FAMILY AND YOUTH INITIATIVE INC
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Mission Statement
Imagine turning 21 and finding yourself without the support of a family. The vast majority of older children in foster care are never adopted and instead “age out” of the system – a transition that leads to alarming rates of unemployment, homelessness, and incarceration. Family and Youth Initiative, working annually with 25-30 DC foster youth ages 12-21, makes sure they don’t have to face the world alone. These youth come together with adult volunteers in comfortable environments: over shared meals, in bowling alleys, at softball games. A variety of relationships naturally develop: one-on-one mentorships, “host families” who welcome youth for regular weekend visits, and official adoptions. Since 2010, this life-changing program has left no post-foster care youth without a loving adult in his or her life, and 22 youth have found adoptive families. What does family mean to these kids? Asked on the day of his adoption, one participant responded: “Everything.”
About This Cause
Family & Youth Initiative is the only local organization that focuses solely on helping teens (12 to 21) in foster care make lasting adult connections. Nationally, children eight or older are more likely to remain in care until they age out than be adopted. There is a critical need for innovative programming to help teens in foster care find family and make lasting adult connections. This is what DCFYI provides. Our unique program creates a community of like teens (in foster care and in need of family) and adults (interested in being involved with those teens) to allow them to get to know each other naturally. By getting to know teens in foster care and hearing about the experiences of other adults with those teens, many adults become open to getting more involved than they had initial planned, sometimes to include adopting a teen. Teens who are distrustful of adults become less so because of the support they receive from DCFYI adults. Many who had been closed to the idea of a new family change their minds because of this program. Family & Youth Initiative’s innovative approach brings adults and teens together to form a community: raising comfort levels, breaking down barriers, and resulting in teens being matched with adult mentors, host parents and adoptive parents. We normalize adoption recruitment: creating opportunity for adult-teen relationships to form naturally and comfortably within a community of similarly situated individuals (teens in foster care and adults considering or making long-term commitments to them). Our programming has the following core elements: • Events that bring together adults and teens to share a fun activity and build relationships. • Mentors who spend at least eight hours a month with a teen for at least two years. • Host parents who welcome a teen into their home for weekend visits and serve as the youth's adoption "advocate," helping him or her meet other adults to expand the circles of people who know the teen and increase opportunities to find an adoptive family. • Opportunities for prospective adoptive parents to get to know teens waiting for families. We break down barriers that otherwise discourage teens and adults from getting to know one another and create relationships, particularly because teens in foster care can be wary of adults and may be fearful of adoption. Additionally, adults have heard stereotypes about teens in care. Both have insufficient opportunities to meet each other and get beyond the stereotypes. Teens have a say in their own mentoring and host parenting matches. We only make matches if the teen and adult (or couple) are both interested (both because they need to be vested in the relationship, and so many decisions for youth in care are made for them without their input). We work with 30 to 35 teens per year. Teens follow different paths through our program. Some quickly find an adoptive family and never get matched with a mentor or host family. Others may never become open to adoption and only want a mentor. Some teens quickly meet an adult they want to be matched with; others take much longer. We provide adults and foster youth a safe place to explore feelings about adoption and provide continuing support to families formed through adoption. Because participating youth have waited a long time for a family and/or have had bad experiences with family (birth, foster or pre-adoptive), many need to develop relationships with an adult before they will be open to adoption. Because adults have fears and misperceptions about youth in care, many need opportunity to get to know teens before they will consider older child adoption. We support participants as they explore adoption. We re-energize prospective adoptive parents who come to us after long waits with no child identified and help them consider teens rather than younger children. We provide ongoing support to any DCFYI adult who pursues adoption, to include support after placement (and even after adoption finalization).