Blog

A day spent with Barry Chaffkin

One of the things that Barry does is train people in foster care. He works with everyone from agency staff and foster parents to legal professionals. Yesterday I joined him for two trainings in order to learn more about the foster care system and also to see Barry in action (he is a really great trainer). Unlike other trainings I’ve been to, Barry dispenses with PowerPoint entirely. He is generous with his jokes and his compliments, but also knows how to give constructive criticism and a good-natured ribbing. Best of all, Barry knows how to establish his authority without being arrogant or falsely modest about the depth and breadth of his experience. He builds rapport instantly by greeting each person as he or she walks into the room, and also having everyone make introductions. Each person gave his or her name, job title, and a question or problem they needed solving. Like a good teacher, he relies heavily on the knowledge that is already in the room (he calls everyone his co-trainers) while driving just a handful of important points that he wants everyone to walk away with. Although Barry has people doing exercises every now and then, the training feels like one giant conversation where every moment is potentially a teaching point. The biggest lesson I gleaned from yesterday was that great social workers (at least in the mold of Barry Chaffkin) are tenacious problem-solvers who can approach every person they encounter with an open mind and an empathetic heart. (more…)

By Ysette, ago

Conversation with Karen Freedman

Yesterday I met with the executive director of Lawyers for Children, Karen Freedman, who has decades of experience working with children and youth in foster care. She said that the most important factor determining the success of an individual’s transition to adulthood is the presence of a strong and positive adult connection in his or her life. In the absence of family, relatives, or guardians, this means an adult who is wiling to remain in Read more…

By Ysette, ago

Auxiliary support

Last night I met with Barry Chaffkin from Fostering Change for Children, which started the Adoptment program that runs at NAC. I mentioned to him how I found the mentors to be such an integral element to the success of my workshops, and he said that that should be something I seriously consider as I refine my programming ideas. Rachael Metz had already suggested that I could attract volunteers to work one-on-one with the youth, Read more…

By Ysette, ago

Time management vs. time perspective

Goal-setting and time management are some of the more essential life skills that experts try to teach youth in foster care, but one of the first lessons I learned when I entered the field of youth development is that young people—and especially teenagers in care—are extremely present-oriented. Prof. John Immerwahr has written succinctly on the challenges of educating undergraduates. The problem, he says, is not a matter of students being unable to manage their time well. It’s more fundamental than that: There is a conflict between the future-orientation of professors and the present-orientation of most students. When the desires of the present (“I’m hungry,” “I want to hang out with friends”) compete with the demands of the future (“I want to do well in the next exam,” “I want to graduate on time”), the present almost always wins. This present-orientation is exacerbated in foster care, where problems demanding immediate attention (“Where will I sleep tonight?”) crop up frequently. (more…)

By Ysette, ago

Getting on the same page with basic concepts

I’m not sure if I’ve already mentioned in this space how I fell into what I’m doing. Basically, one evening my husband came home from a mentoring training session and told me how his group facilitator was struggling with the question of how to help her young people transition to adulthood. I remember commenting that adults seem to be constantly telling teenagers that they have to “grow up,” but I wasn’t sure that kids always Read more…

By Ysette, ago

Identity-Based Motivation (IBM)

Someone recommended I read a paper by Profs. Daphna Oyserman and Mesmin Destin on a social psychological framework called Identity-Based Motivation (IBM). The model offers not only an explanation for poor educational outcomes among certain populations (especially for low-income black and Hispanic boys), but it also offers a modest but proven method for closing the gap between students’ desire to do well and actual academic attainment. (more…)

By Ysette, ago

Play exposes the self

One of the joys of working with youth is being there when they suddenly lay themselves bare. Most educators would consider this phenomenon nothing less than a minor miracle. I don’t mean this in a “let’s talk about our feelings” way, which not everyone responds well to. Besides, I am not a therapist, and that is not my approach. The point of the discussions and the activities I develop, rather, is to expose the minds Read more…

By Ysette, ago

Heaven’s Battle Front

The funny thing about the name E. chose—Heaven’s Battle Front—is that his is a peaceful tribe. They are not warriors, but explorers, he said, and anyone over 16 (who grew up in the tribe) could join. E. described the tribe as a large, family-like community that was divided into sub-tribes, each with its own leader, and all of whom comprised a council of leaders. Members of the tribe were expected to be family-oriented, adventurous, ingenious, Read more…

By Ysette, ago

On Your Own without a Net

Prof. Mark Courtney, director of the University of Chicago’s Chapin Hall, a policy research center focused on children, families, and their communities, focuses his work on the adult outcomes of youth involved in foster care. In a 2005 report written for The MacArthur Network on Transitions to Adulthood, Courtney notes a severe limitation of the Chafee Act of 1999, which guarantees $140 million annually to support services targeting youth in foster care through the age Read more…

By Ysette, ago