The Proximity Process

We're doing something new! We decided to bring back episode one, which goes into a bit of my origin story! We've added a lot of new listeners over the past couple of months and I thought it would be a good idea to reintroduce myself and the inspiration for the show. And, quite honestly, it's helpful to take a pause from producing new episodes every week. We'll be back with a new episode next week. Episode one gets into some of my process and how I came to realize that I had a proximity problem and wasn't in right relationship with myself and the people I serve. The episode starts with a story from July 2022 that was the tipping point when I decided to leave my job of 11 years. This decision took me even deeper into my own process of seeing the system as harmful and myself as a perpetrator of harm. This episode was recorded in the summer of 2023 and the work is unfinished, my process continues. My longtime friend, and producer of the show, Michael (Tex) interviews me in this episode. You are invited to join the Proximity Podcast Club, a growing community of people supporting one another through their process of becoming who they want to be in this work. We meet every Monday morning at 9am est. Message me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn for the meeting link. Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn

I'm excited to bring you this week's conversation with Dr Jessica Pryce. Dr Pryce's new book, Broken: Transforming Child Protective Services, gave us a great backdrop to a wide-ranging conversation. At the beginning of the book, she lays out a framework or process of moving from being an agent of the child protection system to becoming an advocate and then activist. We talk about what these terms mean, the process of moving from one to the other, and how this has played out in Jessica's career. The conversation then turns to the subtitle of the book, transforming child protective services, Dr Pryce's Ted Talk, and her perspective on Termination of Parental Rights. Please visit Dr Pryce's website to learn more about her work, listen to her Ted Talk, or to purchase her new book. Reimagine Child Protection (jessicaprycephd.com) Please message me on LinkedIn ii you would like to join the Proximity Podcast Club. We meet everyone Monday at 9am ET to discuss the most recent episode. Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn

This episode is a follow up to the previous journal episode, Am I Biased? One of our ambitions with this show is to build community and engage the community in a conversation. So, the series of episodes about termination of parental rights led to some feedback that prompted the episode about my biases. And that episode prompted past guest Corey Best to send me a journal prompt that I used for this episode. I do have fears about addressing racism publicly, and I believe that I need to have conversations about racism in public. My hope with all of these episodes is that by sharing a little bit of my own vulnerability it can normalize conversations that often feel difficult. You are invited to join the Proximity Podcast Club, a growing community of people supporting one another through their process of becoming who they want to be in this work. We meet every Monday morning at 9am est. Message me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn for the meeting link. Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn

I'm super excited to bring you the first ever (but not the last) Ask Me Anything episode. We put out a call for questions and you all came through. We received more questions than we could get to in one episode. We also asked the Proximity Podcast Club if someone wanted to guest host. Again, lots of interest but there could only be one host. Kathleen Creamer is a parent defense attorney but has a real talent for hosting. Maybe she'll have her own show soon. Kathleen curated your questions, and we covered ground from why I started the show, what I hope to accomplish, who inspires me, and what gives me hope. Of course, we ended with our two questions, what does proximity mean to me and what advice do I have for the listeners. I hope you enjoy this episode! For more information about Kathleen and her work please visit Community Legal Services of Philadelphia. Community Legal Services You are invited to join the Proximity Podcast Club, a growing community of people supporting one another through their process of becoming who they want to be in this work. We meet every Monday morning at 9am est. Message me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn for the meeting link. Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn

In this week's episode I start with the journal prompt, am I biased? This was prompted by some of the feedback to our most recent episodes on Termination of Parental Rights. I thought I would let you all into my process of how I try to approach feedback that is critical or raises questions about my intentions. Rather than defending anything that is being said on the show my hope is to ask myself some questions about what I can learn from the feedback. You'll have to listen to the episode to hear my answer to the prompt. You are invited to join the Proximity Podcast Club, a growing community of people supporting one another through their process of becoming who they want to be in this work. We meet every Monday morning at 9am est. Message me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn for the meeting link. Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn

