Since 2021, Sally Smith has fostered five children, including a teenage girl named Amelia* who is currently in her care. Reflecting on the positive experience it’s been, she was eager to shed light on societal misconceptions about fostering teenagers. She wants prospective parents to know they have a BIG opportunity to make a difference on teens in foster care.
“TBRI® works and it works with teens as well. When I prioritize connection, when I look for “yeses” and hold off on my responses, when I balance structure and nurture, I see TBRI® does work across all ages!
People are often open to fostering little kids, but do they know many teenagers in foster care have very few, if any, safe adults in their lives? The first day Amelia came to stay with me, she told me stories of other teens she knew in care that had been begging her ‘please, please, ask your foster mom if we can stay with her, too!’ It’s just heartbreaking. Teens like Amelia are not in foster care because they are bad kids, they are here because they need a safe place to live, and there is an immense shortage of safe, loving homes for teens.
“Yes, there may be some tricky things to navigate (as with any kid), but oh – the room for impact! It’s huge and I hope more people will consider fostering teens.”
As an organization, we are continuing to learn what support looks like for families and teens in a way that meets their unique needs and interests. One way we do that is by partnering with and learning from teens who were in foster care to help us create teen-centered activities for our events such as Family Weekend and Connection Camp. Stay tuned for a teen-specific connection group starting this summer!
Crossroads’ mission is to connect children in foster care to the families, individuals, and opportunities they need to thrive. We recruit new foster families from local churches, develop them into competent caregivers for kids from hard places through training in TBRI®, and support them through the ups and downs of their journey as foster parents. Join the Home Team and support this life-changing work all year long!