# Overcoming the Odds: Shares her personal journey from a traumatic childhood to becoming an advocate for children in foster care.

An episode of [Money Making Conversations Master Class](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1264705641), 29 Jul 2025, 28 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/b1db7263-d1a3-4d00-8976-af62012aab44/2888d241-fbc6-451e-a582-b32b0140ba4f/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=35a10561-3e1b-4d05-a529-af62012aab6a

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Attorney Felita Cornog. An adoption attorney and foster care advocate. Felita Cornog shares her personal journey from a traumatic childhood—losing her mother to domestic violence and her father to incarceration—to becoming a passionate advocate for children in foster care. She discusses the differences between adoption and foster care, the emotional toll of her work, and how others can support children in the system even if they don’t become foster parents themselves. 🧭 Interview Outline 1. Introduction • Felita shares that her passion for law began in her teens but she pursued it in her 30s after becoming a mother and homemaker. 2. Personal Backstory • Felicia’s mother died from domestic violence; her father went to prison. • She and her brother were raised by extended family, avoiding the foster system. • This inspired her to help children who aren’t as fortunate. Quote: “I wanted to turn that story of pain into my passion.” 3. Understanding Foster Care vs. Adoption • Foster Care: Temporary placement with the goal of reunification. • Adoption: Permanent legal relationship. • Children may be placed in foster homes or group homes. Quote: “The goal of foster care is always reunification first.” 4. Stereotypes and Realities • Many children in foster care are not abused but neglected or orphaned. • Misconceptions about emotional instability are common. Quote: “That’s one of the biggest myths—that all children in foster care have emotional problems.” 5. Emotional Impact of the Work • Finalizing adoptions is joyful but bittersweet, especially when siblings are separated. • Felita handles all types of adoptions except international. Quote: “Adoptions are one of the few times people leave a law office happy.” 6. Support for Foster Parents • Foster parents receive stipends and Medicaid support. • Services include mental health, respite care, and caseworker assistance. 7. How to Help Without Fostering • Volunteer with CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates). • Donate to private foster care agencies. • Use platforms to raise awareness. 8. Adoption Process & Requirements • Must be 21+ years old. • Can be single or married. • Must pass background checks, home evaluations, and physicals. Quote: “We’re not just going to give a child to anyone who raises their hand.” 9. National Adoption Month • Celebrated in November, inspired by Dave Thomas (Wendy’s founder). • Aims to raise awareness for children in foster care needing adoption. 10. Closing • Felita shares her contact info: • 📞 Phone: (404) 298-7373 • 🌐 Website: www.cornoglaw.com Quote: “Keep leading with your gifts. Keep winning.” #SHMS #STRAW #BEST Money Making Conversations Master Class with Rushion McDonald is America's premier entrepreneurship, business leadership, financial literacy, and wealth-building podcast featuring successful entrepreneurs, executives, founders, celebrities, and industry experts sharing actionable insights for professional and financial success. Business Podcast Entrepreneurship Small Business Business Growth Financial Literacy Wealth Building Black Entrepreneurs Minority Business Leadership Executive Leadership Business Funding Marketing Strategies Personal Development Startup Advice Sales Training CEO Interviews Founder Stories Professional Development Economic Empowerment Business Success Networking Brand…

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Hi.
[0:00] Speaker 2: I'm Rashan McDonald host the weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass show.
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[0:27] Speaker 1: Now, let's get started.
[0:28] Speaker 2: A managing attorney at the law firm of Falida Cordog,
[0:32] Speaker 2: she is an adoption attorney and foster care advocate. Her
[0:36] Speaker 2: firm specializes in adoption law and family law. After witnessing
[0:40] Speaker 2: unsettling incidents involving children, she believed that she could best
[0:44] Speaker 2: serve the children of Georgia by becoming an attorney. Please
[0:48] Speaker 2: welcome to Money Making Conversations Master Class. Attorney Felita Cordog, How.
[0:53] Speaker 3: You doing wonderful? Thank you for having me first.
[0:56] Speaker 2: That's a lot to say. What age were you inspired
[0:58] Speaker 2: by this? You know, say that that motivated you to
[1:01] Speaker 2: be an attorney?
[1:02] Speaker 3: I actually at a very young age in my teens. Okay,
[1:07] Speaker 3: I kind of took the senior group though I didn't
[1:10] Speaker 3: start law school until my early thirties.
[1:12] Speaker 1: They congratulations, atleast you followed your dream. This is your dream,
[1:16] Speaker 1: right dream? Okay? Why was the delay in pursuing law?
