Foster Care - Voices of Lived Experience - Center for States - Child Welfare Capacity Building Collaborative Skip to main content

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Capacity Building

CENTER FOR STATES

Listen as resource parents explain what it means be a support to families of children in their care rather than a substitute for parents, and the training and support networks that helped them through challenges. Parent storytellers discuss the collaborative relationships they forged with resource parents and social workers to achieve better outcomes for themselves and their children. Youth and young adults talk about separation from siblings and culture and their journeys to reconnect, the stigma of being in foster care, and the importance of supportive relationships and of speaking up.

Find foster care stories that best meet your needs by selecting filters on the left and use them with activities from the discussion guide to build understanding and connections between people as you advocate, inspire, support, recruit, train, and coach individuals and teams.

Showing 26 - 30 of 47 Voices of Lived Experience Stories
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Demonstrates how showing up and listening are foundational to developing a nourishing relationship with youth.

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Tells the story of the relationship, initially forged over a shared meal, between a youth and her CASA worker. The CASA worker’s advocacy for concrete supports to meet the youth’s needs helped grow the trust in their relationship.

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

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Explore the supportive relationship between a youth and her attorney.

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See the impact of a family court's approach to supporting families.