fosteryouthvoicemonth – One Voice Impact

November 2, 2021 By fosteryouthvoicemonth

What is the Importance of Having a Youth Council?

Our final Foster Youth Voice Month blog post is guest authored by John Watson, One Voice IMPAACT Youth Council Specialist. We hope you enjoyed the series!

One of the core principles of One Voice IMPAACT is Youth Engagement. We offer many insights on how to promote youth engagement through various calls, trainings, and activities. However, one of the most impactful ways youth can be engaged is through a local Youth Council. While it may be a fairly new concept to child welfare in Florida, youth councils have been a concept in existence since the early 20^th century. How does OVI envision these “youth councils” to make a universal improvement? This post will give you a brief synopsis of what the OVI Network of Councils is and hopes to be in the state of Florida.

What is a youth council? Well, OVI believes that a youth council should be a representative body of youth with lived experience from each Community-Based Care Lead Agency, complete with the backing and support of the agency as well as a team of one or more staff champions to coordinate the work of the youth. These youth and staff champions will work together to address issues pertaining to their respective experiences and expertise of their service area.

How old should these youth be? OVI believes the youth and the staff champions tasked with creating the council should be the decision makers in matters like these. Will the council focus on youth transitioning out of care? Will their priorities be on improving the experiences of those still in care? Does the council want to provide a network of peer supports and mentors in partnership with staff champions? The answers to these questions can change the direction the council moves in and dictate what the age range of the council should be.

What is the purpose of the youth council? These councils are founded upon youth-adult partnerships. While many on the outside may see youth councils as an as additional work or another possibility to listen to youth complain about the system, we hope people in child welfare will come to understand that youth councils are an added value. Both youth with lived experience AND child welfare professionals offer great, though often completely different insights on the system of care. While youth offer the experience of living in a foreign environment and how this can affect them in various ways, professionals offer the understanding of the system and how it operates – which can help guide youth in the direction needed to help create the change that is being advocated for. It is imperative that both youth and staff champions understand and appreciate the assets each side brings to the table and how to work together to best address the issues at hand.

What is the importance of having a youth council in your area? The goal of One Voice IMPAACT is to have a representative youth council body in each CBC service area across the state. Our hope is that no matter where a child comes into care in Florida, there will be somewhere that youth can turn to and receive not only guidance and peer support, but also a goal to strive towards during their time in the system. Through developing your councils, OVI is collecting feedback from your youth and systems professionals on where the system needs improvement. Through this feedback, OVI will continuously work with DCF, FCC, and the lead agencies to improve the system for all youth in care. OVI is creating a youth voice movement – and you don’t want to be left out.

Join the youth voice movement and sign the pledge today!

John Watson is a 20-year-old former foster youth in his junior year at the University of Central Florida pursuing a degree in Political Science. He has been a part of the Selfless Love Foundation team since August of 2020 as the One Voice IMPAACT (OVI) Youth Council Specialist. He leverages his lived foster care experience, providing technical assistance and support of statewide network engagement. Through his three years of advocacy experience in Brevard County, John helps coordinate and present policy and practice change recommendations, guide the development of youth councils across the state, and promotes youth voice in the decision-making process. His goal is to get a localized, independent youth council in each Community-Based Care lead agency across the state to create local and systemic change that will improve outcomes for transitioning foster youth.

November 1, 2021 By fosteryouthvoicemonth

On the Other Side: Reflecting on Transition

When I was a minor in foster care, I often felt utterly hopeless. Time and time again, I felt abandoned and forgotten by a system that was meant to help me.

I wanted to get a job, so I could save up and buy a car, because where I live, you need a car to get around. My caregivers were not willing to help me with transportation or achieving this goal. I was on my own here. I remember a lot of concerns about car insurance going up if I became a driver. Now, I know that there is a Florida program, Keys to Independence, which can entirely offset this cost! My entire world would be different if we knew about this and used it in time.

I wanted to graduate a year early from high school, because otherwise I would be 18 (aged out!) and a senior — I wanted to be 18 and going off to college. My guidance counselor at my high school did not think I could make this happen. Nevertheless, I registered for online courses while taking my junior year and come the end of spring, I was ready to walk, a year early. Because she was not there to help me and did not take me seriously, I missed deadlines to apply for Bright Futures, and I barely applied to college in time.

My point is: time and time again, I felt like my agency in life was being taken away from me. There was a system in place to help me in my time of need, but that system did not empower me, or offer me dignity in the process.

That is, until I turned 18. When I turned 18, everything changed. Suddenly, I was in charge, and I could make decisions about my future as I saw fit. I made it to college, and I graduated, though my finances were always a struggle — looking back, Bright Futures would have been a tremendous help. I got a job, and I saved up — but it took me until I was 21 to buy a car. Ultimately, I was lucky enough to succeed despite these setbacks.