[1:20] Speaker 3: Just life, other things happening. I had a child unplanned,
[1:27] Speaker 3: but became blessed in my life, got married, became a homemaker,
[1:32] Speaker 3: and then after all that, I decided it was time
[1:35] Speaker 3: for me to get started doing what I really wanted
[1:37] Speaker 3: to do.
[1:37] Speaker 1: That's inspirational, don't you believe?
[1:39] Speaker 3: I think it is because a lot of.
[1:41] Speaker 2: People are sitting at home right now questioning what they
[1:44] Speaker 2: want to do with their lives, and they're, like I said,
[1:46] Speaker 2: pumping the brakes on. What they should be doing is
[1:49] Speaker 2: putting their foot on the gas and planning an option
[1:52] Speaker 2: to be successful. Before we get into your background and
[1:55] Speaker 2: an adoption, law and foster care, being an advocate in
[1:58] Speaker 2: those areas, what enabled you to get in the direction,
[2:03] Speaker 2: get back on the saddle, in the saddle to pursue
[2:07] Speaker 2: this degree in law in your thirties.
[2:10] Speaker 3: Well, I, like a lot of people, I have a
[2:14] Speaker 3: story and I wanted to turn that story of pain.
[2:21] Speaker 3: It became my passion. When I was very young, my
[2:26] Speaker 3: brother and I we were really small, and my mom
[2:29] Speaker 3: died from domestic violence, so we were pretty much poor.
[2:35] Speaker 3: Friend my mom was deceased and my dad gone to prison,
[2:39] Speaker 3: and I was very fortunate and very blessed that we
[2:44] Speaker 3: didn't have to go into the foster care system because
[2:46] Speaker 3: we had family to take care of us. My mother's
[2:51] Speaker 3: brother became our legal guardian, he and his wife, and
[2:55] Speaker 3: my mother's sister, and my mother parents, my return of
[2:58] Speaker 3: grandparents helped raised us. But as I got older, I
[3:02] Speaker 3: learned that that wasn't the case for everyone. That a
[3:06] Speaker 3: lot of children did end up in foster care because
[3:09] Speaker 3: they didn't have that family or suitable family to take
[3:13] Speaker 3: care of them. And so becoming an adoption attorney and
[3:17] Speaker 3: a foster care advocate it was just my way of
[3:21] Speaker 3: showing my gratitude to God and to my family. And
[3:25] Speaker 3: so I said, well, you know, since everybody isn't able
[3:29] Speaker 3: to have that support system, I can do something to
[3:32] Speaker 3: help bring awareness to these children that are in foster care.
[3:36] Speaker 1: I'm talking to attorney Felita Corna.
[3:39] Speaker 2: Yes, what is the difference between adoption and foster care.
[3:44] Speaker 3: So of course, adoption is a legal situation where you
[3:51] Speaker 3: become the permanent parents of a child. It's permanent as
[3:57] Speaker 3: opposed to foster care, which is a temporary situation because
[4:02] Speaker 3: when a child comes into foster care, the primary goal
[4:06] Speaker 3: is to reunite that child with his biological affairs. Oh okay,
[4:10] Speaker 3: so that's the goal. So it's permits, it's it can
[4:14] Speaker 3: turn into permiten, that's not the initial goal, okay, but
[4:17] Speaker 3: there are sometimes when that that that doesn't happen.
[4:21] Speaker 2: So then sure a child is taken out of a
[4:25] Speaker 2: parent home, maybe prison or physical ailments or drugs, an
[4:31] Speaker 2: environment that's not safe, right, okay, and move to another
[4:35] Speaker 2: environment that they feel will give you a better opportunity
[4:38] Speaker 2: to succeed, right and live a successful way.
[4:40] Speaker 3: To live successful lives. And and you know, like you say,
[4:42] Speaker 3: the first thing is to ensure their safety, their physical safety, okay,
[4:46] Speaker 3: and also to uh like you said, make sure that
[4:49] Speaker 3: there's someone there to provide for their uh safety. You
[4:54] Speaker 3: know their educational needs, that you know their physical needs.
[4:57] Speaker 3: Make sure that they are taken to the doctors, uh
[4:59] Speaker 3: to get check ups and all those kinds of things. So,
[5:03] Speaker 3: like I said, it's supposed to be permanent, but of
[5:05] Speaker 3: course there are times when a child cannot be reunited
[5:09] Speaker 3: with that biological family and so and when that happens,
[5:13] Speaker 3: then that child who's in foster care becomes eligible for adoption.
[5:18] Speaker 2: Right now, when you look at yourself, you know, I
[5:21] Speaker 2: said you had a support system.
[5:22] Speaker 1: That enabled you to live a normal life.
