Crucial Conversations - Advocacy is full of them

 

Youth Leaders Discuss Safety Concerns for Cuyahoga County Youth

Councilwoman Yvonne Conwell

On Wednesday, January 11, 2023, Cieria Roman, Raven Grice and Lisa Dickson participated in a virtual meeting with Councilwoman Yvonne Conwell and Policy Advisor LeVine Ross to discuss safety concerns related to Cuyahoga County youth, especially those that have been spending the nights in the Jane Edna Hunter building on a regular basis since 2018.

This was preceded by a prior meeting with Councilman Dale Miller, during which he recommended that we speak with Councilwoman Conwell.

Ohio youth leaders shared their concerns and recommendations, and how important that it is to have foster care youth and alumni at the table. Because it is our lived experience that brings a sense of urgency. Today's youth and young adults often come up with creative solutions that others might not think of...

As Cieria said, “We come ready, we come with our hearts, we come with solutions. These are our brothers and sisters and this is our legacy.”

We also shared:

• Raven's written testimonial about the need for Independent Living Departments

• The work that the OHIO YAB has done on Life Skills Training 

• The videos created by Jewel Harris and Marissa Alcorn and her chosen family to recruit foster parents for teens, and Kelsie’s three part video about What It’s Like to Be a Teen Mom in Foster Care and What Teen Moms in Foster Care Need From Their Foster Parents and that Teen Moms in Foster Care Have Rights and Resources

Councilwoman Yvonne Conwell followed up by sending a message of thanks, and some ideas for next steps forward. 

Ohio Foster Care Youth and Alumni Advocacy in 2023

In 2022... 

• Ohio's very first Youth Ombudsman's Office was created. 

• Ohio foster youth helped design a training pathway to aid foster parents in supporting youth with Life Skills and the essential elements of interdependence. 

• Ohio youth leaders created a three-part video series to support teen moms in foster care, and shared insights about the ICCA form, CANS assessment and Tiered Foster Care. 
  
  

2023 will be a year of continued advocacy for...

• Concrete supports for former foster youth after the age of 21.

• Better safeguards for youth who run away from abusive situations, and continued conversations with the Cuyahoga County Council.

• Hosting a Self Care Summit for current and former foster youth. 

On the Eve of My Birthday

To the tune of: 12 Days of Christmas 

On the eve of my birthday, I am grateful for:

• One loving husband
• Foster youth and alumni 
• Amazing allies 
• Supportive organizations 
• Achieved legislation 
• Today's youth!!!
• Resource navigation 
• Impact on the nation*
• Safeguarding runaways
• Purpose to our days
• Ongoing work
• And the hopes that we have for 2023...

Scavenger Hunt for the Kiddos

 

Messages of Encouragement, By Foster Youth For Foster Youth

Love, love, love these messages of encouragement, created during the early Thanksgiving dinners... 

You can click the images below to enlarge them.

Here's a link to more photos.

Ohio's First Youth Ombudsman

It makes my heart incredibly happy that Ohio’s very first Youth Ombudsman, Jenny Stotts, was honored as one of Adoption Network Cleveland’s two 2022 Triad Advocates of the Year. She entered foster care as a baby, was adopted and her adoptive parents still serve as foster parents today. 

She and Assistant Youth Ombudsman Jeff Phillips would love our help in letting youth know about the Youth Ombudsman Office. Ohio foster care youth, alumni and allies first began advocating for a Youth Ombudsman Office in 2018. We met with legislators, gave testimony, and worked with CDF Ohio to build up a coalition.  Let’s continue to spread the word, and let youth know how to contact the office.

2022 Central Ohio Thanksgiving Together

 The 2022 Central Ohio Thanksgiving Together for current and former foster youth took place on Sunday, November 20, 2022 from 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm, at Reynoldsburg High School’s Summit Campus, 8579 Summit Road, Reynoldsburg OH 43068.

This ACTION Ohio event was made possible due to support from Reynoldsburg City Schools, the Leo Club, the Dave Thomas Foundation, the Tzedakah Collective, Beth Tikvah's Sisterhood, Randi Lewis, the Junior League of Columbus, Bethany Workman, Cieria Ramon, Andi Atwood and Cece Norwood. 

Link to more photos.

