Welcome, Wonks, to another edition of WonkCast: People Power Policy, where we spotlight the people, ideas, and tensions shaping child and family policy.
If this is your first listen, you can also check out Episode 0 here to learn more about our vision and focus, and subscribe through Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
I hope you enjoy listening, and look forward to hearing from you about who else you’d like to hear from on WonkCast.
Episode # 2: Rita Soronen
This week we have a conversation with Rita Soronen, a leader with the rare combination of expansive vision and the pragmatic strategy to execute it at scale.
As President and CEO of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, Rita has led a quiet revolution in the use of what works to promote permanency.
Under her leadership, the foundation has tested, proved, and taken to scale Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, a child-focused recruitment approach for adoption from foster care.
We talk about how the motivations that bring you into this work can become the hindrance to shed as you grow a more nuanced understanding of what families need.
We also discuss what she has learned about the role and limits of evidence in driving policy change through the process of proving and expanding Wendy’s Wonderful Kids.
She also shares about the fun creative practice she uses as an ongoing reminder to continually push beyond her comfort zone as a leader.
Our conversation offers an excellent demonstration of the thoughtful and methodical way she approaches leadership and change. I hope you find it as interesting as I did.
Sponsorship Shoutout
Special thanks to Binti for their foundational sponsorship of WonkCast.
