| Workshops for Independent
Living staff, caseworkers, foster parents and other supportive adults
are produced with youth perspective at their center. Important topics
such as permanency, transition planning and outreach to youth will
build the confidence of your audience to deal with issues that are
so critical to young people in foster care.
Explore a youth-centered suite of tools which takes a team approach
to transition planning for young people. The T1 provides a quick
and easy, at-a-glance inventory of a youth’s assets for
transitioning out of care, while the T2 provides a template for
drafting a comprehensive transition plan. Other tools in the
toolkit include the Permanency Pact, customizable guides and
digital documents on CD.
- Facilitate youth-centered transition planning
- Engage supportive
adults in the transition planning process and encourage a team
approach in planning and supporting young
people
- Build the capacity of a youth’s transition team
to identify and track a youth’s strengths, needs and
progress towards preparation for transition to adulthood
- Provide
the field with a customizable, easy-to-use suite of tools
that encourages better preparation for young people
who
will transition
from out-of-home placement to adulthood
Do your youth understand what permanency is, if they have it and
why they would want it? This workshop will take a look at Getting
Solid, a tool designed to assist youth in becoming central players
in their own permanency plan. The peer-led approach helps youth
work through barriers which may be preventing them from building
permanent connections with supportive adults and encourages young
people to become their own best advocates in the permanency planning
process.
- Encourage a youth-centered approach to permanency planning
- Create an understanding of youth perspectives on permanency
in an effort to improve the capacity of the field to engage
youth
in planning for permanency
- Provide a tool which helps child
welfare staff to facilitate and strengthen ongoing, permanent
relationships between a
young person and supportive adult
The FosterClub All-Stars have demonstrated how young people can
reframe their foster care experiences into expertise and use
their knowledge to empower, motivate and inform their peers.
This peer-to-peer strategy is used to build skills which help
youth (both mentors and mentees) navigate peer relationships,
reconcile bio-family ties, and maintain connections for permanency.
Young people learn to set their sights high and make good choices
through positive role modeling and success stories. Learn how
you can put the All-Star youth development strategies to work
within your own program.
- Discuss the advantages of peer support
and peer leadership
- Provide an overview of a successful youth
development model which helps youth to reframe their foster
care experiences
as expertise
- Develop insight into the challenges of developing
a peer leadership program and discuss specialized training
that is critical to
ensuring program success
- Build the capacity of the field
to utilize youth voice and peer leaders within their own programs
and to ultimately
increase
the
level of youth involvement in program improvement
Our engaging youth panels and keynote presentations feature young
people who not only know how to tell their personal stories,
but also can tie their stories to action items that your audience
can take home with them to improve their support of youth in
care.
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