Many are not. Ultimately, the goal of foster care is to create safe and stable youth that are able to transition to independence. But many youth are not properly prepared for successful transition.

It is so critical that system professionals dedicate energy, time, and resources to preparing students for success transition. I know that my independent living coordinator put a lot of energy into helping me, and that made all the difference. Speaking to other youth across the state, I know many have not been so lucky.

Transition planning should start early. Professionals need to help youth elucidate their goals: What happens when you turn 18? What are your goals at that point? How do we achieve those goals? What do we need to do now to get toward those goals?

For me, those conversations did not start until I was about 17. I know that for some others, those conversations happened even later, and that affected their outcomes, too. I have friends that spent a great deal of time in foster care and never knew that they qualified for benefits. Once we realized they qualified for benefits, we got them in touch with system professionals and it changed their lives.

What I have gathered from all of my musing on this is that our safety net for foster youth is strong… but it does not help everyone equally. I never got to use Keys to Independence. I have multiple friends who wasted thousands of dollars paying for tuition, only to realize they qualify for a tuition waiver. Others undoubtedly have even worse struggles than us.

Our safety net has holes in it, and those holes are in the shape of people. We have to close them. That will be done through partnership between system professionals, foster youth, and other stakeholders. We can do better together.

By Hunter Lyons, a foster youth leader and student activist. Hunter grew up in foster care and now both attends & works at the University of West Florida. He has a great deal of experience as a student organizer, having spent years working on advocacy efforts to help Florida students. Recently, Hunter started grad school and a job at his university, where he is a financial aid specialist tasked with getting federal emergency grant money to students in need.

October 31, 2021 By fosteryouthvoicemonth

Candid Camera: Legislator Edition

Everyone has this omnipotent view of legislators. Sometimes we forget they are people. They have feelings and most importantly, they have fun! If you take a look at our social media, @onevoiceimpaact on Facebook and Instagram, you’ll see some videos with some very familiar people. Every time I proposed the idea of doing a TikTok with a legislator, the response was a resounding yes! The scheduling was a bit of a debacle. If you have never been to the Capitol building, it’s like the labyrinth, but worse. It was all worth it in the end. I have some great memories to take back home. I will always laugh at the confused faces looking for direction. You don’t understand how funny it is to see people with so much power scramble at the whim of a 20-year-old! These types of activities bridge the gap between youth and legislation. This is only the beginning.

As we build our network of youth, we will continue to think of more bridges. I hope that we get to a point where youth are not a welcome surprise but an expectation. With that being said, we want an open the opportunity to anyone who is interested. We would love to use our platform to showcase any of our members. Whether it be your story, an achievement, or just a little bit of fun.

Join the OCU or the One Voice IMPAACT Cinematic Universe! Contact me, Diamond Whitley at [email protected] if you’re interested in collaborating on some content for the future. In the meantime, enjoy our videos! Sign the Youth Voice Pledge today!

Selfless Love Foundation’s youth voice initiative entitled One Voice IMPAACT provides current and former foster youth opportunities to develop skills for leadership and life, advocate for changes to policy and join a network of youth leaders across the state of Florida.

October 30, 2021 By fosteryouthvoicemonth

Plugged Into Resources

Youth transitioning from Florida’s foster care system, like all young people climbing the path to
adulthood, need resources. From financial assistance and education to health care and housing…

October 30, 2021 By fosteryouthvoicemonth

Tokenism

What hinders youth engagement? Disengaged youth may not tell us why they failed to show up to a meeting when they confirmed their attendance or why they “ghosted us” when we asked them to…

October 28, 2021 By fosteryouthvoicemonth

What IS Youth Voice?

It’s a simple question, yet it carries a lot of significance. What is Youth Voice? It isn’t a sound you can pick out of a crowd of voices or a quote you can choose from a list of words. Authentic Youth Voice is something you can feel. You can feel the passion, the understanding, and the urgency for change.

Just recently, members of the One Voice IMPAACT (OVI) Advocacy Council had the opportunity to travel to Tallahassee for two days to advocate on OVI’s policy priorities. As our team hopped from office to office, the stories our youth shared left an impression on legislators. From Diamond’s fun skits with Senators and Representatives to Hunter’s heart-to-hearts that moved a legislator to mention her experience in a committee meeting, everyone brought a new piece to the story being told. It’s not just with legislators, either – youth with lived experience from the system of care have a wealth of great ideas that anyone can learn from. The adverse childhood experiences faced by these young adults lead to inspirational outcomes, each with their own lesson or story to tell. All we have to do is give them the platform and elevate their voices enough to where others can’t help but listen.

