POWER OF STORY
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Power of Story's vision is that young people who have experienced out-of-home placement have equal, consistent person-centered access to their history, stories, photos, and medical information.
About This Cause
We serve children, and young people currently in foster care. Research shows the positive impact having personal history, photos, and medical information has on self-esteem, identity development, normalcy, trust, and attachment. In addition, this knowledge gives insights so the cycles of abuse and neglect can be broken. We also serve children and young people through the education of child welfare workers, caregivers, and lawmakers, who serve as gatekeepers to accessing that information. The focus of the child welfare system is the immediate safety and well-being of young people, however, those same young people often have problems obtaining and having equal, consistent person-centered access to their history, stories, photos, and medical information. Power of Story is a response to disconnect. As former foster youth Adam Starks puts it, “We need to know our story to succeed in the future. It’s extremely difficult to wander through life without knowing your past. That void haunts and revisits you in unexpected ways if left unchecked.” Understanding and having access to your personal life history is key to building a healthy identity, accessing appropriate interventions, feeling accepted, and processing a complex past. Still, it is often not available to young people who have experienced foster care, adoption, or kinship care. We engage young people, caretakers, and professionals in the research and curation of life histories, provide training rooted in youth-centered best practices and advocate for increased awareness and quality implementation of life histories.