[5:26] Speaker 2: What is the life of a child at an adoption facility.
[5:31] Speaker 3: So of course that that can vary with a child.
[5:36] Speaker 1: And let's just talk about the state of Georgia.
[5:38] Speaker 3: Okay, so where so where they are so falter care.
[5:43] Speaker 3: There's a couple of different ways that a child is
[5:46] Speaker 3: placed in foster care here in Georgia. They can be
[5:49] Speaker 3: placed with a foster family, right okay, Okay, So they
[5:52] Speaker 3: can also be placed.
[5:54] Speaker 2: Which means that that's a family that already has foster.
[5:57] Speaker 3: Kids, has the family that already has fus. It could
[6:00] Speaker 3: be a first time foster okay, it could be a
[6:02] Speaker 3: first time foster parent. It could be a pair of
[6:06] Speaker 3: foster parent who's been doing this for years. It could
[6:09] Speaker 3: be a single individual, and it could be a married couple. Okay, okay,
[6:14] Speaker 3: So they are placed in that in that like a
[6:16] Speaker 3: home environment. Like a you know, with a family in
[6:19] Speaker 3: a single family home, but they can also be placed
[6:24] Speaker 3: in group homes there you know, no sound yeah, no,
[6:29] Speaker 3: so they can you know, they can be placed in
[6:31] Speaker 3: group homes. This this where not all of them are
[6:34] Speaker 3: placed in the home environment, right, so they can't be
[6:37] Speaker 3: placed in group homes as well.
[6:39] Speaker 2: Well, let's let's talk about the whole situation where you
[6:42] Speaker 2: kind of when you talk about caring for a child
[6:46] Speaker 2: in that permanent environment versus the temporary environment. I know
[6:53] Speaker 2: some friends, I have some friends who have lived successful lives,
[6:57] Speaker 2: but they are very lots of stereotypes about what after child.
[7:01] Speaker 1: Looked like or what they could be.
[7:03] Speaker 2: And you have organizations out there like Big Brothers, Big
[7:06] Speaker 2: Sisters who are set up to be there to mentor
[7:10] Speaker 2: and provide outlets for kids who maybe with single moms
[7:15] Speaker 2: or single single parent households or foster care situations.
[7:19] Speaker 1: Where do you come in?
[7:20] Speaker 3: Okay, So I come in And that's a that's a
[7:26] Speaker 3: great point which you made about the stereotypes of what
[7:29] Speaker 3: children uh in foster care like, so let me can
[7:33] Speaker 3: I address that first?
[7:34] Speaker 1: Absolutely?
[7:35] Speaker 3: So? Yeah, so children come in too. First of all,
[7:38] Speaker 3: come into foster care system for all types of reasons.
[7:41] Speaker 3: I've worked with children who parents passed away mom mom
[7:49] Speaker 3: died of an illness. A couple of years later, dad
[7:52] Speaker 3: passed away. Had them where you know, mother passed away,
[7:55] Speaker 3: grandmother became caretaker, then grandmother passed away. Them come in
[8:00] Speaker 3: there where the pair went into the prison system. There
[8:04] Speaker 3: they're going to be there for the next ten, eleven,
[8:06] Speaker 3: twelve years, and there is no other caretaker to care
[8:11] Speaker 3: for them. They and of course some of them are
[8:15] Speaker 3: some of them are physically abused. Some of them have
[8:18] Speaker 3: been physically abused. Some of them have not necessarily been abused,
[8:22] Speaker 3: but they've been elected. Mom is on drugs. She's leaving
[8:26] Speaker 3: the children four and five days at a time by themselves,
[8:29] Speaker 3: and then of course that also leads the education of electors.
[8:32] Speaker 3: Most of the time they're not going into school, and
[8:34] Speaker 3: so sometimes there's no other family member to take them
[8:38] Speaker 3: more there's no suitable family member. You might have somebody
[8:40] Speaker 3: who's willing to take them, might be a wally loving person,
[8:44] Speaker 3: but you know, they they like to smoke marijuana. They
[8:47] Speaker 3: can't pass the drugs, and so even though they're women
[8:50] Speaker 3: to care for these kids, they state is not gonna
[8:53] Speaker 3: look at them as a suitable and as a suitable
[8:56] Speaker 3: person to care of them might be so children. So
[9:02] Speaker 3: that's one of the biggest myths too, is that all
[9:04] Speaker 3: children in foster care have been abused and they all
[9:08] Speaker 3: have emotional problems of mental help. Can we get rid
[9:12] Speaker 3: of that stereotype educating like you're doing now, when we
[9:15] Speaker 3: have people who come in and talk about actually children
[9:22] Speaker 3: and then you know, and not just me as an
[9:23] Speaker 3: adoption attorney, people who work in the foster care system,
[9:27] Speaker 3: case workers, people who have been a foster, foster parent
[9:32] Speaker 3: or adoptive parents. Uh So that's how we do it.
