As we continue to raise awareness of who we are and how we serve this community, what message do you want people to associate with Creating a Family?
• 37:50 What stories or values do you hope will come through most clearly?
• 38:59 Where do you think Creating a Family is heading in the next few years?
• 40:09 Your “why” has probably evolved — what keeps you going now?
• 41:28 What’s one thing you’ve learned that you hope every family advocate carries with them from today’s conversation?
• 43:05 Finally, for those listening or reading who are inspired — individuals, professionals, or organizations — what can they do to join the mission of Creating a Family?

Transcript

Please pardon any errors, this is an automated transcript.

I am beyond thrilled to introduce you today to our new executive director,
Linda Fiori. Hi, and welcome to Creating a Family, Talk About Adoption, Foster Care,
and Kinship Care. I'm Tracy Whitney. I am the host of both Creatingafamily .org's
podcasts, one that drops on Saturdays called Weekend Wisdom, and this one that drops
every Wednesday and is usually an hour -long interview format for families to
strengthen and support themselves with the tools that our experts bring us. Today
we've got a little bit of a different feel. We're thrilled to introduce you to
Linda Fiore. Linda is a seasoned leader with more than 20 years of experience in
adoption and family services. She earned her master's degree in sociology and social
work from DePaul University and she has held program director and executive director
roles spanning foster care, search, and reunion services, and adoption support.
Linda has served on multiple adoption councils and played a role in shaping adoption
legislation, reflecting her dedication to advancing the field. Her work includes
guiding adoptees, birth parents, adoptive families, and grandparents raising
grandchildren, demonstrating a deep commitment to supporting diverse family structures.
She's been personally touched by adoption and she brings not only professional
expertise to the table, but also heartfelt compassion. And we're thrilled to have her
as our new executive director here at creating a family .org. And we're thrilled now
to introduce her to you. So welcome to the podcast, Linda. Thank you, Tracy. It's
great to be here and really great to be part of creating a family. I'm really
excited about this role. I'm so glad that you said yes. Me too.
So let's start at the beginning and talk about what brought you into the world of
adoption, foster care and kinship care, because you've spanned all of them now. I
have. I have. And, you know, I've been asked that question a lot. And what I
notice is when I'm asked that now, that answer looks a little different than,
you know, maybe 10 years ago.
about my own family history that made that quote just knowing. It made that,
I understood. And I was able to reflect back on my lived experiences as well.
And so the older I got, I was able to see how those lived experiences really,
you know, shaped what my goals were. I can remember just always having a strong
desire to help people. I know that sounds cliche, but it truly is what has guided
me in all of my work. I mean, back to my days on the playground. If someone
scraped a knee, I wanted to help them. If someone was being bullied, I wanted to
make sure they felt okay. It really started at a young age. And then growing up in
a family where my parents raised my four nephews. And that was my first experience
with kinship care, which of course, at that time, there wasn't this name and
recognition to it. So I saw the importance of relatives stepping up and stepping in
to help children who, you know, didn't have parents that were able to care for
them. And more than anything, I saw how hard it was for my parents because they
didn't have resources. I remember asking questions like, well, why don't you just say
this or why can't we do this? And they didn't have the answer because they had no
one to turn to to ask these questions. And, you know, whether it was a challenging
behavior that one of my nephews was exhibiting or difficulties with boundary setting
with my sibling or challenging school situations, they had to just figure it out
because that's what they were supposed to do. And it was also my introduction into
mental health. You know, growing up, that's not something talked about a lot in many
families. And it really brought to my attention the importance of not only treating
mental health, but understanding it and understanding how it impacts the individual
with the mental health diagnosis, helping the family, and really the importance of
learning how to treat it, both, you know, medically, but within a family system.
So I took all of that and I was like, I knew this is what I want to do.
I didn't know exactly how it would come to be, but I knew I was going to go to
school and I was going to learn and have a career that helped people and helped
families. So in those early years, when you were getting that career off the ground,
what was the why that kind of kept you pushing forward into these very hard spaces
and hard conversations. Yeah, at, you know, at a young age, and I think this,
you know, and I definitely don't want to speak for everyone. I will speak for
myself, but I do think something very common in people that are going to school for
social work or to be part of the social service sector in some way, they go
thinking and believing and wanting to make a change. You know, I remember thinking,
well, I've got this, you know, I was a little naive, but I'm going to make all
the changes and I am going to help. And, you know, I left school with all of this
knowledge and I wanted to turn that into a career that helped people and made an
impact. And while my careers and the specific roles have changed.
