By Nicole
I have sort of a fairy tale foster care experience. While it hasn’t been easy, I have had a permanent home and am in a guardianship situation. Recently, though, I was talking with other former foster youth and got to thinking about how permanency for foster youth really is complicated. In a sense, foster youth have a hard time with the idea of permanency. Maybe this is a deeper cultural issue: in a society where everything is disposable, permanency loses meaning. For foster youth, though, relationships often turn disposable. In this way, it is hard to talk to people outside of the system about the importance of permanency for foster youth. Permanency, for many people, has never been explained, but has always been felt. A home for the holidays, someone to call in a crisis (or just to catch up) and a support group that is always reliable. It is safe to teach foster youth to be independent and care for themselves, but it’s also important to maintain relationships in order to help foster youth grow and integrate into society. In this way permanency for foster youth is complicated. Mostly, it doesn’t exist. It is intangible. Foster youth need this connection more than most, though, because they have never had it. We have to be strong enough to go it alone, as that’s what we’ve been asked to do our entire lives, and yet it is almost vital that we experience a connection that allows us to share some of our burden.
Posted June 27th, 2006 at 12:20 pm by Nicole.
Filed under General, Youth Voices.
Comments RSS
| Trackback
By Nicole
I have sort of a fairy tale foster care experience. While it hasn’t been easy, I have had a permanent home and am in a guardianship situation. Recently, though, I was talking with other former foster youth and got to thinking about how permanency for foster youth really is complicated. In a sense, foster youth have a hard time with the idea of permanency. Maybe this is a deeper cultural issue: in a society where everything is disposable, permanency loses meaning. For foster youth, though, relationships often turn disposable. In this way, it is hard to talk to people outside of the system about the importance of permanency for foster youth. Permanency, for many people, has never been explained, but has always been felt. A home for the holidays, someone to call in a crisis (or just to catch up) and a support group that is always reliable. It is safe to teach foster youth to be independent and care for themselves, but it’s also important to maintain relationships in order to help foster youth grow and integrate into society. In this way permanency for foster youth is complicated. Mostly, it doesn’t exist. It is intangible. Foster youth need this connection more than most, though, because they have never had it. We have to be strong enough to go it alone, as that’s what we’ve been asked to do our entire lives, and yet it is almost vital that we experience a connection that allows us to share some of our burden.
Posted June 27th, 2006 at 12:20 pm by Nicole.
Filed under General, Youth Voices.
Comments RSS
| Trackback