John Watson is a 20-year-old former foster youth in his junior year at the University of Central Florida pursuing a degree in Political Science. He has been a part of the Selfless Love Foundation team since August of 2020 as the One Voice IMPAACT (OVI) Youth Council Specialist. He leverages his lived foster care experience, providing technical assistance and support of statewide network engagement. Through his three years of advocacy experience in Brevard County, John helps coordinate and present policy and practice change recommendations, guide the development of youth councils across the state, and promotes youth voice in the decision-making process. His goal is to get a localized, independent youth council in each Community-Based Care lead agency across the state to create local and systemic change that will improve outcomes for transitioning foster youth.

October 27, 2021 By fosteryouthvoicemonth

Strategic Sharing

Youth with lived experience in foster care are often asked to share their story for a variety of reasons. Youth are flattered by being asked to speak but without adequate preparation it can go off course and awaken painful emotions for the youth, leaving the audience wondering how to fix such a broken system.

Personally, I have cringed with guests at a fundraising luncheon, listening to a youth share details of sexual abuse. I have heard a volunteer ask a youth “what did you do to get into foster care” and I have seen a youth’s story rewritten for a marketing piece. These mishaps could have been avoided with preparation and respect for the youth as the expert. As youth champions, we must ensure that youth are ready to strategically share their story in a way that uplifts them, the audience, and the system.

The National Youth Resource Center for Youth Development in collaboration with FosterClub’s developed a “Strategic Sharing” toolkit to prepare our youth for making thoughtful decisions on when to share their story and what parts of their past they are comfortable sharing. One Voice IMPAACT offers this training to all youth councils to help youth learn techniques for assessing red, yellow, and green light statements and managing uncomfortable questions with an escape hatch.

While I believe those who asked me to speak had good intentions, the truth is that I was ill-equipped for the experience… No one had helped me prepare and no one had warned me about the resurfacing emotions of hurt, pain, and insecurity. My mighty mission was to improve foster care, but I felt like a solider going into battler without any training or protection.

As child welfare professionals and youth advocates, we need to help youth prepare to share their story. By teaching them strategic sharing techniques, providing them compensation and debriefing afterwards, we can help youth protect themselves and their hard-earned story.

Dr. Elizabeth Wynter is the Executive Director of Selfless Love Foundation, whose mission is to enrich and transform the lives of current and former foster youth through raising awareness, strategic partnerships, and advocacy.

For more than 20 years, Dr. Wynter has worked on behalf of abused, neglected and abandoned children, providing leadership for local, state, and national efforts to improve the child welfare system. Dr. Wynter’s expertise in strategic planning and systems building have supported her transformative work in the areas of independent living and adoptions.

Selfless Love Foundation’s youth voice initiative entitled One Voice IMPAACT provides current and former foster youth opportunities to develop skills for leadership and life, advocate for changes to policy and join a network of youth leaders across the state of Florida.

References: http://www.whcp.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/youth-leadership-toolkit-strategic-sharing.pdf

October 26, 2021 By fosteryouthvoicemonth

Valid Point

I experienced foster care for about 9-10 years. I entered the system at the age of two, and exited the first time at the age of four. I do not remember much of my time in foster care at that age, but the second time I entered foster care, I was 12 years old. I remember much more, including my 20 plus placements because no one took the time to listen to me and understand what was going on within me. I am a youth advocate because I believe that people need to take the time to listen to the voices of young people in care because they know themselves better than others know them. I was never listened to by my caseworkers, placement staff or foster parents, and because of that, at the age of 14, I was deemed too unstable for the community. I know that if just one person had taken the time to understand me back then, I never would have gone through a lot of the trauma I did. Youth voices are the most important voice because we know what we want and need.

At the age of 15 years old I was finally able to stand my ground and made my treatment team listen to me. It was when my advocacy career started, everyone in the meeting was so shocked at what I did that they allowed me to speak. I wasn’t sure what I was going to say because I didn’t think they would listen. That meeting was my chance to speak my mind about my own treatment and advocate for myself. It gave me the opportunity to share my thoughts about myself and my treatment, instead of everyone else saying and deciding what was best for me. Everyone in the meeting was so surprised by the knowledge I had regarding my case and treatment that they finally listened. That was the first of many team meetings in which I was allowed to speak and share what should be done. My team started to listen to me, and I started to get better and really succeed in my life. This is exactly why we should have a voice in meetings and anything involving us. It makes a huge difference when you have the thoughts and ideas from the youth themselves.

During the earlier stages of my life, people around me did not listen to me, or let me advocate for myself. This caused me unnecessary trauma that led to spending most of my life broken and surrounded by darkness and chaos. I signed myself out of the foster care system because my needs were not being met, and I wasn’t being heard. I wasn’t going to let my voice be pushed aside again. Every foster youth has a valid voice and should be heard. I will continue to use my voice so others have the strength to stand up and use their voice to advocate for themselves and have a better outcome in life.

