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Permanence for Every Youth

Permanence for Every Youth. Bob Lewis November 2006. Our Shared Goals. To make permanence as intuitive as safety No child will age out without a permanent family connection. Changing Perspective. To every child we take into care California makes a promise. How long must they wait?.

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Permanence for Every Youth

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  1. Permanence for Every Youth Bob Lewis November 2006 To keep our promise...

  2. Our Shared Goals • To make permanence as intuitive as safety • No child will age out without a permanent family connection To keep our promise...

  3. Changing Perspective To keep our promise...

  4. To every child we take into care California makes a promise ... To keep our promise...

  5. How long must they wait? To keep our promise...

  6. If not us, who?If not now, when?If not permanence, what? To keep our promise...

  7. The wake up call… To keep our promise...

  8. Development for Success Belonging Usefulness Power Competence To keep our promise...

  9. Right now in our care… • When adolescents say "NO" to a new family, ... • About our teens, workers & caregivers think, feel, believe… • Independent living means…? • What does it take to live responsibly? To keep our promise...

  10. Development in our care Ten Tasks of Adolescence To keep our promise...

  11. Youth Development • Raising Teens • Child Trends • Search Institute • Network on Transitions to Adulthood To keep our promise...

  12. Talking with teensThe four steps of connection 3LT Listen Love Teach Learn To keep our promise...

  13. Identify the Accessible Time/Place • The office? • On the phone? • Who’s there in the living space? • Preparing the ground around • Plant the seeds • Make opportunities. • All the time & everywhere To keep our promise...

  14. Listen with Respect • Listen beyond the words • Repeat actions and messages of empowerment • Allow for disagreement without triggering oppositional behavior • Find areas of agreement • Don’t expect full buy-in • Keep at it To keep our promise...

  15. Know Your Goal and Focus • Talk softly and often about family connection. • Present thoughts and ideas for them to consider in their media. • Partialize the process to the point of acceptance. • Imagine and help the youth imagine a family connection. • Don’t expect them to take all the risks. • Go over it again. To keep our promise...

  16. Hearing the Voices of Youth Adapted from Dr. Chris Downs, CFP • With 3LT, we will do what they want • They want us to be honest, even when it’s difficult. • We have to deal with strong emotions – theirs and ours! • We have to keep their confidences! • We have to put them first “It’s not about business, it’s about their lives.” • We have to use plain language • They are not “cases” To keep our promise...

  17. Finding Connections • Record review • Helping child/youths identify connections • Making contact with potential connections To keep our promise...

  18. Helping Youth Identify Connections • Empowering the youth to make their own family connection • Identifying past or present adult connections To keep our promise...

  19. Don’t Leave Anyone Out • Birth family & kin • All other important people • Connections across “professional” boundaries To keep our promise...

  20. Youth Resource List Adapted from the Toolkit & DHS Philadelphia To keep our promise...

  21. Successful Strategies • Systemic Approaches • Preparing for (Re)Connection • Finding Connections • Making Connections • Recruitment • Recognizing Resources To keep our promise...

  22. Incorporating Permanence • Shared Vision • Shared Responsibility • Shared Action • Shared Parenting To keep our promise...

  23. Systemic Approaches • Life Skills, Treatment AND Permanence • Collaboration • Those who love teens • Permanency in Every Teen Program • Groupwork • Attitudes and Assumptions Around the Youth • And… To keep our promise...

  24. Preparing for (re)connection • Loyalty • Loss • Self-Esteem • Behavior Management • Self Determination To keep our promise...

  25. Loyalty Many teens believe they have to give up their parents in order to make new ones. They need to learn that they can have both. It happens all the time – parenting is shared. To keep our promise...

  26. Loss Teens need to develop an understanding of loss in their lives. Understanding that anger, hurt, bargaining, denial, and acceptance are part of everyone's experience of loss is essential. Painful as it is to do, grief work is a learned skill. To keep our promise...

  27. The Stages of Grief • Understanding/Acceptance • Despair/Depression • Hurt/Anger • Bargaining/Guilt • Denial/Shock To keep our promise...

  28. Grieving Cycle To keep our promise...

  29. Self-Esteem Each young person needs to develop self-esteem him/herself. Self-Esteem makes it possible for kids to accept attachments. It also makes them more attractive to families. To keep our promise...

  30. Behavior Management Misbehavior is often born of anger and misperception. Both kids and parents need to learn ways to handle both. Most young adults get their behavior under control eventually; making progress is enough. To keep our promise...

  31. Developing Permanence Is A Shared Risk • How do we move through the risk • What is the process • Hope vs. risk • Removal vs. maintenance • Limited parenting • Shared parenting, enriched parenting, supported parenting • Teen/family teams empowered to responsibility • Persistence To keep our promise...

  32. Engaging Natural Helping Networks • Expanding the process beyond the agency and the field. • Teen centered collaborative planning. To keep our promise...

  33. Teen Centered • Teen centered • Personalized • Inclusive • Holistic • Adaptable • Ongoing • Accountable To keep our promise...

  34. Asking the Questions • Are you the one? • Will you help find the one? • Everyone needs to be “somebody’s someone. To keep our promise...

  35. The Process of Permanence • In addition the preparing the children/youth • Who needs to be prepared? • Shared parenting • Issues: yours, mine and ours • Engaging others in the process • Taking it from here To keep our promise...

  36. Remember Your Vision: • What will it take to make permanence is as intuitive as safety for every supervisor, manager, worker, so that no child ages outof our care without a permanent family? • What will it take in your county/agency? • In California? • What will you do? Keeping our promise...

  37. Programs & Permanence • 4 Step model: Incorporating Permanence • Training • Integration • Resistance • Targeted consultation/training To keep our promise...

  38. Persist • Set up a system for contact • Assume the best • Engage them in the process • Empower the youth • Focus x competence x passion = adherence • Persist To keep our promise...

  39. Focus X Competence X Passion = Success Belonging Usefulness Power Competence To keep our promise...

  40. Programs & Permanence • Readiness for Change • Pressure • Vision • Action • Capacity ≠ • Resistance To keep our promise...

  41. If not us, who?If not now, when?If not permanence, what? To keep our promise...

  42. Keeping Our Promise Persistence To keep our promise...

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