Remembering Those We Have Lost

 As Vinney Male mentioned during the 2022 SW Ohio Thanksgiving dinner, even as we come together to celebrate our annual Thanksgiving reunions, we also want to remember members of our chosen family - foster care alumni and allies - who are no longer with us: 

2022 SW Ohio Thanksgiving Together

 2022 Southwest Ohio Thanksgiving Together for current and former foster youth took place on Saturday, November 12, 2022 from 12:30 – 3:00 pm, at the Emerge Banquet Center, 2960 West Enon Road, Xenia OH 45385.  

This ACTION Ohio event was made possible due to support from local churches, the Emerge Emancipation Program, the Dave Thomas Foundation, My Very Own Blanket, Zachary Super and Midwestern Plumbing Services.

Link to more photos.

She Walks in the Creek Bed

One of my college friends wrote a poem about me for my 21st birthday. She said it captured my personality. I was surprised, because I had never told her that a nearby creek was the one place I felt safe as a child. 

She Walks in the Creek Bed

I looked down into the creek bed and saw her
Her with the flowers in her baskets, that she’d saved from the rocks
Her with the daisies in her eyes, that she’d saved from the current’s knocks

And you can’t see where she’s been brought down
And thrown to the ground
Because the water swallows splashes to keep singing
And so does she

And she’s beautiful, the girl with the flowers in her baskets
She’s beautiful, the girl without anything at all
Not because she walks in the creek bed
But because she’s coming out

Deeply Proud of Kelsie

As a statewide OHIO YAB Ambassador, Kelsie Brown has initiated and followed through on designing this three-part video project to reflect the experiences of Teen Moms in Foster Care. This project is a work of love, based on her lived experience and her desire to proactively share resources with others.

Kelsie's hope is that this video will inspire foster parents to take in teens, and provide viewers with empathy when it comes to the experiences of a teen mom in foster care. For additional resources, please visit: www.fosteractionohio.org/teen-moms/   

Part 1: What It's Like to Be a Teen Mom in Foster Care



Part 2: What Teen Moms in Foster Care Need From Their Foster Parents



Part 3: Teen Moms in Foster Care Have Rights and Resources 

My Favorite Quote From College

This is my favorite quote that I discovered in college. It echoes the wounds of my childhood, and resonates with me, over and over again:

“When I was young, I thought that I had to be perfect for people to love me. I thought that if I ever did something wrong, their love would be withdrawn…

We need to give ourselves permission to be human, to try and to stumble, to be momentarily weak and to feel shame but to overcome that shame with moments of strength, courage and generosity.”

-H. S. Kushner, You Don’t Have to Be Perfect To Be Loved 

2022 Victory: Establishing Ohio's first Youth Ombudsman Office

House of the Dragon

 Talk about complicated family relationships...

2022 Foster Youth Rights Video

The dangerous impact of the pendulum swing on child welfare

Current and former foster youth participated in recent focus groups to share concerns about county child abuse hotlines, in preparation for a future meeting with ODJFS leadership. 

Concerns were expressed by youth that:  

• There has been an overcorrection by some staff members and/or agencies when it comes to addressing disproportionality in foster care (including an over-utilization of 'alternative response' in situations that call for a traditional one to avoid further abuse)
• There is a need to address:
• Implicit bias not to listen to youth, and
• Implicit bias not to want to take youth into protective care

It is discriminatory not to take an African American child or teen into foster care based on wanting to avoid disproportionality. This is putting political correctness over child safety.

When it comes to child welfare, we are trying so hard to move forward that we are moving backwards in some ways.  The risk is for this to lead to a dangerous overcorrection in which the system doesn’t want to take youth into care at all.

 

One way to avoid the pendulum swing and ensure child and teen protection is:

• To make the system YOUTH-centered
• Make it about the kids and their welfare and best interest
• Rather than the parent’s property interest in their children 

Implicit bias can go both ways, and create systemic impact and systemic harm. Ohio’s screening measures need to account for subjectivity and bias.

The bottom line needs to be youth safety: Is the child or teen being abused or not?

The risks of not accounting for implicit bias on both sides include child and teen fatalities, as referenced in the 2021 Case Western research study.  

During recent focus groups, youth leaders mentioned calling the child abuse hotline multiples times before they were finally listened to, which is the very opposite of having an 'early warning system.' Some had to run away first, in order to be finally taken into care. 

Cuteness with Carly and the kiddos

Link to more photos. 

22nd Wedding Anniversary

Lisa and Nathan, est. July 1, 2000

People don't talk enough about what building trust after foster care feels like... it kind of looks like this:  (especially the middle picture!)

Becoming a stepmom to Rachel and Carly:

Father's Day Zoom with Carly and the kiddos