Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (https://jjie.org/category/bokeh/video-bokeh/page/7/)
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Young people aging out of foster care face a multitude of obstacles, including unemployment and homelessness, health care access and education. Researchers, academics, practitioners and current and former foster youth came together to discuss transitioning out of the foster care system and some much-needed solutions to the complex problems.
From loving mentors to abusive foster parents and indifferent social workers, a group of New Yorkers talk openly about surviving foster care and forging relationships.
"I never had that love and affection before, you know, and when I was searching for it, I got it all in the wrong places, " says one former foster kid, Rosie Williams.
"If we can get these kids to believe, and if we can get these parents on board to believe, we can make these connections and we can make these families," says Amber Williams of You Gotta Believe!
"They're kids. They need a home; they need to be loved," says Catherine Harm, a social worker and prospective foster parent. Harm and her partner, Erica Chesser, are in the process of applying to become foster parents, including an in-home orientation session
"You might not be able to choose what time you go to bed or what you're eating for dinner, but you can talk to the legislature about how to make things better for youth across the state," says Lisa McMahon, program director of the Oregon Foster Youth Connection. Driven by current and former foster kids between the ages 14 and 25, the OFYC helps shape foster-oriented bills that go before the Oregon legislature.
The 3rd Annual Prisoner Reentry Conference in Jersey City last week was more than a wonky exchange between experts; there was a moral component that eclipsed the dry talk of policy proposals.
"I immediately took my Narcan out, squirted a milligram of Narcan into her nose and within about 20 seconds [she] took this big gasping breath," said Woodstock, Georgia, police officer Shane Bonebrake as he recounts saving a woman from overdose with the anti-opioid Naloxone.
"With all the obstacles you faced while you were in foster care, what motivates you to move forward in life?" Brittany Myers, 23, asks Jody Middlebrooks, 20. Former foster kids Middlebrooks and Myers get honest about motivation, case workers and the power of positive interactions in this insightful conversation on forging relationships in the system.
Summit Trail is an residential complex in Atlanta for teenagers transitioning out of foster care. Founded by the CHRIS Kids program, Summit Trail offers life coaching to the teens within the residential facility.
The Children's Village in the Bronx offers mentors to teenagers who face aging out of foster care. The mentors, or "credible messengers," are former foster children themselves. They use writing and conversation and draw from their personal experiences to motivate these foster teens.