Show notes
Season 1, Episode 43 — February 2026 27:43 min
In the first half of a two-part episode, the pod heads to Roseburg for a conversation that starts with a familiar Big Picture ritual — coffee, context, and the feeling of being welcomed back — and then moves quickly into one of the most concrete examples of system learning you’ll hear in this series. Bethany sits down with two guests: Tabitha Stevenson, a case manager at the Umpqua Valley Public Defender’s office and a member of the local Parent Advisory Council, and Jessica Hunter, a Child Welfare program manager for District 6 in Douglas County. Together, they explain what a Parent Advisory Council actually is: a structured, ongoing partnership where parents with lived experience in Child Welfare and Self-Sufficiency provide direct feedback to leadership about how the system feels, where it harms, and what can be changed to reduce trauma and increase dignity.
Tabitha’s story brings the conversation into focus. She describes having her three children removed in October 2005 due to meth addiction, entering treatment, facing felony charges, and ultimately reunifying with her children less than a year later. That history isn’t shared for drama — it’s shared to explain why her role now carries unusual weight: she supports parents navigating dependency cases while also helping the agency improve how it engages families. In the episode, she names something many people struggle to articulate: there are parts of the Child Welfare experience that staff can’t “imagine” their way into, because the trauma is visceral, disorienting, and deeply embodied. The council creates a formal space where that truth can be spoken plainly — and where parents can feel, often for the first time, that they’re being heard by people with the authority to act.
At the heart of the episode is what makes this work sustainable: humility, structure, and follow-through. Jessica talks about the emotional discipline required for leadership to sit with hard feedback without defensiveness — and the intentional design that helps make that possible: meeting in a neutral, welcoming room; starting with food, connection, and icebreakers that level the field; and committing to leadership presence every month. Just as important, she describes the “closed loop” principle: no suggestion is left hanging. If something can’t be done, the council is told why. If it can, it gets implemented — often quickly, because many ideas are common-sense, human-centered changes rather than policy battles. The episode offers vivid examples: reducing the number of locked doors parents must pass through for meetings, creating a more comforting family space, and launching practical improvements like early meetings between biological and resource parents — a shift Tabitha believes could have changed the course of her own case. By the end, Roseburg’s Parent Advisory Council isn’t framed as a feel-good initiative. It’s framed as a method: a way to build a culture where responsiveness is expected, dignity is operationalized, and lived experience isn’t just acknowledged — it’s treated as expertise.
Celebrity PSA for the Day: What only a “Freeman” Can Feel (12:48)
Credits
Hosts: Dr. Bethany Grace Howe — Communications
Shenika — Community Partnership Coordinator, District 10
Produced by: Dr. Bethany Grace Howe
Contact: Questions / feedback: bethany.g.howe@odhs.oregon.gov
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