Hallmark Channel’s Jen Lilley: Actress, mom & leading celebrity foster care advocate in US on exclusive Project Orphans contest, soaring coronavirus domestic abuse, her new album and podcast.

Jen Lilley, the famed actress who has become the face of the Hallmark Channel, is also a musician, a mother, and the nation's leading celebrity foster care advocate who is herself a parent of two sons via foster care. Jen has starred in several television films from the Hallmark Channel, and played the character of Theresa Donovan on NBC's soap opera Days of Our Lives. On May 1, 2020, she  launched National Foster Care Month with a special campaign.  Jen partners with the foundation Project Orphans to establish a neighborhood in the US. where orphans and children can find foster care in safe and loving homes. The focus is on permanency and adoption. And to raise awareness and money for Project Orphans, Jen announced #VoicesThatGive contest. This will provide creators from virtually every walks of life including singers and actors, a chance to win the  grand prize of $10,000, a walk-on roll for one of Jen's upcoming Hallmark Channel Movies, a set tour and taping of Home & Family.   Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/tkCQQv3VJow Jen has also launched her new weekly podcast Fostering Hope. Link here: https://bramblejampodcast.com/foster. The podcast aims to help normalize and support adoptive families of all types, foster ethical practices, and champion for safe, loving families for the children who need them. In each episode, Jen has open, honest, informative, funny, and sometimes heartbreaking conversations with the most influential people in the world for foster care and adoption. Jen aspires to encourage people who are currently fostering children AND inspire more people to begin the deeply rewarding fostering journey.  But Jen's creative prowess does not end when the director yells cut. She is also a singer and songwriter, with her debut album LILLEY.  Advocating for foster care and adoption is something that speaks to Jen's heart. Growing up in Roanoke, Virginia, Jen's parents were considered the "unofficial foster parents" due to their line of work - her father was a judge, while her mother was a director of a women and children's charity - making their home a "safe house" of sorts.  Jen was awarded the National Educators Award for her tireless work in Guatemala and is known for advocating children's rights where she actively supports foundations that focus on protecting children against physical and sexual abuse, human trafficking and the world water crisis. Jen is a celebrity ambassador for the child abuse and treatment organizations Childhelp, Project Orphans, ECPAT, and The Dave Thomas Foundation. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/john-aidan-byrne0/support