By Elina MorrisonYouth Villages Advisory Council Dear 17-year-old Elina, At this time in your life, you are angry and sad, and things feel beyond repair. It’s October of 2017, and you have been placed in the foster care system for the second time in your life. While...
Many children enter foster care because of a lack of support in a time of family crisis. Youth Villages’ intensive in-home services program, Intercept, provides support and help for children and parents that can make a difference. At 16, Gloria had already experienced...
For Middle Tennessee-based Jaywanna Neal, fostering is second nature. Growing up, her mom opened her home to foster children and adopted a pair of siblings. When Jaywanna was single and in her 20s, she took in her first foster child. She said it was a great...
Stacy Howell has been a foster parent for almost three years. During this time, she has fostered countless children, many of whom have successfully returned home. Most recently, Stacy fostered a sibling group of three for about two years. During this time, Stacy faced...
From Foster Care to a Super Hero Kaleb and his brother, Kobe, had been through a lot early on in their lives. Their father passed away from an apparent overdose, and their mother couldn’t be found. They were placed in foster care with Chinishe Ray, followed by some...
With the staggering number of children in foster care in our communities, there is always a need for more foster families. After years of trying to conceive, Carly and Crissy decided that fostering was the next step in their journey to become parents. “We received...
More than 800 young adults age out of foster care in Massachusetts each year…
Since 2017, LifeSet has been offered in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania through a partnership between Youth Villages and the county Department of Human Services (DHS). LifeSet provides a bridge to successful adulthood for young people aging out of other public support systems.
It’s been a big year for Justin.
A participant in the Pressley Ridge LifeSet program in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Justin was turning 21 this year and needed to finish high school, find a place to live that gave him more independence, and learn life and social skills. He and LifeSet Specialist Ryan King kept a list and began checking things off.
During Parent’s Weekend in her freshman year of college, Hannah attempted suicide…