This week's episode continues our series of conversations about Termination of Parent Rights. I wanted to talk to Vivek Sankaran because he has a unique depth of knowledge to bring to the thought experiment that we've been bringing to these episodes, which is to imagine what if TPR was no longer an option. Vivek directs the Child Advocacy Law Clinic and the Child Welfare Appellate Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School. We talked about TPR from the perspective of its morality, necessity, and constitutionality. We started the conversation with Vivek's earliest experiences as an attorney representing children and how he came to see the need to represent parents. We end the conversation with Vivek talking about a case that he is taking to the Michigan Supreme Court and the implications it could have if successful. You are invited to join the Proximity Podcast Club, a growing community of people supporting one another through their process of becoming who they want to be in this work. We meet every Monday morning at 9am est. Message me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn for the meeting link. Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn

Today's guest, Mollie Warren, is the Director of Family and Children's Services in Boulder County, Colorado. I wanted to return to the conversation about Termination of Parental Rights with someone who is in a "practitioner" role and a position to make decisions about to the use of TPR on a regular basis. One of my goals in these conversations is to normalize a conversation about "what if TPR was no longer an option?" I think it's helpful if we can examine TPR from the perspective of what opportunities are created if we were to take it off the table as an option. I started the conversation with Mollie about her recently evolving perspective on TPR. You are invited to join the Proximity Podcast Club, a growing community of people supporting one another through their process of becoming who they want to be in this work. We meet every Monday morning at 9am est. Message me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn for the meeting link. Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn

In today's journal episode I share some of the questions and ideas that came up on this week's Proximity Podcast Club conversation. The jumping off question this week was what shifts are happening for each of us as we think more deeply about prevention. In other words, what are we trying to prevent, how, and for whom? This led to a really dynamic conversation. We talked about why it is so important that we remain curios and flexible, particularly as leaders. We also talked about the role of the child welfare system in prevention and the risks of prevention becoming another mechanism for surveillance. The Podcast Club conversation ended with an agency leader saying that they had a meeting the next day to talk about prevention and was able to use the group to think about how to shape that meeting. You are invited to join the Proximity Podcast Club, a growing community of people supporting one another through their process of becoming who they want to be in this work. We meet every Monday morning at 9am est. Message me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn for the meeting link. Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Awareness Month. This is a perfect time to step back and ask ourselves, what is prevention? What values and narratives underpin our ideas of who and what we are preventing? In my conversation with Dr Melissa Merrick, President and CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America, I wanted to understand prevention from the perspective of social justice. Dr Merrick and I talked about the shift that has been happening in both child welfare and the prevention field over the past five years. We also talked about Prevent Child Abuse America's relatively new theory of change and some of the principles that include race equity and changing the narrative of how we see and value parents. For more information about Prevent Child Abuse America and their Theory of Change you van visit their website. Theory of Change (preventchildabuse.org) You are invited to join the Proximity Podcast Club, a growing community of people supporting one another through their process of becoming who they want to be in this work. We meet every Monday morning at 9am est. Message me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn for the meeting link. Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn

Today's episode is a conversation I had with my friend and colleague, Mike Shaver, who is the CEO of Brightpoint in Illinois. Brightpoint began as Children Home & Aid in 1883 and is going through a significant shift in how they see their role in advancing justice for families. Mike and I talked about the leadership challenges and successes he's experienced throughout his career as he worked on major organizational change efforts. What we got into is valuable for anyone who is working within an organization or system and wondering if they should stay and work on change from the inside or take the leap to working outside of the system. Mike and I have been on very similar paths throughout our careers, but we talked about why we made different decisions about whether to stay or go. We also talked about Brightpoint's vision and plans to impact the narratives, mindsets, and policies that drive the root cause issues facing families. We started the conversation with something Mike said that caught my attention. He said, "when the number of children in foster care goes up, we should take it personally and as a failure." This was a jumping off point to a conversation about accountability and personal responsibility. For more information about Brightpoint and their blueprint for impact you can visit their website at Brightpoint. You are invited to join the Proximity Podcast Club, a growing community of people supporting one another through their process of becoming who they want to be in this work. We meet every Monday morning at 9am est. Message me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn for the meeting link. Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn

In this week's journal episode, I talk about a simple practice that I have used throughout my career to remain curious, adaptable, and in service of people. This is something that you can start doing today. This practice has helped me avoid falling into status quo and one I've observed it do the same for other leaders. The practice is to listen to people's experiences, learn from and trust their expertise, and take action together. I share some of my own experiences of how this practice has helped guide my work. I also mention a number of leaders who I really respect and continue to learn from about how they practice deep listening, learning, and action. I'll include their names and LinkedIn pages below as they are great people to have in your network. Cherie Craft, Smart from the Start - Cherie Craft | LinkedIn Katie Albright, Safe and Sound - Katie Albright | LinkedIn Joyce McMillan, JMacforFamilies - Joyce McMillan | LinkedIn Melody Webb, Mother's Outreach Network - Melody Webb | LinkedIn Sarah Winograd, Together With Families - Sarah Winograd-Babayeuski | LinkedIn You are invited to join the Proximity Podcast Club, a growing community of people supporting one another through their process of becoming who they want to be in this work. We meet every Monday morning at 9am est. Message me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn for the meeting link. Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn

I remember learning about the 2020 Vision in 2007 when I started working in child welfare. It was a new national initiative with the goal of reducing the number of kids in foster care by 50% by the year 2020. I was working with kids aging out and watching the impact of growing up in foster care play out in front of my eyes. I remember being inspired by this initiative and hopeful about its impact. Today's guest is Susan Smith who led the data team at Casey Family Programs for 16 years and was responsible for tracking and reporting on the initiative's progress. As we know, the initiative did not ultimately succeed. Susan and I use the 2020 Vision as a jumping off point to a conversation about what we can learn from the successes and failures of past initiatives. There are a number of national initiatives right now with bold ambitions. What can history teach us about solving and measuring the right problems. You are invited to join the Proximity Podcast Club, a growing community of people supporting one another through their process of becoming who they want to be in this work. We meet every Monday morning at 9am est. Message me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn for the meeting link. Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn

This week's episode is a journal entry that was prompted by the Proximity Podcast Club conversation. We were talking about a question posed to the group by Corey Best, who am I without the family policing system? This immediately got me thinking about a few fundamental questions that I talk about in this episode. What did the system provide me? What did the system cost me? Where does my security actually come from? Is there wisdom gained from sitting in the ambiguity that we wrestle with in this work? What would we imagine and create if we were unconstrained from trying to reform or improve the system? These are big questions that we can't answer on one podcast episode (or many) but they are good prompts for us to work with over time. I hope you find them helpful in your own journaling practice. You are invited to join the Proximity Podcast Club, a growing community of people supporting one another through their process of becoming who they want to be in this work. We meet every Monday morning at 9am est. Message me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn for the meeting link. Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn

Today's episode is a conversation with Kathleen Creamer that you don't want to miss. Kathleen is the Managing Attorney at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia where she and her team use a holistic family defense model to help parents maintain custody of or reunite with their children. We center the conversation on the necessity of Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) as well as the constitutionality and morality of TPR. We also weave in some of the history of how these policies came to be and the mindsets that underpin them. One of the questions we leave on the table is what if TPR no longer existed, what opportunities would that create to pursue justice? If you want to learn more about Kathleen and her work, you can visit Community Legal Services. Kathleen references the work and writing of professor, author, and activist Dorothy Roberts. You can learn more about her work at Dorothy Roberts. You are invited to join the Proximity Podcast Club, a growing community of people supporting one another through their process of becoming who they want to be in this work. We meet every Monday morning at 9am est. Message me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn for the meeting link. Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn

This is part two of my conversation with Corey Best. You may want to go back and listen to episode one where Corey talks about growing up in DC, his son being born, and his experience of termination of parental rights (TPR). We end that conversation as Corey was hours away from reuniting with his son after 19 years. We pick up Today's episode with the first embrace that Corey shares with son and the experience of being together for a couple of days. From there the conversation moves to explore the Adoption and Safe Families Act and TPR. We get into some of Corey's position on TPR , his process for why he wants to share this part of his story, and his approach to freedom seeking as it relates to TPR. We end the conversation with where we began episode one, what does freedom mean? Corey shares that he has fears about facing ASFA but he glimpses freedom when he faces his fears. To learn more about Corey and Mining for Gold you can visit the website. MINING FOR GOLD COMMUNITY You are invited to join the Proximity Podcast Club, a growing community of people who are supporting one another through their own process of becoming who they want to be in this work. We meet every Monday morning at 9am est. Message me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn for the meeting link. Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn

This is part one of a two-part conversation with Corey Best. We cover a lot of ground in these conversations, but we center around Corey's relationship with his son who, until very recently, he hadn't seen or talked to in 19 years. We get into Corey's early years of growing up in DC, some of the pivotal people and experiences in his life, and the early part of his career. But the heart of the conversation is about Corey's relationship with his son (Corey aka Deuce) and the reunion they are about to have just hours after we recorded this episode. We also talk about Corey's relationship with the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 and Termination of Parental Rights, specifically Corey's experience of a judge terminating his rights in 2004. To learn more about Corey and Mining for Gold you can visit the website. MINING FOR GOLD COMMUNITY You are invited to join the Proximity Podcast Club, a growing community of people who are supporting one another through their own process of becoming who they want to be in this work. We meet every Monday morning at 9am est. Message me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn for the meeting link. Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn

This week is a journal episode. This episode was inspired by the recent Hill Briefing that was organized by the Repeal CAPTA Coalition. What came across so clearly in the briefing is that we don't have to wait for justice, we can act now to advance justice. Part of the proposal of the Repeal CAPTA Coalition is to shift funds from Title I of CAPTA to Title II and increase that amount to $500 million annually. This would put more money into community-based programs that are meeting the economic and concrete support needs of families. When so much of the federal funding requires families to be separated this proposal to invest in the well-being and integrity of families is a practical way to advance justice. To learn more about the Repeal CAPTA Coalition you can visit their website. Repeal CAPTA You are invited to join the Proximity Podcast Club, a growing community of people who are supporting one another through their own process of becoming who they want to be in this work. We meet every Monday morning at 9am est. Message me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn for the meeting link. Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn

This week's episode is a recently released conversation I had as a guest on the Leaving Well with Naomi Hattaway podcast. Naomi is a skilled interviewer, and it was a joy to talk to her about my experience of leaving well, including the one regret that I had in the process. I think Naomi's work has a lot to offer the community we are building around The Proximity Process. I hope this is an opportunity to discover a new show that brings you value. Leaving Well is the art and practice of leaving a job, role, project, or title, with intention and purpose, and when possible … joy. Naomi's podcast brings experiences and lessons learned about necessary endings in the workplace, through conversations on topics such as grief, confidence, leadership, career development, and the Leaving Well Framework. For more information about Naomi's work, you can visit her website where you all also find the episodes with Yanique Redwood and Nkem Ndefo. Leaving Well Podcast — Naomi Hattaway You are invited to join the Proximity Podcast Club, a growing community of people who are supporting one another through their own process of becoming who they want to be in this work. We meet every Monday morning at 9am est. Message me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn for the meeting link. Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn

On this episode I share some of my reflections on Shawn A Ginwright's book The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves. I talk about the first pivot, which is from lens to mirror. The way Shawn talks about this pivot speaks directly to how I have come to understand the proximity process. My reflections are related to how I understand this pivot, how I have seen this pivot play out in my own work, and how it is now informing my work at Proximity Design Studio. I also share some of my current work with past guest Keith Howard and how we have been applying the lens to mirror pivot in his role as the CEO of Circle of Care in Oklahoma. I end the episode with ideas of how we can all work on making our own lens to mirror pivot. To learn more about Shawn's work you can visit his website at Shawn Ginwright. You are invited to join the Proximity Podcast Club, a growing community of people who are supporting one another through their own process of becoming who they want to be in this work. We meet every Monday morning at 9am est. Message me, Matt Anderon, on LinkedIn for the meeting link. Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn

Today's episode is a conversation with my friend, colleague, and Podcast Club collaborator and co-host, Dr. Kimberly Offutt. We tell the origin story of how we decided to create the weekly Proximity Podcast Club. The story starts with Kim listening to episode one and calling me to say, "I feel like I was punched in the gut". Our conversation moves into why community building is part of the process and the value that it brings us. Of course, we also had to dive into Kim's process of how she is making visible what has been invisible to her in her career. As a 25-year veteran of child welfare, Kim talks about how she is still learning and unlearning things about herself, her values, and who she wants to become in this work. You are invited to join the Proximity Podcast Club, a growing community of people who are supporting one another through their own process of becoming who they want to be in this work. We meet every Monday morning at 9am est. Message me, Matt Anderon, on LinkedIn for the meeting link. Please connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn