Life in Foster Care and Beyond

Level: Advanced Practice – Line Worker, Supervisor, Manager

Credits: 6

Intended Audience: For child welfare staff who are interested in learning about a youth’s journey through the foster care system and how she is using that experience to inform child welfare staff and support current and former foster youth.

Description of Course: An honest and reflective life storytelling of the trainer’s lived experiences of family loss, growing up in foster care, entry into juvenile justice system, becoming a teenage mother, emancipation from foster care and on to receiving a Master’s degree and becoming a recognized advocate. This training also focuses on factors that contribute to youth overcoming trauma, the importance of cultural identity and restoration of self-esteem.

Intended Objectives:

• Gain knowledge and understanding of coping/survival strategies of foster youth
• Develop a deeper awareness of conscious use of self from a youth perspective
• Identify key educational and community resources that specifically support current and former foster youth
• Gain knowledge and understanding of effective resources to support youth who have experienced trauma and out-of-home placements

Topics Include:

• Family grief and loss
• Growing up in foster care and the juvenile justice system
• Being a teenage mother in the foster care system
• Achieving higher education
• Culture and identity restoration
• Resiliency vs Resistance