Fostering Futures will help prepare children in the foster care system for their future. The youth will participate in activities and exercises to recognize their hopes and strengths, and to acknowledge their needs and difficulties. They will set short and long term goals for themselves, which Advocates have completed the Fostering Futures training have found particularly helpful in working with the youth.The youth will learn useful life skills appropriate to needs such as:to make a monthly budget, apply for rental housing, obtain health insurance, apply for higher education or vocational training, pay for this education, test to be admitted into higher education or training, schedule a medical appointment, shop for groceries, cook a meal, clean their living area, wash their clothes, get a driver’s license, find public transportation, navigate a map, apply for a job, check their credit or register to vote. These seemingly simply tasks become a nightmare when the child has been moved numerous times – it is a road map for failure.
CASA of Liberty/Chambers Counties believes if we fail to connect the foster child to an Advocate who can teach and guide them, we are simply pushing the child out into the world without skills or tools, resulting in havoc, crime and additional expense to tax payers when our justice system encounters them as broken adults. Donations to this program allows CASA to start a Fostering Future program tweaked to fit our specific children in foster care in Liberty/Chambers – what an amazing gift to our communities.