Fostering Change Podcast | Episode 258 | Julie and David Bulitt
October 28, 2025
Fostering Change Podcast | Episode 258 | Julie and David Bulitt
Advisory: This episode includes sensitive discussion about addiction, family estrangement, and emotional loss.
This week on Fostering Change, host Rob Scheer welcomes back two dear friends — Julie and David Bulitt — for one of the most personal and moving conversations of the season. Rob and his husband Reece have known the Bulitts for many years, and their honesty, humor, and heart have made them audience favorites.
Julie is a licensed clinical social worker with more than 30 years of experience in family therapy, and David is a leading family-law attorney in the D.C. metro area who has spent decades helping parents and children navigate painful transitions. Together, they’ve raised four daughters, built nearly 40 years of marriage, co-authored two acclaimed books (The Five Core Conversations for Couples and Secrets of Strong Couples), and co-host the podcast Conversations for Couples.
In this emotional and thought-provoking episode, Rob, Julie, and David explore what it means to lose a child while they’re still alive — to addiction, estrangement, or emotional distance — and how families can begin to heal.
Topics discussed include:
- Ambiguous loss: Grieving a child who is still living and learning to coexist with that pain.
- Addiction and family systems: How substance use can fracture relationships, redefine love, and challenge every parent’s hope.
- Parenting through heartbreak: “We can love our children fiercely and still have to let go,” Julie shares. “Healing doesn’t mean forgetting — it means finding peace with what is.”
- Balancing love and self-protection: “You reach a point where love also means protecting yourself and your family from chaos,” David reflects.
- Hope beyond the silence: Grace, therapy, and community as pathways to reconnection.
Learn more about Julie & David Bulitt:
Website: www.thebulitts.com
Podcast: Conversations for Couples
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To listen to previous episodes of Fostering Change, please visit: www.comfortcases.org/podcast or your favorite podcast outlets.
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