the OTHER EDIS
Tips for starting a new school!
Many youth in Foster Care have the experience of starting a new school. This can be happy, sad, exciting and scary all at the same time! Here are some tips and ideas to help prepare you for the big day and to adjust to your new environment.
• You’ll feel nervous – it is natural! Try to stay positive & have fun. New friends, activities & opportunities await!
• You won’t know everything – Don’t be afraid to ask questions!
• You’ll meet lots of different people - Students can come from different backgrounds and might be very different from you or similar to you. Be nice to everyone regardless; kindness always goes a long way!
• It’ll take time to adapt - This is a big transition. It is OK to adapt at your own speed.
• Be you!- Be the person you want to be and the right people will find you
• Say hello!
• Take a comfort item- Photos in your locker, a worry stone in your pocket or your favorite shirt all are great ideas to make you feel safe and calm your worries
Not starting a new school? You will still meet kids who are! Be kind. Say hello. Sit with them at lunch. Compliment them. Remember it is HARD to be the new kid at school. Your kindness can make a very big difference.
Book Recommendatons
Tips for starting a new school! Book Recommendatons
Here are some great books & movies about going back to school!
older youth liasion
CYFS recognizes that our older youth and young adults in foster care have unique needs. That is why we have identified Older Youth Liaisons for 5 out of our 9 offices that provide child welfare services. We still seek Older Youth Liaisons for Bloomington, Champaign, Danville, and Peoria. With this role, we aim to provide the needed support and encouragement to ensure the older youth and young adults with whom we work have as successful of a transition to adulthood as possible. Please meet our current Liaisons below:
Dawn Varadi is a Family Support Worker at the Rock Island office. Dawn enjoys working in the Intact Program because, just as the name implies, this team is working hard to keep families together.
As we continue the discussion around your rights as a youth in foster care in the state of Illinois, this issue will focus on your right “to be involved and informed”. Being involved and informed means:
At 16 years of age or older, to have access to existing information regarding the educational options available, including but not limited to the coursework necessary for vocational and postsecondary educational programs and information regarding financial aid for postsecondary education; Your family worker and/or the Older Youth Liaison for their office should be discussing future plans with you. They will support you to develop your first Youth Driven Transition Plan no later than when you turn 17.5 years old per DCFS policy. This plan should be updated with you at least every six months.
Kamille Justus-Gonzalez has been based out of the Galesburg office for the last 5 years. She serves as the lead family support worker and helps guide the current support team. Kamille hopes to support, guide, and engage her area’s older youth. Kamille believes in meeting individuals where they are best supporting their current situation to support their current situation, creating a safe space, and providing them with tools to be successful.
Katherine Leipold is based in the LaSalle office and has been with CYFS for 3.5 years. Katherine has always been passionate about the older youth on her caseload and loves advocating for them even in the most challenging circumstances. Her favorite thing about working with older youth is learning about their dreams and passions while they educate her on the latest slang.
Keyera Cole has worked as a support worker in the Lincoln location for a little over a year. In this role, Keyera supervises visits between parents and children, siblings, and grandparents. Recently, Keyera has stepped into the older youth liaison role, hoping to advocate for the older youths of her office. In these positions, Keyera plans to grow in her experience and education to support her future career goals better.
1. What do you need to feel comfortable?
Communication, Support
2. What makes you feel supported?
People truly listening to me, Stability, Assistance
Olivia Beard has worked at CYFS for about 1.5 years and operates outside the Springfield office. As a licensing worker, she helps relative foster parents become licensed, monitors child safety, and advocates for foster parents. As an Older Youth Liaison, she supports and advocates for older youth in the Springfield office. She is passionate about advocating and instilling in others that they matter and have inherent value.
Do you have suggestions on how CYFS can improve in supporting your needs? Do you have a worker or support person at CYFS who you think would make a great Older Youth Liaison? Please email us at TheOtherSide@cyfsolutions.org or email our Educational and Life Skills Service Coordinator at JBennett@cyfsolutions.org.
The CYFS Older Youth Liaisons interviewed older youth from varying offices to better understand them and their needs.
Here are some of their responses:
3. Is there anything differently you wish workers did differently?
My casework team actually understanding the C21 process, Caseworkers taking time to get to know me and my file
4. What is your biggest stressor being in care?
The strict deadlines to achieve certain goals, Not always knowing what is going to happen, Worrying about my siblings
5. What do you hope to gain from being in care?
Learning how to be independent, I want a better life than if I would not have come into care, A forever family, Stability, A better mindset and understanding of the world
6. Tell us about a time a worker made you feel heard/supported?
“When the OYL listened to me when I talked about a situation involving my step-father.”
“The former case supervisor saw I was stressed and comforted with a hug and reassured me that everything would be okay. In that moment she met me where I was at and did her best to show me that I was not alone.”
“When my worker stood up and talked on my behalf in court.”
“Former worker was great. She didn’t distance herself from us and didn’t hide things from us.”
“The former case supervisor saw I was stressed and comforted with a hug and reassured me that everything would be okay. In that moment she met me where I was at and did her best to show me that I was not alone.”
7. What motivates you?
My siblings, Food, My family, Freedom
mindfulness mindfulness
Mindful.org offers “Two Simple Mindfulness Practices for Back-toSchool. Read the full article at www.mindful.org/two-simple-mindfulness-back-to-school.
1
THE SILENT SIGH
A sigh can mean many things—relief, exasperation, pleasure, exhaustion, even sadness. Physiologically, sighing regulates and resets our breathing rate. Kids and adults sigh unconsciously, and we can unintentionally offend others when we do so. The Silent Sigh is a deliberate and respectful way of sighing. I learned it from Irene McHenry, an educator and fellow board member at the Mindfulness in Education Network.
This practice allows us to let out excess emotion and reset our body and breath. For that reason, it can be good for settling back into the present moment during transition times.
• Take a deep breath in. Then let out a sigh as slowly and silently as possible, so that no one even knows you are doing it.
• Follow along with all the sensations in your body as you breathe out to the last bit of air in your body. Then check in with how your mind and body feel. Decide if you need another silent sigh, or just let your breath return to normal.
2
THE 7–11 BREATH
Resetting the breath with a deliberate practice can regulate, shift, and stabilize energy and mood. Another short, sweet, easy-to-remember practice is the 7–11 Breath. I learned it at a training with the Mindfulness in Schools Project, and since then I have read that first responders use it to keep themselves and others calm in emergencies. What else I like about the 7-11 Breath is it can really stop panic in its tracks, and often I’ll suggest to older teens that even if they don’t have panic attacks, they might have friends who are struggling, and can use practices like this to help a friend as psychological first aid.
The directions are simple:
• Breathe in for a count of seven.
• Breathe out for a count of eleven.
The 7–11 Breath can be done five breaths at a time when kids are learning it, and then longer, depending on how much time you have.
Do you have a mindfulness technique you would like to share in our next issue? Email us!
If you have ideas, questions or topics you would like to see covered in our upcoming editions, please submit them to our email box at TheOtherSide@cyfsolutions.org.
