Foster Care Firsthand
December 15, 2013 1:36 PM Subscribe
I'm looking for blogs, books, articles or other materials written from the perspective of foster children or former foster children in the United States. I'm especially interested in those who aged out of foster care or who were adopted as older children/teens.
Mostly everything I've found is from the perspective of foster parents, adoptive parents, or sometimes adult adoptees who were adopted at birth, which is helpful, but not what I'm looking for at the moment. Although any suggestions are welcome, I'd prefer materials that weren't produced by governments, adoption organizations, or advocacy groups. (In case it matters, I'm thinking about mentoring a teen who is about to age out of foster care). Thank you!
Mostly everything I've found is from the perspective of foster parents, adoptive parents, or sometimes adult adoptees who were adopted at birth, which is helpful, but not what I'm looking for at the moment. Although any suggestions are welcome, I'd prefer materials that weren't produced by governments, adoption organizations, or advocacy groups. (In case it matters, I'm thinking about mentoring a teen who is about to age out of foster care). Thank you!
When I was a foster parent I knew lots of foster youth, probably 20 or more, living in the San Francisco Bay Area. The kids I knew did not write much, but some were involved with music, visual arts, or dance. You might take a look at Fostering Art, which does photography with foster youth. They also have a foster youth zine.
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 3:18 PM on December 15, 2013
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 3:18 PM on December 15, 2013
Books: The Heart Knows Something Different, Orphans of the Living, Growing up in the care of strangers, On Their Own, Three Little Words, and Home is a memoir about growing up in a group home/orphanage in the 1950s that is quite unusual. I often think about his arguments on the benefits of group homes vs foster care.
Film: Aging Out - there would be a lot of legal obstacles to filming kids in foster care because of privacy issues, so you would be more likely to find things for young adults who have aged out or who have been adopted.
For blogs and tumblr accounts, you're again more likely to find stuff by adults who have aged out so a search for "I was a foster kid" or "ex-foster" is much more productive, like this.
Represent is a magazine for foster kids. Foster Focus is for the industry.
If you have access to JSTOR or academic journals, you're looking for case studies or case histories to get first-hand accounts.
posted by viggorlijah at 7:22 PM on December 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Film: Aging Out - there would be a lot of legal obstacles to filming kids in foster care because of privacy issues, so you would be more likely to find things for young adults who have aged out or who have been adopted.
For blogs and tumblr accounts, you're again more likely to find stuff by adults who have aged out so a search for "I was a foster kid" or "ex-foster" is much more productive, like this.
Represent is a magazine for foster kids. Foster Focus is for the industry.
If you have access to JSTOR or academic journals, you're looking for case studies or case histories to get first-hand accounts.
posted by viggorlijah at 7:22 PM on December 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
There's also Growing Up Lost, Sunshine Girl on a Rainy Day, and Reflections of a Foster Youth.
posted by charmcityblues at 2:10 PM on December 15, 2013