Foster Care Training

“Training Summary: Strength-based, strength-based, strength-based! Wow, this seems to be an important mantra in our field! Since all of us understand our youth in our own ways, I hope that anyone supporting system involved youth and their families will attend! This training is about how we can remain strength-based when we have to use pathologizing/stigmatizing labels. While I hope that we are all advocating (in our own ways) for important changes that will allow us to be more strength-based and individualized, what do we do NOW to make sure that these negative labels don’t follow our youth in the system of care (foster care, juvenile justice and mental health systems)? This training is meant to help us see the importance of understanding why our system-involved youth are struggling and how we can provide support for them without using negative labels! If we can get better at this, it will be a win-win for system involved youth and families and our organizations to better support them with better outcomes! Participants will be able to: -Describe and understand what being strength-based does and does NOT mean and to articulate at least 3 principles of strength-based support that we can use with youth in our continuum of care. -Identify what the negative language/labels are that we use and how these can follow our kids and worsen their outcomes! Learn the history behind this confusing language that has stigmatized those most at risk (our kids in the system of care)! -Apply our understanding of our system involved youth in a meaningful way by integrating/honoring: –The role played by environmental risk factors related to stress and trauma that most of our kids in the continuum of care have experienced. –The role played by Cultural Relativism.