How to Advocate for Youth in Foster Care

There are approximately 3,000 children in foster care across the Dakotas, and over 400,000 nationwide. Given these numbers, it is likely that all human service professionals will work with youth and families in the foster care system at some point. What are some strategies you can use to support youth in successfully navigating their experiences?
Join us as Stephanie Surdy presents on how to advocate for youth in foster care. In this presentation, attendees will learn:
• About the critical need of mental health intervention for children in foster care
• How to shift our view from seeing things as a “behavioral problem” and more as a symptom of their experiences.
• Common behaviors of children in foster care and how to react.
• How to build attachment and connection with foster youth
• Practice reframing negative behaviors into language that describes the expected stress reaction of a child in foster care
Whether you’re an educator, extension professional, or the like, this live webinar will give you the tools needed to help youth in your communities within the foster care system.
▬ Resources▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Web Resources:
As part of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), the Learning Center for Child and Adolescent Trauma offers Free Online Education. Learn more at:learn.nctsn.org/
MN ADOPT serves adoptive, kinship, and foster families by providing information, resources, education, public awareness, and support: www.mnadopt.org/
The Center for Adoption Support has resources for both families and professionals: adoptionsupport.org/
Child Welfare Information Gateway | The resources on this page offer support and guidance to foster parents, as well as a list of national organizations through which foster parents can find additional information and supports as they navigate the process. www.childwelfare.gov/topics/o...
Support for Minnesota Adoptive, Foster, Kinship Families: www.nacac.org/connect/support...
Center for Connection focuses on providing resources and ideas to help children, families, professionals and communities, especially during these unprecedented times : / playconnectdo
Video Resources
Hand Model of the Brain for KIDS : • Hand Model of the Brai...
The Brain: Explained! : • The Brain: Explained!
▬ About the Presenter ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Stephanie Surdy has worked with families and children in various capacities for the last 15 years. She has a masters in mental health counseling and has extensive training in attachment and play based interventions for working with children and their caregivers.
Stephanie developed a passion for working with adoptive youth and caregivers early on in her career and has worked to continue her education in this area with goals of providing education and tools to families who provide care to avoid disruption to placements. Stephanie uses play based approaches to address attachment disruptions and to strengthen the child-caregiver relationship. Stephanie resides in Minnesota with her husband, 3 children and 2 dogs.
▬ About Us ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Strengthening the Heartland (STH) developed through the collaborative efforts of faculty from South Dakota State University Extension and North Dakota State University Extension. With generous grant support from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, STH is dedicated to providing services that prevent opioid misuse in rural communities across the Dakotas.
Learn more about us at www.sdstate.edu/strengthening...
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This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2019-41520-29987.