That has always been at my core, that why. It has kept me through the ups and
downs. You know, like you said, these are some challenging spaces. But when I come
back to that core why, you know, the reason I do this, it's it's to help children,
to help families, to support them and to really make an impact. Whether that's in a
direct service role, an executive director role, you know, whatever it is I'm doing,
I know that I can make some little impact. And it's all the littles that make the
collective big. So what are some of the character traits or personal values that
kind of kept you moving forward in those times when you were trying to implement
your why? Well, I And, you know, first and foremost,
the value that you have to have compassion. You have to have compassion for the
people you're working for, who you're advocating for. And one word that I think of
a lot when I think about what kept me going is, I mean, you have to have this
persistence, whether it's persistence in meeting with legislators to help them
understand that lived experience is just as important as the laws that they're making
and how they are, you know, both equally important. So I really, it was critical
for me to continue figuring out a way to be supportive in this space.
So I'm thinking persistence and compassion are a great pairing for this world that
you've moved.
agency and in that role I had you know I wore many hats as most executive
directors do especially in the nonprofit world and one of those was learning what
the needs of our families were and it was I was always very interested in what we
had we they were called open house sessions and they were a 30 -minute free session
for families to learn about our agency. And it was always interesting to hear what
they were coming to us with, their beliefs. And I thought, I mean, it's so
important that we find the right education and training for families. And one thing
that was really becoming common was prenatal substance exposure.
The women that we worked with who were making an adoption plan their children were
being born, having been exposed to substances. And one of the trainings we required
for our families was a prenatal substance exposure training that was offered by
creating a family. And I was so impressed with the, you know,
how it's trauma -informed evidence -based research that really helped families
understand. So we have families that would say, I'm open to adopting a child who's
been exposed prenatally to drugs and alcohol. But they didn't really know what that
meant. They were eager to adopt and that's what they wanted. And so this training
was so valuable for our families. So I was very grateful to creating a family for
that. Well, yay to our education team. Woo -hoo.
Let's talk a little bit about your role as executive.
Inc.
extremely challenging, but it was that introduction, and I was still really excited,
and I still am today, but to make an impact on the youth. And,
you know, I found what my strengths were and what I still needed to work on, and
being 21 working in juvenile probation was quite challenging. So I,
you know, went back to school, and that's when my knowing of adoption came to be.
And I worked in an area called post -adoption, and I stumbled upon it. And it was
providing search and reunion services for individuals that were adopted during that
closed adoption era, the era where everything was a secret. And I helped birth
mothers who placed during that time find their birth child and reunite them and
adult adoptees would come to our service and search for their birth families,
their birth mother, their birth siblings, their birth father. And really during that
time, I learned how this lifelong search for identity impacted them.
I took that direct service and I knew I wanted to make a difference on a higher
level. And that's when I stepped into some legislation.
law in 2010. So I was really excited to take that direct service. And that was my
first experience of really combining the direct service and what I learned from the
people I was serving and how you can elevate that and try to make an impact and
changes on another level. As a foster care caseworker,
I learned about connection. You know, and again, all of these little pieces are so
big and important and really do prepare me for this role. I'll never forget I was
on call as a foster care caseworker and it was two in the morning and everyone
loved to get calls at two in the morning and learned that, you know,
one of the children who was on my team run away from from his foster home so I
picked him up from from jail and took him per like the protocol we went to the
emergency room and he you know he got examined and I'll never forget the doctor
stepping out of the room saying to me well where's his parents and you know in
that moment as a caseworker I I thought, well, how does the doctor not know? You
know, and not that it's the doctor's fault. It is, again, what I so strongly
believe with creating a family is the education and the training, you know,
not only for families, but for professionals, like an emergency room doctor, who's
examining this child and doesn't know where his parents are. You know, that's a
moment that always stuck with me and was always, you know, just really made me
understand and appreciate the education and training piece. And,
you know, connection to the people that I'm advocating for, that same child,
we were driving around. And because of the time of 2 a .m.,
we were not able to find a foster home placement for him.
And we, with this child, struggled greatly to find relatives as well.
