Tapping into the vision and passion of foster care alumni
January 4, 2008
It has been said that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’
With that in mind, my husband and I created a video to illustrate what can be accomplished by empowering foster care alumni.
Please take the time to watch this video If you are a MAC user, this link might work better for you.
It is an opportunity to learn more about Foster Care Alumni of America, the Culture of Foster Care postcard project, and the recent Thanksgiving dinner at Capitol Hill.
As a former foster child, volunteering for Foster Care Alumni of America is my highest privilege. There are some things that money cannot buy — and the honor of using your own personal experiences and those of other survivors to make a positive difference is one of them.
The experience is both healing and eye-opening. I used to think that the highest goal was to ’speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.’ Now, I have learned that a better goal is to empower others to advocate, and to stand beside them in order to create a ‘collective voice’ which is more difficult to silence.
I created the video at the request of a conference facilitator who is considering me as a keynote presenter in 2008.
I am sharing it here, because it demonstrates what needs to happen in Australia, and all over the globe. We need to:
1. Dispell the stigma of foster care, and view survival behavior within its context, rather than pathologizing it.
2. Challenge survivors to view themselves not as victims, but as potential world-changers.
3. Listen to the voices of foster care youth and alumni and empower them to initiate change, since they are the ‘consumers’ of the foster care system.
4. Facilitate the development of foster care youth advisory boards and alumni peer support groups, recognizing that a permanent community can provide healing from a lifetime of broken connections.
5. Make child protection a priority. Thanks goes out to Megan Bayliss and all the authors and readers of this site. We volunteer our time because this issue is vitally important.
Comments
4 Responses to “Tapping into the vision and passion of foster care alumni”
Got something to say about the above post or child safety in general?
Copyright © 2007 
Quote: There are some things that money cannot buy — and the honor of using your own personal experiences and those of other survivors to make a positive difference is one of them. Unquote.
These are the most powerful words I have ever heard and I got goosebumps as I read them. In a single sentence you have articulated what I have verbosed to death for years. Lisa, THANK YOU for all that you do. I am off to watch your video. Mxx
Lisa,
You are amazing in so many ways, but today I grabbed on to one thing you said as being so important and prophetic if there ever will be any genuine changes in the child welfare field, instead of more and more people using child abuse as a “cause d’jour” to climb politically, raise money under false pretenses, gain free advertising, make laws for smoke screens, build businesses on shifting sands, and such and such.
You said:
Now, I have learned that a better goal is to empower others to advocate, and to stand beside them in order to create a ‘collective voice’ which is more difficult to silence.
Wise words. Thank you Lisa…for stating them so concisely….There is just too much powerful corruption to do anything better than “bundle the sticks” to give us the power and strength to fight against those who abuse and neglect children… whatever the rationale or pretense otherwise.
A Child is Waiting,
Take care…be aware,
Nancy
Hi again Lisa,
Had to reread and was struck again about how powerful this post is. So many of us have been saying so many of the same things but not nearly so eloquently. Several years ago, I did an entire paper trying to say what you said in #1 suggestion! In the paper I challenged Gardner to establish another of his “intelligences” based on kid’s survival mechanisms…see them as positive survival and motivational behaviors WITHIN context and not as pathological symptoms, Of course, I didn’t do anything with it besides submit it for credit in a PhD class…but I believed it and still do.
Keep up the good work, Lisa!
Lisa the video is SIMPLY FANTASTIC! Congratulations to you and thanks to your darling for his very professional product (can he make a video for Imaginif too please - I see it is part of his business).
I am still moved by the post card project Lisa…..some of the captions haunt me and I hang my head in shame at the way I have dismissed my own foster children’s fears over the years.
I’m sending this post off to all of my foster care colleagues. It is a terrific learning tool for professionals as well as carers. I may even upload the video to the digital frame and have it playing in our waiting room.
I think you should send it to Oprah Winfrey too.
Lisa - you the best!