To be in our shoes: A Q&A series elevating voices of foster youth
College Success Foundation champions foster youth, alumni of foster care and those who have experienced unaccompanied homelessness as a minor through our direct student programs, scholarships, advocacy and policy work, as well as through our leadership of the Washington Passport Network.
The Washington Passport Network holds an annual Passport to Careers conference convening partners and practitioners from around Washington state to discuss how to improve higher education outcomes for young people from foster care.
For this year’s Passport to Careers conference, CSF asked providers to submit questions they wished to ask people with lived experience in foster care or with unaccompanied homelessness in order to understand how to more effectively support the youth of care we serve.
In honor of National Foster Care Month, we are excited to launch our lived experience Q&A series aptly named: To be in our shoes. In this series, we will be sharing verbatim and synthesized responses from lived experts who have answered questions related to post-secondary pathway support, experiences with services providers, how to more effectively center youth of care in legislation, and more. We hope these remarks ignite meaningful consideration and inspiration–whether you work with those who have experienced foster care or unaccompanied homelessness or whether you wish to operate with more compassion and understanding.
We will share one Q&A response each month on our social media pages: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Please feel free to share these insights with your networks.
These responses do not represent the views of every person that has experienced foster care or unaccompanied homelessness in Washington state. Respondents will remain anonymous out of respect for their privacy.
Check back here regularly to explore additional responses from our lived experts. We will be adding them monthly to this blog post.
Q: What are things you feel were overlooked or misunderstood by your service providers?
A: “I feel like the stigma or what was written down on paper [about me] was misunderstood, [between my foster care files and having an Individualized Education Plan. People didn’t spend the time really getting to know me as a young person. I felt like I was pre-judged by a system that could have supported me.”
A: “The color of my skin – I really feel like that played a part in how I was being treated from service providers [and access to resources the department offered].”
Q: What kind of support did you need in order to remain engaged in pursuing your K-12 education?
A: “I needed someone to help me through my educational goals because a guidance counselor and a social worker weren’t enough. They came and went whenever I was removed from a foster home or to a new school.”
Q: From your experience, what would you say is an effective way for practitioners (people who work with those who have experienced foster care and/or homelessness) to support young adults experiencing foster care or homelessness?
A: “Just asking them if there’s anything they need. Sometimes it’s supplies for school or a hot meal. Sometimes it’s a conversation with them but it depends on them. Meet them where they are at mentally and emotionally, not out of pity but rather empathy and listening.”
A: “Provide young adults with the tools needed to navigate the adult world; for instance: how to pay taxes, how to get your driver’s license, how to budget for future expenses…All things necessary for success as an adult.”
Q: What would you say is the most important support you as a young adult need/want in order to fulfill your life’s goals?
A: “I have someone in my corner that pushes me to continue my educational goals even when I don’t feel like I’m good enough, and that’s a support that I needed earlier in life but I am grateful for it now. To have someone I can turn to and say ‘I’m struggling’, and for them to be there to assure me that I can do it. Sometimes the most important thing is having a stable person in your life.”
Q: What recommendations in policy or practice would you give providers to help them center young people in their services?
A: “Allow young people to maintain normalcy by encouraging them to be around their community, eat foods they are used to, express their cultural identity, etc.”
Q: What are things you feel like were overlooked or misunderstood by your service providers?
A: “The color of my skin – I really feel like that played a part in how I was being treated by service providers and what access I had to resources offered by the department.”
A: “I feel like the stigma or what was written down on paper [about me] was misunderstood”, between my foster care files and having an IEP. People didn’t spend the time “really getting to know me as a young person. I felt like I was pre-judged by a system that could have supported me.”
Q: What would you say is the most important support you as a young adult need/want in order to fulfill your life’s goals?
A: “I think people need honesty and to really set goals for themselves and think about where they see themselves in 2 or 5 or 10 years. It helps to look forward to that plan and understand that life happens, but that doesn’t mean give up – it just means start all over tomorrow and let’s continue our goals in our plan.”
Q: What kind of support did you need in order to remain engaged in pursuing your K-12 education?
A: “I just felt like someone could have helped me through my academics versus my behavior and I feel like I could’ve been better off navigating the school system because I would’ve been more passionate about school if I had support on the education side versus the negative.”
A: “I honestly wished there was a point person that followed my educational goals even if I moved several schools. If I had one person to speak with about my dreams or pursuing college I would have stuck with it and pursued a university instead of a community college.”
Q: What recommendations in policy or practice would you give to providers to help them center young people in their services?
A: “Building more communities with a structured peer support system and focusing on ways to bolster young peoples’ autonomy and sense of agency.”
Q: What would you say is the most important support you need/want as a young adult in order to fulfill your life’s goals?
A: I have someone in my corner that pushes me to continue my educational goals even when I don’t feel like I’m good enough, and that’s a support that I needed earlier in life but I am grateful for it now. To have someone I can turn to and say ‘I’m struggling’, and for them to be there to assure me that I can do it. Sometimes the most important thing is having a stable person in your life.
Q: What recommendations in policy or practice would you give to providers to help them center young people in their services?
A: Making sure young people have a team of people that support, encourage, and believe in them.
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