Objectives
1: Educate and Motivate Foster Care Professionals |
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uFOSTERsuccess works to increase the skills of foster care professionals by educating them from the child-client’s point of view. uFOSTERsuccess also speaks to create awareness, understanding, and empathy for the child-client constituency and to empower youth who are currently living in foster care.
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- uFOSTERsuccess has presented to foster parents, caseworkers, CASA volunteers, police officers, therapists, doctors, nurses, attorneys, judges, senators, legislators, the media, the public and youth currently living in foster care.
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One of the surprising realizations to UFOSTERSUCCESS is the fact that many foster alumni do not ever go back to encourage the valuable individuals who devote their lives to caring for children in foster care. We do not believe that this is because foster alumni are not grateful but more because they assume these hard working participants probably have lots of people expressing their gratitude. We have discovered this is simply not the case. Foster Care Professionals rarely get positive feedback. This leads to undue stress and rapid burn out cycles for these dedicated people working to help.
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- uFOSTERsuccess has held several successful Foster Choice Award press conference / awards ceremonies where we have gotten excellent media coverage. So far we have given out 7 Foster Choice Awards to outstanding individuals who have personally made an inspiring difference for a child in foster care. At our 2004 Foster Choice Awards event, then Governor Olene Walker read and signed a declaration honoring May as Foster Care Month. At our 2005 Foster Choice Awards event First Lady Mary Kaye Huntsman read Governor Huntsman's Foster Care Month declaration.
- Foster Choice Award recipients:
Ron Hatch (foster alumni and founder of Raindancer Youth Services)
Eric Jenkins (caseworker for Utah's Child and Family Services)
David and Maryanne McFarland (foster and adoptive parents)
Sherri Palmer (foster and adoptive mom)
Glenna Sweat (foster mother for nearly 20 years)
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2: Get Current Youth in Foster Care and Foster Alumni Directly Involved in Helping to Improve Child Welfare |
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A major key to improving foster care, just like anything else, resides in listening to the people who are most affected by it. We would like to come up with creative ways to get youth to participate in speaking up about the issues they are interested in resolving. Since all of the members of UFOSTERSUCCESS were once in foster care we have a unique opportunity to create the space for this to happen.
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- In June of 2003 Utah held it's 1st annual Youth Leadership Summit where 75 youth in foster care came together at a conference held on their behalf to give input on what they would like to see happen to improve their lives in foster care and improve their outcomes after aging out. uFOSTERsuccess had a leadership role in participating on the planning committee for this Youth Summit. uFOSTERsuccess continues to participate in planning the youth summits. In October of this year the 6th annual Youth Summit will be held.
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3: Advocate for Foster Care Issues Based on Our Experience |
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- uFOSTERsuccess accomplishes this objective by testifying during the legislative session regarding issues that govern the rights of children. Most recently uFOSTERsuccess presented our Foster Care Bill of Rights document to the Board of Child and Family Services and played a lead role in drafting these Rights into a Rule that is in the process of being considered.
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| Award Given to uFOSTERsuccess: On November 21, 2005, uFOSTERsuccess was honored to receive The Family Award by Coalition for Utah Families. Previous recipients of this award are former Governor Olene S. Walker and First Gentleman Myron Walker, former Governor Michael O. Leavitt and First Lady Jacalyn Leavitt, former LDS President Gordon B. Hinckley, The Christmas Box International, Utah's Department of Health - "Baby your Baby", Franklin Covey Company, National McGruff House Network among others. |