[9:36] Speaker 3: We educate, we talk about it, and we let people
[9:39] Speaker 3: see the face of foster care.
[9:41] Speaker 1: Now, this is very emotional.
[9:43] Speaker 2: This has to be a very emotional role that you've
[9:46] Speaker 2: taken on, responsibility, you've taken on. How do you handle
[9:50] Speaker 2: that because it's the first of all, the word foster
[9:54] Speaker 2: care and the word adoption doesn't signify happiness. Okay, but
[9:59] Speaker 2: you trying to get these young kids in a happy environment.
[10:03] Speaker 2: I guess that's the end game for your emotion.
[10:06] Speaker 3: Huh right, it's the endgame. It's I look at it
[10:09] Speaker 3: as it's a job I have to do. It's just
[10:12] Speaker 3: when when it's just your your calling, you just got
[10:15] Speaker 3: to do it. And there are some some emotional times
[10:19] Speaker 3: that I have, like you know, when I have uh finalized,
[10:22] Speaker 3: help finalize an adoption and from especially from foster care.
[10:26] Speaker 3: I do all types of adoptions. I do private adoptions,
[10:29] Speaker 3: I do step pair of adoptions, I do grand pair
[10:31] Speaker 3: of adoptions. Uh uh. The only thing I don't do
[10:35] Speaker 3: is international adoptions. I don't do. So I do all
[10:38] Speaker 3: types of adoptions, but I am a foster care advoct
[10:41] Speaker 3: because I love advocating for children of Falster care to
[10:44] Speaker 3: help them find the adoption families because we walk at
[10:48] Speaker 3: the end of the day, we want kids out of
[10:49] Speaker 3: falster care. Absolutely, we don't want them age out of
[10:53] Speaker 3: Falster care.
[10:54] Speaker 2: So that's a whole the matter, Chris, for you before
[10:57] Speaker 2: we're going to further the are if someone takes on
[11:00] Speaker 2: a child in foster care, are they given any funds?
[11:03] Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah yeah in the state of Georgia, yeah, they
[11:06] Speaker 3: are given stipends to help take care of those kids
[11:08] Speaker 3: in foster care. And a lot of the kids in
[11:10] Speaker 3: falster adoption not not adoption once because once the adoption
[11:16] Speaker 3: is finalized, you stand in the parent's place of a parent,
[11:20] Speaker 3: as if that was your biological child. But while they're
[11:23] Speaker 3: in foster care, they can they can't get subsidies, and
[11:26] Speaker 3: they and most of the kids also qualify for Medicaid
[11:29] Speaker 3: while they're in foster care as well. Okay, cool, so
[11:33] Speaker 3: so but to answer finish your other point about being emotional,
[11:36] Speaker 3: it can be. No. One of the times that I
[11:38] Speaker 3: get most emotional is that when I do an adoption
[11:43] Speaker 3: and there are some falster kids that have come out
[11:46] Speaker 3: of foster care, they found there forever families. That's beautiful,
[11:51] Speaker 3: but it may be that they have still have a
[11:55] Speaker 3: sibling in falster care because usually when children they're part
[12:01] Speaker 3: of a sibling group. If one is in foster care,
[12:04] Speaker 3: nine times out of ten, the other siblings are in
[12:06] Speaker 3: foster care as well. And so it's kind of heartbreaking,
[12:09] Speaker 3: you know, just happy because you know this child has
[12:12] Speaker 3: filed or sometimes sibling groups, they found there forever family,
[12:16] Speaker 3: but they still got a sibling left in foster care.
[12:18] Speaker 3: So that's the part that really gets to me.
[12:21] Speaker 1: Yeah, it's hard.
[12:22] Speaker 2: But there are different types of adoption, right, Let's not
[12:25] Speaker 2: let's just say adoption is adoption. Explain us a different
[12:29] Speaker 2: type of adoption. First of all, let me tell everybody
[12:31] Speaker 2: who I'm talking to. I'm talking to a founder and
[12:34] Speaker 2: artistic excuse me, I'm talking to the Felita Cornogue and
[12:40] Speaker 2: your firm deals with adoption agencies and an.
[12:43] Speaker 1: Advocate for foster care.
[12:46] Speaker 2: Foster care, which means that this has been a passion
[12:48] Speaker 2: that changed your life because you could have experienced it.
