Foster mom of nine Jessica Hanna made a childhood promise: any child in her care would stay until a permanent solution existed. In this episode of Voices of Adoption with host Donna Pope, Jessica shares how she gave up a modeling career, adopted six children, and launched a nonprofit fighting for child welfare reform in Washington State.

A Dark Staircase and a Three-Month-Old Baby

At 21, Jessica walked into a drug house to visit her foster cousin's newborn son. She climbed a dimly lit spiral staircase and discovered a baby boy behind a door locked from the outside. He became her first son, Nick. Jessica walked away from a modeling contract, married her husband 40 days after meeting him, and began building a family.

A Family Built Through Faith, Foster Care, and Adoption

Within two years, Jessica was caring for four children under age three. Her family grew to include a preteen daughter bonded at a funeral, a respite baby who never left, a child adopted through Safe Families in Detroit, and a toddler who arrived after they told God they were done. Her philosophy: "We're all adopted. Some of us just had to make extra stops."

Fostering Change in Washington State

After returning from her husband's medical residency in Detroit, Jessica found Washington's 2021 Keeping Families Together Act (HB 1227) had shifted child welfare dangerously. She reactivated Fostering Change Washington, launched the Change the Story podcast, and fights for reforms addressing fentanyl exposure, placement disruption, and DCYF's failure to protect vulnerable kids.

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Listen to Jessica Hanna's full conversation with Donna Pope on Voices of Adoption and discover why one woman's childhood promise may be the blueprint for protecting more vulnerable children.

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Follow Jessica Hanna - LinkedIn: @jessica-hanna-9aa6197b | Website: FosteringChangeWA.org | Instagram: @jessicahanna7751 | YouTube: @fosteringchangewa | Email: jessica@fosteringchangewa.com