And I was taking him to a shelter for youth. And I'll never forget,
he said, you know, Miss Linda, why can't you just take me home? You treat me like
I'm a normal child. Like, you make me feel like I'm just a normal kid. And those
words were so impactful, you know, that no matter what level of work I'm doing in
this area is treating everyone the same, you know,
that we see him as a child, not a foster child, but a child,
you know, that needs a supportive adult in their life. And,
you know, in that job specifically, the leaders that I had really helped shape the
type of leader I wanted to become. And, you know, what I saw as the most important
trait they had is they never lost touch with the work that was being done on the
ground. They always stayed informed. They wanted to understand the complexities of the
families that we were working for. and that's that's all
to every human beings need to be seen and heard as the unique and precious human
that they are. When you can carry that through all the different iterations of your
career through to where you are now, that says a lot about the impacts that were
made on you along the way, the people that touched your life, the roles that you
played and the learnings that you had the opportunity to participate in and then
integrating them all into a position like this. I say we're all the better for it.
I mean, it's such a boon for us as an organization. And speaking of the
organization, when you heard about the opportunity to pursue the position of executive
director, what was it about our specific mission or our evolution as an organization
that drew your interest to pursue that. Yeah. You know, I was I was drawn to
creating a family, like I had mentioned, just with the little taste I got through
the prenatal substance exposure training. But really, it opened me up to learning
more about just the mission of creating a family in general. and It's commitment to
strengthening adoptive, foster, and kinship families and not only the dedication,
but the how you were doing it. So in my career, I've taken many trainings,
you know, as a professional, and I've watched many panels, you know, a spectrum of
training and what that looks like. But what I always thought is that so much of
the training was based on opinion, which can be extremely useful in certain
situations. I mean, it's critical to listen to a panel where people are sharing
their lived experience because that is very powerful. But it often,
what I found in certain areas, it left both the professional and the family really
lacking that understanding of what they were supposed to be walking away with. And
with creating a family, I was so excited to be part of something as important as
education and training because, again, from being a foster care worker to an
executive director at an adoption agency, I saw the importance of education and that
it was, you know, this trauma -informed evidence -based research that that was the
driving.
that have willingly given their time and their expertise and their wisdom and their
lived experiences to create the content that we get to create literally every single
day. How did you know that jumping into this role was the right next step for you?
That's a good question. And again, without trying to be too vague,
I knew I was ready to take another step. So just as in my work in post -adoption,
where I had an abundance of a critical important direct service, it was elevating
that to a level, taking that direct service, and moving into working on legislation.
And the same can be said for this transition to, I was in a role that I still
did a lot of direct service that is so important and also seeing the importance of
the education and training. You know, I remember a family coming to us talking
about, you know, their fears of open adoption and why they don't want to have an
open relationship. And the fears were valid when they're coming, not really
understanding. But being able to provide training and education that helps kind of
demystify all of those myths that they're coming to our agency with, I knew that
that was the right next step to move into a space where I can focus on the
education, the training, the resources, and making sure that they get out there to
the people that need them. So I was excited to make the transition. I love the way
you said that to demystify the myths that they come in with because you don't know
what you don't know. Right. But then when you learn it, you can do better and you
can prepare yourself more roundly and wholly. And I love that that's been your
mindset. Like let's help them know more and know better.
I'd like to interrupt this conversation with our new
They come with a certificate of completion that you can use for education credits if
you need them. And you will be prepared and equipped and trained well by these
courses. They're all designed to strengthen your family and to strengthen your
parenting toolbox. The address to find these resources is Bitley slash JBF support.
B -I -T -L -Y -S -J -B -F support.
Thanks so much for indulging this little interruption, and let's go back and listen
to what Linda has to say about creating a family. When you look at where creating
a family stands today, what do you perceive to be our greatest strengths as an
organization? Yeah. So in the short four months,
I have been here, I see an organization.
staff that grabs onto that mission that's excited about doing the work,
those goals don't come to fruition without the staff. So I do want to say that the
staff is an incredible strength because that's what makes this work possible. You
know, I think that things like our website is an extreme,
it's such a strength. It is full of so many resources. You know, one of the
challenges I've learned is accessibility for both families and professionals and the
website is so accessible. It is full of great book pages and recommendations and
articles and, you know, just really important content for individuals.
So I love that that exists and it's accessible for others,
and so much of it is free also. Yay, free. People love free. Yeah.
You know, I've touched on this a little bit throughout is our prenatal substance
exposure, and again, what really drives trainings like that is listening.
You know, I think it's such a great strength of our organization that we don't sit
in meetings, and I mean, we do sit in a lot of meetings, but it's what really
drives.
strength of creating a family. And also the role that they are taking in the space
of kinship care and how strong that has become with support groups,
which are so valuable, having that peer -to -peer connection. You know, unless you've
experienced it yourself, you can't quite understand so that we, the fact that we
create a safe space for that to happen, I think is tremendous and a huge strength
of just
listening today and you are interested in joining an online kinship supportive
community, please email me at Tracy at creatingafamily .org.