[12:52] Speaker 2: But you have family members who came to the rescue
[12:54] Speaker 2: because your mom was a victim of domestic vio which
[12:58] Speaker 2: means that she was passed away because of that violence,
[13:01] Speaker 2: and your father went to presson.
[13:02] Speaker 1: That happened at a.
[13:03] Speaker 2: Very early age, and it is guided you through the
[13:06] Speaker 2: pathway because of the fact that you had a family,
[13:10] Speaker 2: a village, I should say, they came to your rescue,
[13:13] Speaker 2: where if you didn't, you will be having this conversation
[13:16] Speaker 2: about foster care.
[13:17] Speaker 1: Don't go anywhere.
[13:18] Speaker 4: We will be right back with more insights from Money
[13:21] Speaker 4: Making Conversations Master Class. Welcome back to Money Making Conversation
[13:28] Speaker 4: Master Class with me Rashaun McDonald.
[13:30] Speaker 3: So, yeah, like I say, there are adoptions are usually I mean,
[13:34] Speaker 3: adoptions in itself are usually just happy things. One of
[13:37] Speaker 3: the it's one of the few times that somebody leaves
[13:41] Speaker 3: a law office where everybody's happened, because you know, when
[13:44] Speaker 3: somebody comes to see an attorney's because somebody's done somebody wrong.
[13:48] Speaker 3: So adoptions are just absolutely beautiful, and like I say,
[13:51] Speaker 3: they're you know, they're all types of adoption, just you know,
[13:55] Speaker 3: private adoptions where people, uh, you know, they might be
[13:58] Speaker 3: adopting some child from adoption agency, or they might have
[14:03] Speaker 3: a friend. Right now, I'm working on adoption where the
[14:08] Speaker 3: couple is adopting actually a child, a child of a friend.
[14:13] Speaker 3: It was unwanted pregnancy, and she did not she didn't want,
[14:16] Speaker 3: she didn't want.
[14:18] Speaker 2: It's an unwanted pregnancy. So she's a friend. Now I
[14:22] Speaker 2: gotta stop right now. Can she come back and certainly
[14:26] Speaker 2: want the child?
[14:28] Speaker 3: Not anymore? Because she has In Georgia and it varies
[14:33] Speaker 3: from state to state, she has surrendered her parental rights.
[14:37] Speaker 3: The biological father has surrendered surrender his parental rights as well.
[14:41] Speaker 3: So in Georgia you have four days to rescind that surrender.
[14:47] Speaker 3: And so after the four days it's up. That's pretty
[14:51] Speaker 3: much it. You can't come back.
[14:53] Speaker 1: Foster care.
[14:55] Speaker 2: That seems to be kind of like they don't know
[14:59] Speaker 2: where they go back to the parents, because they may
[15:00] Speaker 2: want to go back to their parents, so they have
[15:03] Speaker 2: that emotion and the environment that they're in doesn't feel permanent.
[15:07] Speaker 1: Talk about that balance.
[15:09] Speaker 3: Yeah, and so you know there's I don't care how
[15:15] Speaker 3: bad the situation is at home. You know, there's just
[15:20] Speaker 3: saying there's just something about that umbilical cord where that
[15:24] Speaker 3: child wants to be tied to that biological family. So
[15:27] Speaker 3: it is a traumatic expirence to be uprooted from that family,
[15:32] Speaker 3: even if that family is not the best place for
[15:34] Speaker 3: that child to be. And then also the one of
[15:38] Speaker 3: the other reasons we want children out of foster care
[15:41] Speaker 3: to hopefully to be reunited with that Like you say,
[15:44] Speaker 3: that's not gonna always happen, So we want to get
[15:48] Speaker 3: children out of foster cares who can't. It can't because
[15:51] Speaker 3: not only that children can go from foster home to
[15:53] Speaker 3: foster home. So it's not like, Okay, you're in this
[15:57] Speaker 3: foster home right now, but you know you're going to
[16:01] Speaker 3: be in this same home from the whole time that
[16:04] Speaker 3: you are in the in the what we call the
[16:06] Speaker 3: custody of the state. And so these children can be
[16:09] Speaker 3: moved from foster home to foster home and then that
[16:13] Speaker 3: you know, and so that's like being uprooted each time
[16:17] Speaker 3: you're rooted. And sometimes issues and mostly it's and it
[16:24] Speaker 3: has a lot of times it helps. It causes children
[16:29] Speaker 3: to not be able bond with people because they don't
[16:33] Speaker 3: want to get you know, attached to this person. Then
[16:35] Speaker 3: I'm going to be moved to somewhere else. So the
[16:37] Speaker 3: child can have these attachment issues as well. So it
[16:42] Speaker 3: can be a very traumatic experience for a child to
[16:46] Speaker 3: be in foster care.
