For Middle Tennessee-based Jaywanna Neal, fostering is second nature. Growing up, her mom opened her home to foster children.
Foster Care Articles
November is Adoption Awareness Month
Foster Care Training and Recruiting Supervisor Jessie Bernardini in Chattanooga was a featured guest on Good Morning Chattanooga this morning promoting adoption awareness month.
Job Prep Workshop Helps Young Adults Prepare for Successful Future
Each year, approximately 20,000 young adults across the country turn 18 while in foster care. They are preparing to leave foster care – alone – and statistics tell us that doesn’t usually end well, with many experiencing incarceration, homelessness and unemployment.
She will ‘age out’ of foster care in two months. Her hope: That lawmakers will make sure young people like her aren’t pushed out during the pandemic.
Before Deshala Royster ended up in D.C.’s foster care system, decorating her bedroom with vision boards that tell of the life she hopes to create, she spent years taking on adult roles in the life she was handed.
Nashville Film Festival
For the fourth year in a row, Youth Villages is partnering with the Nashville Film Festival for the Livin’ Reel project. Livin’ Reel connects local artists with at-risk youth to create an original piece of art. The project will premiere during this year’s virtual festival from October 1-7, 2020.
Through LifeSet and LifeSet Scholars, Zoe builds his future
Young people who turn 18 in foster care are resilient and want to become successful adults. Zoe, entered state custody at 14 years old and moved around a lot before “aging out.”
“I never really unpacked my clothing because I moved so much. I kept it in whatever bag I could find,” he says.
Bipartisan bill introduced to fund relief for transition-age youth
Ary and other LifeSet participants shared their COVID-19 experiences with congressional representatives to advocate for targeted relief for older foster youth during the crisis and its recovery.
Youth Villages endorses bipartisan bill to bring COVID-19 relief to young people in foster care, calls on allies to support it
Youth Villages is endorsing a bipartisan bill introduced today in the U.S. House of Representatives to provide immediate, targeted relief to children, youth and families significantly impacted by the COVID-19 emergency.
Four jurisdictions launch new programs for transition-age youth in foster care
New programs are launching in four jurisdictions across the country to provide comprehensive support to young people turning 18 in foster care – one of the groups hit hardest by the impact of the COVID-19 crisis.
How Kentucky Is Helping Youth Transition Out of Foster Care
The nonprofit organization Youth Villages is partnering with the state of Kentucky to start offering a new program called LifeSet. The goal is to work with young people between the ages of 17 and 22 who are transitioning out of foster care in Kentucky.