Parenting in a Tech World
Foster Kids Are Easy Targets for Predators. He Refused to Wait
Kids in foster care are among the most targeted groups for online predators and grooming, and taking their phones away often makes them less safe, not more. Adam Rodakowski is the Director of Foster Care at Greater Oregon Behavioral Health, where he leads a treatment foster care program serving 40 to 50 youth after nearly a decade in Oregon's child welfare system. He shares the two warning signs that forced his team to act. One was a teen who kept showing up with brand-new phones within days of losing one. The other was a known adult trying to groom a young person with a history of being trafficked. You'll hear why restricting devices led to runaways and broken trust, how his program rolled out Bark Phones and smartwatches to every youth after checking with the Oregon Department of Justice, and how early alerts about bullying turned potential crises into calm conversations. You'll also walk away knowing how to scaffold your own child's tech access by rolling privileges up and down instead of confiscating devices. Key insight: When a child keeps getting new phones and no one knows where they're coming from, someone is spending real money to reach that child without the guardian knowing, and that is a red flag no family should ignore. Connect with Adam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamrodakowski/ Learn more about our Bark Community Partners program: https://www.bark.us/learn/solutions/ If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review wherever you watch or listen. It only takes 30 seconds and helps other parents find us. Join the conversation in our Parenting in a Tech World Facebook community: https://info.bark.us/join-pitw Learn more about the Bark Phone, built with safety monitoring and parental controls from the ground up: https://www.bark.us/bark-phone