[16:48] Speaker 2: What if you don't want to be a foster parent,
[16:50] Speaker 2: but you want to support the program, is that is
[16:53] Speaker 2: that an option?
[16:55] Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, that's a great that's a great question because
[16:58] Speaker 3: being a foster parent is not for everybody, but you
[17:02] Speaker 3: can still support. One of the ways you can do
[17:04] Speaker 3: that is like you're doing if you have a radio show,
[17:07] Speaker 3: a podcast, you have a television show, you can bring awareness.
[17:12] Speaker 3: You can have people not just adoption attorneys or social
[17:15] Speaker 3: workers or directors of adoption agents, but you can have
[17:20] Speaker 3: people who've been adopted. You can have a child, a
[17:23] Speaker 3: teenage adult. You can have families who who've adopted child
[17:29] Speaker 3: or families who are foster care parents. So you can
[17:32] Speaker 3: you can bring awareness like you're doing. Also, you can volunteer.
[17:39] Speaker 3: Like one of the things that Georgia has, in addition
[17:42] Speaker 3: to what we know it's Defectsive Department and Family and
[17:45] Speaker 3: Children Services, Georgia also has private foster care agencies as well.
[17:50] Speaker 3: And what is that? So that's an agency. You know,
[17:54] Speaker 3: technically the child is still a ward of the state
[17:58] Speaker 3: because whether it's private foster care of public foster care,
[18:01] Speaker 3: like we know it's defects, but it's just it's an
[18:04] Speaker 3: agency and they do pretty much the same thing as defects.
[18:09] Speaker 3: They oversee the children, they help find foster parents for
[18:14] Speaker 3: these children to go in. It's just that you're not
[18:18] Speaker 3: dealing with defects per se. You're just just dealing with
[18:21] Speaker 3: a private agency. But they still have the same responsibilities
[18:24] Speaker 3: and duties as it's this child was being overseen by
[18:27] Speaker 3: defacts itself. Okay, So you can volunteer, you know, you
[18:32] Speaker 3: can donate, give money. A lot of these especially these
[18:35] Speaker 3: private foster care agency throughout the year, they have like
[18:38] Speaker 3: different drives, like they might when it starts getting cold,
[18:41] Speaker 3: they might have a coat drive where they want to
[18:43] Speaker 3: buy coats for the kids. And so you can donate,
[18:47] Speaker 3: you know, donate money to these agencies to help them
[18:50] Speaker 3: care for the kids. You can also do becoming like
[18:54] Speaker 3: a COSTA. A CONSTA stands for quarter pointed special Advocates
[18:59] Speaker 3: in almost every almost every county GOTA, so almost every
[19:06] Speaker 3: county in Georgia has a COSTA office. And I sit
[19:10] Speaker 3: on the board of Rockdale Costa Rockdale County CALTA. And
[19:13] Speaker 3: so what a COSA does is they they're volunteers and
[19:16] Speaker 3: they actually train. They go through a training program where
[19:20] Speaker 3: they learn how to advocate for kids in foster care
[19:23] Speaker 3: in the juvenile court system. So that's one of the
[19:27] Speaker 3: things you can do to work with foster care kids.
[19:29] Speaker 3: Become a COSSA. So there are so there are ways
[19:34] Speaker 3: that you can support without becoming a foster parent.
[19:37] Speaker 1: And how do we get in touch with you?
[19:39] Speaker 3: Well, first way is always by telephone, okay. So the
[19:46] Speaker 3: number is AERA CO four zero four two nine eight
[19:51] Speaker 3: seven three seven three.
[19:54] Speaker 1: Is that your sale or your office?
[19:55] Speaker 3: That's my office? Okay, that's my office number. And then
[19:58] Speaker 3: also my whips se is I'll spell it out, it's
[20:02] Speaker 3: w w W Quornock Law. That's c O R N
[20:07] Speaker 3: O g l A W dot com. So W w
[20:12] Speaker 3: w qrdnock law dot com.
[20:14] Speaker 2: It's my well, that's really good to hear. Now now
[20:17] Speaker 2: this slide back over to adoption. Is it difficult for
[20:21] Speaker 2: minority kids to get adopted?
[20:24] Speaker 3: Uh? Not as like it used to be. Okay, that
[20:27] Speaker 3: that was okay, So because you have right now you
[20:34] Speaker 3: have more uh interracial adoptions for one thing, you you know,
[20:39] Speaker 3: so it's not that uh you know, if if a
[20:42] Speaker 3: minority kid is gonna be strictly adopted by a parent
[20:49] Speaker 3: or parents of their same ethnic group. So that's one
[20:54] Speaker 3: of the reasons it's not as you know, it's not
[20:56] Speaker 3: as difficult as it used to be because you are
[20:58] Speaker 3: having more of these interracial adoptions.
[21:00] Speaker 1: Okay. So that leads me to my next question.
[21:03] Speaker 2: Support services for adoptive, adoptive or adoption or foster care
[21:10] Speaker 2: parents because they're gonna need help, you know, like you said,
[21:13] Speaker 2: you can say this this house is good, then the
[21:16] Speaker 2: child get home and taking up more time than you
[21:19] Speaker 2: expected or not what you expected.
[21:22] Speaker 1: What are those support services?
[21:23] Speaker 3: Yeah, so children of Falster Care there are support services
[21:27] Speaker 3: for them and the family, and those can include things
[21:32] Speaker 3: like mental health services if that's needed. They if you're
[21:38] Speaker 3: the Falter Care they also have what they call respite services,
[21:43] Speaker 3: and that's where the foster parents might need to take
[21:47] Speaker 3: some time off and they might it might and it
[21:51] Speaker 3: might not. It might just be a day to go
[21:53] Speaker 3: to the spa just to take some time, just to
[21:56] Speaker 3: get some time to themselves or time to go shopping.
[21:59] Speaker 3: And so they will have, like other falster care parents
[22:03] Speaker 3: to look after the falster care children while that parent
[22:06] Speaker 3: takes a day for themselves. So those are things like
[22:09] Speaker 3: that you know there. Of course, they you can have
[22:13] Speaker 3: case workers come in and talk to if you know,
[22:15] Speaker 3: if you're having a problem or something's not quite going
[22:18] Speaker 3: on with the problem of this is more than what
[22:21] Speaker 3: you want to you thought it was gonna be, so
[22:25] Speaker 3: that the state can come in and they can provide
[22:28] Speaker 3: these wrap around services to you as well. So there
[22:31] Speaker 3: is a support system there for foster care parents for
[22:35] Speaker 3: adopt for and that's the same for foster to adopt
[22:39] Speaker 3: because some children, some people go into become foster care
[22:44] Speaker 3: parents because they know they want to adopt. So some
[22:46] Speaker 3: of them come in that they just gonna be falster
[22:48] Speaker 3: care parents, and so some of them go in because
[22:50] Speaker 3: they know they want adopt and they've chosen to adopt
[22:52] Speaker 3: from foster care, so those same services are provided to them,
[22:58] Speaker 3: you know before that adoption is final lot as well,
[23:01] Speaker 3: so those services are available. And then also if you're
[23:04] Speaker 3: if you're adopting through an adoption agency, of course they
[23:08] Speaker 3: provide services. You know, those are things that you're paying for.
[23:11] Speaker 3: They provide services, and then they can provide post adoption
[23:16] Speaker 3: services for you as well when you use adoption ations.
[23:20] Speaker 3: Of the money you pay when you know it's more
[23:21] Speaker 3: expensive to use adoptionation, so the money you paid come
[23:24] Speaker 3: for those types of services as well.
[23:26] Speaker 1: Now talk a buy support.
[23:30] Speaker 2: What qualifies you to say that you could adopt a child?
[23:34] Speaker 3: Okay? So right, So so with Georgia that right of course,
[23:42] Speaker 3: of course there are legal requirements right there, age requirements,
[23:46] Speaker 3: so in the state of Georgia, you have to be
[23:48] Speaker 3: at least twenty one years old. You can be either Okay,
[23:53] Speaker 3: that's a good thing about Georgia. You can. You can
[23:55] Speaker 3: if you if you a single person you want to adopt,
[23:57] Speaker 3: you can adopt.
[23:58] Speaker 1: But you got to have a scare you care for
[24:01] Speaker 1: this show.
[24:02] Speaker 3: So that's what's gonna come in. So so so we'll
[24:05] Speaker 3: talk about what the basics. The basics are you got
[24:08] Speaker 3: to be twenty one years older, twenty one years at
[24:12] Speaker 3: least twenty one years of age. If you're not related
[24:16] Speaker 3: to the child by blood or marriage, you've got to
[24:21] Speaker 3: be at least ten years older than a child that
[24:23] Speaker 3: you're going to adopt. Okay, Okay, Now, if you are married,
[24:28] Speaker 3: both parties have to do the adoption petition. You can't
[24:33] Speaker 3: have one spouse adopted child, you know, and the other
[24:36] Speaker 3: spouse not adopted child if you're married and living together.