And I would be happy to plug you into a kinship group that fits your family's
needs as far as location and time because we have in -person groups and we have
online groups. So just a little plug for our kinship groups. and we do have several
strategic priorities heading into the new year, including continuing to increase our
kinship resources. But we're also going to be working on expanding our online
education resources and kind of improving and raising brand awareness of who we are
and what we do and why we do it. So why do you think kinship support is so
crucial right now at this time in our culture? You know,
first, I want to say,
ability to care. I mean, so many relatives are needing to step in to care for
children. And I think, you know, supporting the families ensures stability.
It ensures healing and permanency. I remember in my previous role,
I was as an executive director at the adoption agency. We also did home studies for
relatives for relatives who were adopting. Every state is different in their
requirements. And in the state of Indiana, it was required that a home study be
completed. And I remember speaking to this sweet girl, she was nine years old and
her aunt was adopting her. And she talked about how happy she was to know she
wasn't going to be taken away anymore. And that she would have the same bed to
sleep in. Yeah.
out there and that we provide resources. You know, a lot of families don't know
where to turn. And, you know, creating a family has done a great job with
establishing legal options and workshops and information to help families.
And so many of these families are stepping in kind of under the radar, not involved
with the foster system, not involved with an adoption process. But those families
deserve support and care and resources.
We're looking at what we can do differently, what we can do better, what we can
add on. And, you know, for example, we are working on establishing another in -person
support group in another county, which I think is phenomenal. You know, again, I
mentioned that peer -to -peer, I love that we have the online support because that
reach is so far. And to have these in -person in groups also,
you know, I think we have talked about.
were given information about NC legal options and so that they can tell their
families. You know, so really spreading the word is important and knowing where to
provide that information. Yeah.
So we also have kind of a strategic plan to increase and raise awareness of our
online education programs. From your experiences in the field, tell us again why you
think education in adoption and foster care is so crucial for families. So,
you know, when I said the education, you know, using that word demystifies,
people have a lot of beliefs. And I think the education helps.
And it provides also practical tools, things they can take in their everyday life,
you know, strategies that they can use. And it's often not something that you can
find in just any book. I think having very specific education tailored to certain
circumstances. So we, in adoption, many agencies ask, you know,
what are your preferences? Are you open to, like I had mentioned, adopting a child
who was prenatally exposed to drugs and alcohol? Or, you know, do you have a
preference around race and culture? And if they are open, they need to know what
that means. Right. And, you know, I think people come into, you know,
just using adoption as an example, with the greatest intentions, but they need to
learn. They need to be educated on the challenges, on the blessings, on all of it.
And I think it's so critical. And I love that our education expands across the
country. You know, we have such a large reach. And that's truly the way that we
are going to make an impact is if we can reach more families and more
professionals. Yeah, we work really hard when we're creating our online education to
not just make it evidence -based.
care or for pre -adoptive training. But then they have a tip sheet that they can
hang on to and refer to multiple times after the course is done. And I think as
robust as our courses are, we're challenging ourselves to raise the bar and make the
offerings even more robust and more applicable to everyday life. And I'm very excited
about what's to come for that part of things. Yes. And I'm glad you said that. And
in my mind, it really, it's what builds a resilient community.
years now with the organization. So if I, after 10 years, am still learning things,
then parents who've never done it before certainly have vast opportunities to learn
and prepare well to parent the child well, which is our end goal. That's our goal.
Yeah.
Speaking of new directions and growth and where creating a family is going, I'm very
excited to tell you about our new downloadable parenting guide that we've called
Navigating Challenging Behaviors, Practical Strategies for Families. It's available to
you when you subscribe to our free monthly newsletter. So if you go to
CreatingaFamily .org slash newsletter and you choose the eye -catching black and white
graphic there at the header of the page, you can sign up for whichever version of
our newsletter best suits your needs, whether you're a professional or you're an
adoptive or foster parent or you're a kinship provider. And when you get that guide,
you can start learning all kinds of practical strategies that will help you support
challenging behaviors that come from trauma or from prenatal exposure or anything like
that. And if you like the guide, then you should also consider liking and
subscribing and following our podcasts because We also offer in those resources,
very practical, implementable strategies that you can use to strengthen your family.
When you do subscribe to the podcast or the newsletter, you will never miss the new
big stuff that's coming down the pike from creating a family as we face into the
new year and start implementing our strategic plans for where we're going. So thanks
for letting me interrupt you for a second. and let's go back to finish up this
great conversation with our new executive director, Linda Fiore. As we are continuing
to raise awareness and get the word out about who we are and how we serve this
community of foster, adoptive, and kinship communities, what's a message that you
really want people to associate when they hear the word creating a family .org?
That creating a family is truly committed to education,
to training, and to providing resources. That we are dedicated to making sure that
families and professionals are equipped with what they need. That we help navigate
these complex challenges that families are facing because of our training and our
resources. So I want, I want people to see us as a trusted resource.
I think that's very important. There are many resources out there, but we are a
resource that you can trust because of our process that is so in depth. That's
awesome. I love that. What stories or values that you've carried thus far in your
career and now are carrying into creating a family, do you hope will come through
kind of the overarching story that you hope will come through for families? That's a
good question. And I think I'm trying to see, you know, the best way to answer it
to also make sure I'm not repeating myself, because I do think it's so intertwined.
You know, everything is so interconnected. And I think, you know,
the message,
we're doing it for one collective reason, which is strengthening families and helping
children. And I want that to come through in the work I do at creating a family
also. Yeah, that's great. So give us kind of a peek at where you think creating a
family is heading in the next few years. I think, so what I love is creating a
family is already recognized as a national organization. But in the coming years,
what I see and hope is that we have a stronger reach in some additional states.
You know, while we're national, I think we can have more of a presence and how
that looks. There's a variety of ways not to give examples yet, but I think we can
have a stronger presence in some of the states that, again, it's about expanding
and I'm excited to carry out that that mission and continue that and see,
you know, what this expansion could look like. So over the years, your why has
probably evolved a little bit. You alluded to that at the beginning of the
conversation that, you know, where you were 10 years ago is different than where you
are now. What's your why that keeps you going kind of in the, on the daily
practical right now. I've been so fortunate to work in touch like every level,
you know, of this field. Direct service legislation, you know, whether it's working
with families as a caseworker or shaping adoption legislation,
working with an expectant mother who is making one of the biggest decisions of her
life And now into education, you know, focusing on education and training. My why
has always been the same. It is still to help these families,
to help individuals in a time of need. And those needs look different. So the needs
have changed, but I do feel like my why has remained the same. It is what has
kept me going. You know, my strong connection to the work through my lived
experiences also fuels my passion and, you know, the desire to continue in this in
this field, which I think is really valuable. What's one thing you've learned that
you hope every family advocate or other professional involved in this work would
carry with them from today's conversation? I want people to recognize and realize
gift.
You are advocating and feeling like no one on earth is listening to you.
The impact might not be immediately visible, but you are making an impact.
Every act of support when you're giving that support, when it's trauma -informed,
when you have compassion, it is making a difference. So the work that you do truly
does matter. We love our professionals who listen and who interact with us.
And we're so grateful that they keep coming back to listen and take the courses and
share the resources with their families that they're supporting. And I 100 % wholly
endorse everything that you just said. They are such a value to the system and to
the services that they provide. they bring such value. And I'm so thrilled to kind
of stand shoulder to shoulder with professionals like the ones that use our services
and our resources. So let's wrap this up with one final question for those of us
who are listening to today's conversation, whether you're an adoption professional or
a foster care professional or you're an individual mom or dad, foster mom or dad,
kinship caregiver, what can our audience do to
our podcast. At the adoption agency I was at, we would send out quarterly
newsletters with resources and the podcast was always on it because it had so much,
you know, just so much valuable information. So I would say spread the word.
I would say that creating a family is always open to connecting with others who
align, who understand the importance of our mission, whether that's collaboration,
speaking engagements, sponsoring our podcast, you know, anything that we can do
together to raise awareness, I think is so important. And people can donate,
you know, donating through our website. It helps us, it directly supports our
programs and our resources and our outreach efforts. So, you know, I think any of
those ways are great places to start. Awesome. That's a great way to end it because
we want to link arms with those who have like hearts and like minds to what we're
doing here at creating a family. Absolutely. Linda, thank you so much for your time.
I know this learning curve of joining the team has been huge and you're a very
busy woman. So I deeply appreciate the time that you took to get ready for today's
conversation and then join me for this interview. I'm very excited about the
direction that we're headed and what creating a family is going to be able to grow
to do to serve more families and support their kids to thrive. And that's really
our end goal is to build strong, healthy families where kids can thrive. So thanks
for listening, everyone. We're so glad that you joined us. And if you liked today's
interview, please, as Linda said, share the word and let others know about the work
that creating family is doing. Thanks and see you next week.