Explore the various aspects of the importance of normalcy for children and youth in care.

Examine a five-step framework that helps organizations promote youth engagement in normalcy conversations about the youth’s own care.

Learn how to create an agency organizational culture that is inclusive and knowledgeable about the unique needs of LGBTQ children, youth, and families.

Bruce and Brenda have been married for 33 years and have four daughters. From 2006 to 2009, they provided a kinship placement for their four grandchildren. In 2010, the couple adopted Bruce (now 18 years old), Tre’Nae (now 15 years old), Mason (now 13 years old), and Kiaunna (now 10 years old).

Examine the benefits of engaging youth voice in practice, peer support, and system-level change.

Tells the story of the relationship between a youth in foster care and a BraveLife peer navigator. Both talk about the personal sharing and mutual trust that have forged a connection that will last a lifetime.

This handout is part of the series, “Perspectives on Normalcy: Videos and Discussion Questions.” It is designed to facilitate discussion about the issues raised in the video, “Kinship Adoption: You Get a Call, ‘Do You Want These Kids?’”

See how listening and relatability helped build trust between a youth and his attorney.

Underscores the importance of consistency and encouragement in trusting relationships. A Fostering Success peer mentor gave impactful advice to the youth she mentored: Stop listening to the people who don’t believe in you.

Discover how the reasonable and prudent parent standard (RPPS) has been implemented in one state to promote normalcy for children and youth in foster care.

Demonstrates how showing up and listening are foundational to developing a nourishing relationship with youth. A young woman describes the constant support she and her family received from a social worker as she evolved from a youth into a teen mom and an advocate.

Recorded webinar of youth with lived expertise and child and family serving agency leaders discussing strategies to support meaningful youth engagement and integrating family and youth voices at individual, practice, and system levels.

Explore tips and strategies to effectively engage and sustain the involvement of families and youth at the agency level. 

Learn to prepare transgender children and youth for court and support them in the courtroom.

Addressed developmentally appropriate services for youth in foster care and identified best practices for Federal support of States and territories in implementing provisions of the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act (P.L. 113-183).