Foster Care Training

As people working in and around the child welfare system, we care about people. We wouldn’t have gotten into this work if we didn’t. For many of us, this includes caring about health, and this is not a bad thing: most of us want ourselves and each other to live long lives filled with as much ease as possible. When it comes to health and making health recommendations, though, it is important to explicitly name what we mean and to consider the position from which we are speaking. The World Health Organization’s constitution defines health as, “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” In this context, how often are we talking about health when we make suggestions for ourselves and others? Who gets to access health by this definition? What stands in the way? How can we create healthier environments in which we all have what we need to live happy, healthy lives? In this half-day interactive workshop, we will unpack what health is in the context of an oppressive society, focusing on anti-fat bias from its roots to its effects. Participants will have a supported space to examine our early learnings and socialization into an anti-fat system of oppression, to consider the impacts and intersections of our experiences, and to examine how they show up in our daily lives. Together we will expand our perspectives as we learn with and from each other in order to better align our actions with our intentions, practice having collaborative conversations, and consider ways to recognize, discuss, and challenge anti-fat bias in our daily interactions.