Phil Edwards

Leadership Educator and Foster Care Advocate

Phil Edwards is a Leadership Educator and Foster Care Advocate, and the creator of the CARE Leadership Framework, a trauma-informed approach to leadership rooted in coaching, education, and lived experience. With over 30 years of experience coaching athletes and mentoring youth, 20 years as a foster parent, and more than 15 years as an instructor at Seneca Polytechnic, Phil’s work bridges leadership development, foster parenting, and youth advocacy.

Through his writing, podcasting, and training, Phil reframes foster parenting as one of the most complex and overlooked forms of leadership, offering practical insights for foster parents, educators, coaches, and organizations working with vulnerable youth. His perspective draws from the worlds of sport, education, and child welfare, emphasizing structure, compassion, accountability, and trust. Phil views relationship building as the true measure of care relationships.

As a Brainz Magazine contributor, Phil focuses on trauma-informed leadership, coaching under pressure, and building systems of care that support both children and the adults responsible for guiding them.

His former foster children, who also appear as podcast guests, join him as a testament to their lifelong relationships, as they seek to model what went well and revise what did not. Together, they open discussions on topics that will leave you laughing, crying, and hopeful. His mission is to immerse the CARE Leadership Framework in every family and organization so that children leave care with healthy, lifelong relationships.