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Optimistic Voices: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Helping Children Worldwide; Dr. Laura Horvath, Emmanuel M. Nabieu, Yasmine Vaughan, Melody Curtiss
Vital voices in the fields of global health, global child welfare reform and family separation, and those intent on conducting ethical missions in low resource communities and developing nations. Join our hosts as they engage in conversations with diverse guests from across the globe, sharing optimistic views, experiences, and suggestions for better and best practices as they discuss these difficult topics.
Latest Episodes
The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- 1 weeks ago1h 8m
Systems Thinking That Works
Send us Fan Mail In this episode, our co-hosts explore how the smartest move for engaging in global alliances in child welfare, health, and economic development might be asking a better question, not funding a bigger fix. We talk with David Peter Strohl, internationally recognized systems thinking expert and author of *Systems Thinking for Social Change*, about why entrenched challenges in child welfare, global health, and international development can stay stuck even when everyone means well...
- Apr 22, 20261h 20m
Radical Courage - 3 Women Willing to Pay the Price to Put Children First
Send us Fan Mail A lot of people want to help vulnerable children, but few of us stop to ask the hardest question: what if we are the problem? Our support of children in adversity could be fueling family separation and making the situation worse. Dr. Laura Horvath sits down with Dr. Rebecca Nhep (Better Care Network) and Elli Oswald (Faith to Action Initiative) to unpack “radical courage” in global child welfare and care reform. Our guests discuss how embracing truth required us to chan...
- Apr 8, 202638 min
Home Before The War - Nab's Journey Begins With Family
Send us Fan Mail Home can disappear in a single night but the memory of it can keep you alive for years. We sit down with Emmanuel Mohammed Nabieu, known as Nabs, to begin a multi-part Child’s View journey that starts before conflict, before separation, and before survival becomes the only goal. Nabs takes us to Sami, his small village in Sierra Leone, where everyone is family, children learn by working and playing side by side, and nights are filled with laughter and stories under the moonli...
- Mar 29, 20261h 15m
The $4.5 Billion Disconnect Between What We Believe and Do About Orphans
Send us Fan Mail Ninety percent of US Christians agree children thrive best in families. So why do so many of us still send money to orphanages and residential care? The latest Barna study puts real numbers on a problem we can’t hand-wave anymore: 28% of Christians report supporting orphanages or children’s homes, totaling an estimated $4.5 billion a year. That’s not a villain story. It’s a discipleship, storytelling, and “what do I do now?” story. We talk with Julie Walton, Head of Research...
- Feb 28, 20261h 3m
Trust for Africa - Rethinking Aid, Ownership, and Partnership for Child Welfare
Send us Fan Mail Trust isn’t a slogan when children’s safety is on the line—it’s a discipline. We sit down with Naomi Schalm, Executive Director of Trust for Africa in Lesotho, to unpack what radical trust really requires in cross-cultural child welfare: honest power-sharing, rigorous accountability, and local decision rights that outlast any single grant. Lesotho is moving toward family-based care and codifying foster pathways, even as economic shocks and reduced aid strain communities. That...
- Jan 28, 20261h 15m
Volunteers Needed - A new documentary exposing a hidden evil - child trafficking inside of orphan mission
Send us Fan Mail The smiling photos, the painted walls, the “we came to help” posts—so much of orphanage tourism looks uplifting on the surface. But pull on the thread and a harder truth emerges: when volunteers are the customers, children become the product. In this conversation with filmmaker and activist Barak Laub, we uncover how feel-good trips can fuel orphanage trafficking, why unqualified access to vulnerable kids creates real risk, and what ethical, effective alternatives actually lo...
- Dec 30, 20251h 0m
An Innovative Strategy for NonProfit Leaders - Hive Turns Your Isolation Into Connection
Send us Fan Mail What if the fix for burnout, donor fatigue, and stalled partnerships isn’t another webinar, but a better conversation? We sit down with Tasha Van Vlack, founder and CEO of Nonprofit Hive, to unpack how simple one-to-one matchmaking helps nonprofit pros feel seen, swap solutions, and spark collaborations that actually stick. From role-based pairing to safety-in-strangers design, Tasha shares the small systems that turn isolation into momentum. We explore the pressures reshapi...
- Dec 19, 202547 min
What Happens When Empowerment And Accountability Finally Work Together
Send us Fan Mail What if your partnership model unintentionally silences the very people it’s meant to elevate? We sit down with Asia Blackwell, executive director of Maya Midwifery, to unpack how a well-intended collaboration in Guatemala drifted toward hierarchy by over-rewarding a few “standout” leaders while leaving many midwives underpowered. Asia lays out how they rebuilt trust with transparent systems, written agreements, and equitable pathways that spread training, decision-making, an...
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About Optimistic Voices
Vital voices in the fields of global health, global child welfare reform and family separation, and those intent on conducting ethical missions in low resource communities and developing nations. Join our hosts as they engage in conversations with diverse guests from across the globe, sharing optimistic views, experiences, and suggestions for better and best practices as they discuss these difficult topics.
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