Two Dads. One Mission. A Movement That's Changing Everything.

Some of the most powerful movements in history didn’t start in boardrooms or policy chambers. They started with a parent who refused to accept “there’s nothing we can do.”

Carl and Joel didn’t find each other by accident. They met at a conference in 2017, two fathers from different states, different backgrounds, and different skill sets, who discovered they shared the same quiet battle: raising children with four neurodiverse profiles that the systems around them simply didn’t understand or know how to support, especially FASD.

What started as a conversation became a conviction. Carl was taking on the North Dakota government, not as a lobbyist, not as a politician, but as a father armed with truth. And he was winning.

Joel was pointing a camera at the stories that deserved to be told, developing a documentary that would put a human face on a diagnosis too often met with silence or stigma.

In 2022, they began working together on training material for social workers. In 2023, a book idea, Embracing HOPE, took shape, and it wasn’t written to fill a shelf. It was written as a comprehensive guide for every family that has ever felt alone, unsupported, and in need of strategies that work.

Carl brings the policy, research, and technology skills. Joel brings vision and the story. Together, they bring hope that actually does something.

“We didn’t set out to build a movement. We set out to make sure no family had to fight as hard as we did, alone.”

Our work is real, heartfelt, and grounded in hope. The need is urgent. We invite you to read our books and explore the tools we have developed and continue to build for you.