Adult and Child Therapeutic Foster Care

07/31/2024

Next week is National Health Center Week! Join your friends from Adult & Child Health for story time and an activity at the Garfield Park Library on Tuesday, August 6 at 11:30am. This event is FREE and open to the public. We hope to see you there!

05/31/2024

The brain experiences a period of major growth and development from ages 14 to 25. Vital skills and tools like planning, decision-making, judgment, and coping skills are developed during this time. Adolescence is also a crucial time to counteract harm that may have been caused by stressful and traumatic experiences in one’s youth by exposing the adolescent brain to developmentally healthy experiences.

Supportive, age-appropriate social services and resources— like many of those provided by the staff at Adult & Child Health— are just one important key to setting system-impacted youth on a path to a bright future.

Another instrumental piece is the mentoring relationship of a foster parent. Many of A&C’s foster parents support youth from foster care well after they have “aged out” of the system. By providing long-lasting and permanent relationships with youth, these mentors help the youth cope with past trauma and learn how to heal. These relationships also provide a guide for what healthy relationships can look like for them in the future. Foster parents help youth with little to no family support access resources such as financial aid for college, resources for safe and stable housing, practice interviewing for jobs, and support and encouragement to make positive decisions that will help them achieve success in adulthood.

Foster parents can be stable and consistent people in youths’ lives by showing unconditional care and support, setting boundaries, and allowing youth to have a voice in their own stories.

If that sounds like you or someone you know, start a conversation with an A&C licensing specialist by filling out the inquiry form at the link below.

🔗: https://adultandchild.org/contact-us/

05/30/2024

Foster parents help youth with little to no family support access resources such as financial aid for college, resources for safe and stable housing, practice interviewing for jobs, and support and encouragement to make positive decisions that will help them achieve success in adulthood.

In the state of Indiana in 2021, over a third of the youth exiting the foster care system were not exiting due to permanence— meaning they were not reunified with their family of origin, placed with members of their extended family in guardianship or adoption, or placed with a new family through adoption.

Learn more about how you can support Central Indiana foster youth at www.indyfostercare.org.

05/29/2024

Many of A&C’s foster parents support youth from foster care well after they have “aged out” of the system. By providing long-lasting and permanent relationships with youth, these mentors help the youth cope with past trauma and learn how to heal. These relationships also provide a guide for what healthy relationships can look like for them in the future.

If you or someone you know would make an excellent mentor to a youth in the foster care system, reach out today.

🔗: https://adultandchild.org/contact-us/

05/28/2024

Due to past trauma and the instability of system involvement, youth in foster care often struggle to trust adults. Foster parents have the ability to be stable and consistent people in youths’ lives. By showing unconditional care and support, setting boundaries, and allowing youth to have a voice in their own stories, they help youth to rebuild their trust in others.

Learn more about how you can provide stability and security during a pivotal time in a youth's life. Talk to a licensing specialist by calling 317.893.0207 or fill out an inquiry form at the link below.

🔗: https://adultandchild.org/contact-us/

05/27/2024

This year's theme for National Foster Care Month is "Engaging Youth. Building Supports. Strengthening Opportunities."

This theme highlights the need to create a child welfare system that authentically engages and supports young people who are preparing to leave foster care. Because the transition from adolescence to adulthood is a crucial developmental stage, it is imperative to have a system that supports youth with foster care experience.

Learn more about the transition-age youth in Indiana (or in your own state) at the link below.

🔗: https://www.aecf.org/resources/fostering-youth-transitions-2023

05/24/2024

At Adult & Child Health, we know that keeping youth engaged and empowered is vital to setting them on the right path toward a stable and safe adulthood. Youth in A&C licensed foster homes are part of a continuum of care that gives them access to primary care, behavioral health, youth development, wraparound services, and so much more— all operating with the same mission of giving everyone the opportunity to live a healthy, purposeful life.

Learn about key concepts and strategies that caseworkers can use to help engage youth at all levels of the child welfare system from our friends at the Child Welfare Information Gateway through the links below.

ENG: https://buff.ly/3vxzBlR
SPA: https://buff.ly/3vsi2DP

05/23/2024

05/23/2024

In 2021, 21% of young adults aged 21 who had experienced foster care lacked health insurance. Only 69% had a high school diploma or GED, 44% had faced incarceration, and only 60% had stable housing. That's why it's so important to work toward improving the the practices, programs and policies that help ensure older youth in foster care have the relationships, resources and opportunities they need for well-being and success.

Check out the post below to learn more about the supports available to youth aging out of foster care.

Young people leaving are often at different levels of development in their transition to adulthood. States offer a variety of , including extending care, to this population.

Learn more about the availability, agreements, requirements, and supports provided. https://buff.ly/3IS6Mnp

05/23/2024

Read more about our team member Sierra! If you're interested in learning how you can make an impact on foster youth, visit us at the link below.

🔗: www.indyfostercare.org

In honor of Foster Care Month, we wanted to hear more about what it's like to work with foster youth. Sierra Morgan, A&C Child Welfare Specialist, was in the foster care system herself— and the paternal aunt who adopted her was a major part of her inspiration to work in the field one day.

"Foster care changed my life; the services have come a long way from my time. I am truly blessed to be a part of something that others thought would have broken me. Here I stand with love in my heart, ready to give back to all my foster babies, reminding them anything is possible if you never give up."

Read more here: https://adultandchild.org/2024/05/staff-spotlight-sierra-morgan-child-welfare-specialist/

05/22/2024