By Justyce Elizabeth Callisto, 22yo. Justyce is currently working on getting pans bachelor’s degree in psychology with a concentration in mental health counseling from SNHU. Once pan has gotten pans bachelor’s degree, Justyce plans on getting pans master’s degree in psychology, child and adolescent development. Some of pans hobbies include baseball, music in all aspects, juggling, photography, and volunteering. Justyce is a former foster child, and spent roughly eight or nine years in that system. Pan signed out after pans turned 18 and graduated high school. Justyce was 2 years old when pan entered the system pans first time, and was 12 the second time pan entered the system. The total number of moves pan had was roughly 23, that included foster homes, respite homes, residentials, group homes and even inpatient facilities. Justyce has three siblings who entered care with pans, but they did not stay together. Justyce does not have much of a relationship with any of them.

One awesome fact about Justyce is pan taught panself how to juggle while in an in-patient treatment center at 13 years old. Pans overall career goals are to use pans skills and experience in the system to help foster youth who are at-risk understand that there are different ways to cope. Pan wants to show that there are different ways to communicate so they do not have to rewire their brain and try to become adults at the same time.

October 25, 2021 By fosteryouthvoicemonth

Giving Young Adults a Platform to Advocate

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.

It seems like a simple concept, but what about when it comes to a young person and using their voice. It’s easy to advocate for someone and what we believe would be best for them. The hard part is teaching them to advocate for themselves, and taking a backseat to truly listen to what those needs are. As professionals in the child welfare system it can be overwhelming to look at the work that is expected on a daily basis. But we choose, every day, to help children and young adults in the hopes of making their lives better. Our young adults, didn’t have the same choice. They didn’t choose foster care, they didn’t choose their trauma, and they didn’t choose the homes they are living in. Their voices in many of our decisions, are stifled by the choices we as adults are making, “for their own good.” However, what I’ve found is that the more respect and responsibility we give our young adults, the more they step up to the challenge. It may take a little bit more time, however allowing them to voice what they want or need, is the first step in helping them regain control over their life and who they want to become.

Now, I know that one kid you’re thinking of. “If I ask them what they need, they’ll say nothing” or “I can’t get through to this young person without them yelling at me.” Providing youth a voice isn’t always going to be easy and you’re going to hear things you don’t like, but that’s when you need to listen the most and allow that young adult to have control in a life where they don’t feel like they have any. Help them unpack those feelings, get to the root of the problem, and teach them to fish.

Kendra Hilton is the Program Coordinator with Family Support Services of North Florida, the lead agency for foster care and adoption in Nassau and Duval Counties.

During her time with Family Support Services, Kendra has worked with transition age teens and young adults who have aged out of care by running the teen enrichment programs that are designed to teach life skills and provide normalcy opportunities. She is the staff advocate for the Youth Advisory Board and assists the young adults with promoting change within the system they have experienced. She hopes to help the members of the board expand their mission to ensure all kids in care feel seen, heard, and safe.

October 24, 2021 By fosteryouthvoicemonth

What is Selfless Love?

For me selfless love is having people who make you feel welcome, people who listen to you and people who make sure that you are safe and stable.

I have found this with One Voice IMPAACT (OVI), Selfless Love Foundation’s youth voice initiative. When I attended my first OVI training, I was nervous. But Diamond, OVI’s Youth Engagement Specialist made me feel welcomed, so I started opening up a little bit.

They gave me a safe space to have a voice; they gave me the spotlight that I never had before. I felt like I could talk about my problems and issues that I have seen first-hand as a youth who aged out of the child welfare system at 18 years old.

I was amazed by all the efforts that OVI has put toward many communities across Florida, and I was so eager to learn more. Since I am a college student at Saint Petersburg College, my psychology class is doing a project on non-profit organizations. Of course, I chose Selfless Love Foundation because I would like many of my peers to learn about the good that Selfless Love does for foster youth. I have learned a lot through my project about Selfless Love Foundation and how it began in July of 2015.

Their first project called Brown’s Harbor was dedicated to giving aged out foster youth a chance for independence through supportive housing. As many know, it is very difficult for youth to find housing after turning 18 due to a lack of guidance and support. I would like to thank all of the amazing women and men who dedicated their time to supporting the Selfless Love Foundation. Thank you for all that you do!

Hello! My name is Bianca Feliciano, I am a 22-year-old college student studying Social Services at St. Petersburg College. I also have a license in Cosmetology that I accomplished this year and two years of dental hygiene at State College of Florida. I love spending time with my family and watching A LOT of Netflix. I love ALL sorts of animals and I also paint from time to time. I started being involved with OVI this year and I absolutely enjoy OVI. I love the training we do to help us better understand how to make change in our community. In my future, I hope to work with children and youth in the system. I want to be able to make a difference in every family I come across. I am very excited for my future!