[24:40] Speaker 3: But again, like I said, you don't have to be married,
[24:42] Speaker 3: you can be single. Now. Of course, with that, you're
[24:46] Speaker 3: gonna have to go through a vetting system. Just like
[24:50] Speaker 3: you have to go to a vetting system become a
[24:52] Speaker 3: foster care parent, you have to go through a vetting system.
[24:54] Speaker 3: When you're adopted, you're gonna have to do a criminal
[24:56] Speaker 3: background check. They're gonna check to see if you are
[24:59] Speaker 3: on a child abuse regis that, they're gonna check to
[25:02] Speaker 3: see if you're on a sex offender register. They're gonna
[25:05] Speaker 3: come out and visit your home. So they're gonna do
[25:07] Speaker 3: what we it's called a home technical terms home the evaluation.
[25:10] Speaker 3: What most people know it, it's the home study. So
[25:12] Speaker 3: they're coming out to do the home study. Uh, they're
[25:15] Speaker 3: gonna look at how you get your income. Are you
[25:19] Speaker 3: are you able to provide for this?
[25:21] Speaker 1: Right?
[25:22] Speaker 3: So you got food right? Right? Hello and so and
[25:29] Speaker 3: then you're gonna have to uh, you know, you even
[25:32] Speaker 3: have to show that you're physically able to take care
[25:34] Speaker 3: of the child. You have to you know, if you
[25:35] Speaker 3: haven't been to the doctor in a while, you have
[25:37] Speaker 3: to go get a physical and then the doctor check
[25:38] Speaker 3: you out. So there is a strenuous vetting process because
[25:43] Speaker 3: you know, the term that we use in Georgia is
[25:47] Speaker 3: the best interests of the child. So we you know,
[25:50] Speaker 3: so we're not just gonna, you know, just give anybody
[25:53] Speaker 3: who comes and raise their hands and say I want
[25:56] Speaker 3: to adopt. There you know. There, of course, there is
[25:57] Speaker 3: a betting process because we have to you were, the safety.
[26:00] Speaker 2: Of children twelve months of the year and every it
[26:03] Speaker 2: seems like every month has a specialized day they recognized,
[26:08] Speaker 2: right a cause, Yeah, and November is National Adopt Month?
[26:13] Speaker 1: Yes, why is that significance for you?
[26:16] Speaker 3: Okay, So so let's talk about how how this all
[26:21] Speaker 3: got started. So National Adoption Month actually grew out of
[26:26] Speaker 3: National Adoption Day and that was instituted by Dave Thomas,
[26:30] Speaker 3: a lot of us knowing him as the founder of
[26:32] Speaker 3: Wendy and he was of course he was adopted. And
[26:35] Speaker 3: then there was some Fanny May and some other institutions
[26:38] Speaker 3: came together because they wanted to bring awareness to children
[26:42] Speaker 3: in foster care who needed to be adopted. So that
[26:46] Speaker 3: so Adoption Day just turned in. That's because that's in
[26:50] Speaker 3: the month of November, so it's so out of that
[26:54] Speaker 3: grew adoption Month. So and that that's significant for me
[26:58] Speaker 3: because then I talked about false care adoption all year long,
[27:02] Speaker 3: but we want to bring a special tension doing Adoption Month,
[27:09] Speaker 3: and so we try to get a lot of people
[27:11] Speaker 3: on board to talk about adoption during the month of November.
[27:14] Speaker 2: Oh yeah, well you asked me, I responded, because again,
[27:20] Speaker 2: thank you for the education. This show is my main
[27:25] Speaker 2: conversation master class by entrepreneurship, small business, financial literacyre also
[27:30] Speaker 2: social and community up there, and that's what this interview
[27:34] Speaker 2: is about.
[27:35] Speaker 1: You are an uplifting.
[27:36] Speaker 2: Person, my friend, attorney for Leader Cornock and on one
[27:41] Speaker 2: more time, how can we get in touch with you?
[27:43] Speaker 3: Uh so, my telephone number is Eric code four zero
[27:45] Speaker 3: four two nine eight seven three seveny three. That is
[27:50] Speaker 3: my office number, the law office of Pelica Cornock and
[27:55] Speaker 3: so my website address is www. Coornock Law dot This.
[28:00] Speaker 4: Has been Money Making Conversations Masterclass with me Rashaun McDonald.
[28:05] Speaker 4: Thanks to our guests and our audience. Visit Moneymakingconversations dot
[28:09] Speaker 4: com to listen or register to be a guest on
[28:12] Speaker 4: my show. Keep leading with your gifts, keep winning,

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