Erin Washburn and Stephanie Daniels both work for FosterAdopt Connect in Springfield.
They spoke about how some of their services — especially their Youth Connect Center can support youth ages 13 through 21, as well as families involved in the child welfare system.
For the month of November, we're focusing on the role that human connection can play in health care.
Erin Washburn: It’s like a living room, a major living room. We have game systems. We have colorful walls. We have art supplies. We have a puzzle going all the time. We have a kitchen. We have snacks.
We really built the center with the youth in mind. So, the youth mentioned not having anywhere to charge their phones, so we made sure there was plenty of charging stations. Everything in there was intentionally designed to make them feel comfortable and at home.
We began our work with them — with letting them just hang out, I mean, offering them a snack, letting them come in, sit in a giant beanbag chair, play a video game, work on the puzzle with staff, and slowly, through building that relationship with them, they'll start to share and other services can come out of that.
So, they might be like, “Oh, we haven't bought groceries in a month, and so I came here to eat dinner,” and we can provide them with a grocery bag.
“My mom didn't have the money to take me back to school shopping,” and we can have them go through our clothing closet or refer them over to Sammy’s Window for some clothing items.
So, it's just those little pieces of — I like to say, hanging out, but that sounds so informal — building that relationship with those youth. So, just, you know, sitting down, whatever they're into, talking about it with them and building that relationship, so that they're comfortable coming in and getting services.
And then slowly their families might be comfortable coming to a family event, and we can connect them with FosterAdopt Connect as a whole, and some of the other programs that we have,
Stephanie Daniels: Our caregivers do receive a lot of secondhand PTSD from what their kiddos have gone through, and so, one of the things that we can provide with that support — is just letting them know that you're not the only ones. The system is rough.
You don't always understand what's happening in the moment, but there are other people who are willing to walk alongside you and offer any support they can during these hard times.
Erin Washburn: Youth experiencing foster care or housing instability or homelessness — they're just kids. They want somebody to recognize their birthday. They want somebody to acknowledge their new haircut. They want somebody who's gonna stick with them long enough to know that they really hate Captain Crunch, but they really like Coco Puffs.
And so, I think that for youth who are going through trauma, having that person in their life to make them feel seen is what we're going to do here at FosterAdopt Connect.
And I think it helps repair that tiny little bit of themselves that maybe has been torn up by trauma in the past and teaches them that there are caring adults out there that can help them when they need help.
