Dear Colleague,
National Foster Care Month (NFCM) in May is an important opportunity to spread the word about the needs of the more than 365,000 children and youth in foster care.
This year's NFCM theme—"Engaging Youth. Building Supports. Strengthening Opportunities."—shines a light on how we can best support young people and help them successfully transition to adulthood. This theme is close to my heart and mirrors one of the Children's Bureau's top priorities: ensuring youth leave care with strengthened relationships, holistic supports, and opportunities.
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Nearly 18,500 youth transition out of the foster care system each year without a permanent family. In talking with young people who have experienced the foster care system firsthand, I've heard over and over again how challenging it is to transition out of foster care, especially without the right support. These challenges are familiar, but if we want to make headway, we need to start addressing them with a new approach. Giving youth the tools they need to succeed as adults begins during their time in care. It is crucial that we use that time to engage youth in case planning, help them build and nurture important relationships, and gain equitable access to the opportunities that all young people deserve.
Youth engagement should be the backbone of our work as child welfare professionals. We must know what youth need to help them nurture connections and get the right support. Young people who experience foster care often report that things happen to them without their input. We must rewrite that narrative, form partnerships with young people, and encourage them to speak up about their wants and needs. Children and youth in care should feel like they are in control of their future while being supported by those around them and adequately equipped with the tools to succeed.
Holistic transition planning is one way we can ensure youth have those tools. Planning for the transition to adulthood is a traditional piece of case planning for all young people in foster care. Still, it sometimes falls short of preparing youth for the emotional, psychological, and developmental aspects of transitioning from care. Taking a holistic approach to these plans and starting conversations with youth about their future in their early teenage years, not a few months before they turn 18, can make a huge difference.
Helping young people nurture supportive relationships is another key way to set them up for success. When youth form authentic, lasting bonds with supportive adults and peers, they develop a network of people to reach out to when they need someone for help, support, advice, and more. Leaning on these lifelong connections allows young people to achieve relational permanency, which can be just as—if not more—important than legal permanency.
This NFCM, I invite you to join me in raising awareness of the hundreds of thousands of children and youth in foster care and committing to doing more to support them. I encourage you to explore the resources and stories on the NFCM website and share them with your networks. As always, thank you for your ongoing commitment to serving children and youth.
In unity,
Aysha E. Schomburg
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