Kat, Phillisha, Cody, and Sarah share stories and tips about the ups and downs they faced when accessing prenatal care (medical care for someone who is pregnant or planning to become pregnant). The team talks about little-discussed topics— like caring for yourself after the baby is born and struggling with postpartum depression as a young parent. We created this bonus episode just for you and all the expectant and parenting youth in need of relatable, informative insight.
Host Bio: Kat (she/her), former foster youth, RHEP Youth Advisory Board member
Guest Bio: Cody (she/her), former foster youth, RHEP Youth Advisory Board member; Phillisha (she/her), former foster youth, RHEP Youth Advisory Board member; Sarah Ferguson, Birthing The Block
It’s Complicated: Mental Health and Foster Care
Kat, Elyzabeth, Alexis, and Esme talk about the unique challenges (former) foster youth face when accessing the mental healthcare services they need. Esme, Community Policy Associate, Mental Health Team at National Center for Youth Law, points to key resources that you might find useful, drawn from “A Young Person’s Guide to Accessing Affordable Mental Health Care.” Guests share their stories, including the little and big ways that they take care of themselves. As always, we keep it real.
Host Bio: Kat (she/her), former foster youth, RHEP Youth Advisory Board member
Guest Bio: Elyzabeth (she/her), former foster youth, RHEP Youth Advisory Board member; Alexis (she/her), former foster youth, RHEP Youth Advisory Board member; Esmeralda Cortez Rosales (she/her), Community Policy Associate on the Mental Health Team at National Center for Youth Law
Abortion Care According to Former Foster Youth
RHEP Youth Advisory Board members Tamar, Phillisha, and Cody discuss abortion care in this open, unflinchingly honest episode. They share what went into their own decisions when they were pregnant, expand on different kinds of abortion (medication or procedural), explain how to weigh your options, lean on supportive people & more. Alex Morse, Planned Parenthood Community Health Educator, joins the conversation and gives accurate, easy-to-understand abortion care information. It’s your choice—but you don’t have to figure it all out on your own.
Host Bio: Tamar (she/her), former foster youth, RHEP Youth Advisory Board member
Guest Bio: Phillisha (she/her), former foster youth, RHEP Youth Advisory Board member; Alex Morse (they/them/theirs), Planned Parenthood Community Health Educator; Brandy (she/her) former foster youth, RHEP Youth Advisory Board member
What Foster Youth Need To Know About Prenatal Care
What should foster youth expect from pregnancy and prenatal care? Kat, Cody, Phillisha and Sarah talk about getting the care you need leading up to birth, which is known as prenatal care. They dive into getting the support you need from the medical system, building your own support system, and exploring the parts of pregnancy or starting a family that people who have been in foster care might experience differently. Plus, they share helpful pre and post-natal resources that helped them and could help you, too.
Host Bio: Kat (she/her), former foster youth, RHEP Youth Advisory Board member
Guest Bio: Cody (she/her), former foster youth, RHEP Youth Advisory Board member; Phillisha (she/her), former foster youth, RHEP Youth Advisory Board member; Sarah Ferguson (she/they), Birthing The Block
Former Foster Youth On Preventing Sexually Transmitted Infections
Let’s talk about how to stay safe and prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also known as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). We discuss methods for safe sex, relatable accounts of what it’s like to navigate the healthcare system with an STI, shaking off stigma, being open and feeling safe with partners, and more. Tamar and Cody of RHEP’s Youth Advisory Board are joined by Lonnell Schuler, Black Women for Wellness, program lead for Get Smart B4U Get Sexy.
Host Bio: Tamar (she/her) former foster youth, RHEP Youth Advisory Board member
Guest Bio: Cody (she/her) former foster youth, RHEP Youth Advisory Board member; Lonnell Schuler (he/him), Black Women for Wellness, program lead for Get Smart B4U Get Sexy
How Can Foster Youth Use Birth Control on Their Terms?
How do hormonal and non-hormonal birth control methods work? How can you properly use birth control? As a young person in the foster care system, how can you advocate for yourself? The good news is there is no one-size-fits-all approach. It’s all about what works best for you. Kat and Brandy of RHEP’s Youth Advisory Board talk about their personal experiences with birth control and provide an overview of the variety of birth control methods available.
Host Bio: Kat (she/her) former foster youth, RHEP Youth Advisory Board member
Guest Bio: Brandy (she/her) former foster youth, RHEP Youth Advisory Board member
What Are Foster Youth’s Rights To Healthcare?
Did you know that there is a Foster Youth Bill of Rights?. These rights ensure that foster youth have the opportunity to get the healthcare they need and deserve— including sexual & reproductive services.Tamar and Alexis of RHEP’s Youth Advisory Board sit down with Rebecca Gudeman, a lawyer and the Senior Director of Health at National Center for Youth Law (NCYL), to highlight many of these rights for youth in California and to talk about what often gets in the way of youth in care being able to fully benefit from them. Bottom line: you have the right to make decisions about your own body.
Host Bio: Tamar (she/her) former foster youth, RHEP Youth Advisory Board member
Guest Bio: Alexis (she/her) former foster youth, RHEP Youth Advisory Board member; Rebecca Gudeman (she/her), Senior Director of Health, National Center for Youth Law
Self-Taught: Former Foster Youth on Sex, Health, and Life
Welcome to Self-Taught: Former Foster Youth on Sex, Health, and Life, a podcast from foster youth for foster youth. In foster care systems, there aren’t always people to answer your big questions or open up to concerning sensitive topics. That’s why we’re bringing these conversations to you! Hosts and guests discuss puberty, relationships, sexual health, identity, & more in unfiltered conversations that we wish could have been part of our upbringing. We hope these episodes spark questions, provide helpful resources and community, and leave you feeling empowered.
Self-Taught: Former Foster Youth on Sex, Health, and Life is hosted by the Youth Advisory Board of the Reproductive Health Equity Project at the National Center for Youth Law and supported through a grant to the National Center for Youth Law from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.
High Stakes, Silent Systems: Foster Youth and Reproductive Health
On this week’s podcast we discuss some of the figures in the biennial report on state-by-state child welfare spending from Child Trends. Also: looming deadlines on “Family Miranda” laws in two states and a Supreme Court case on ICWA, and more.
Imprint reporter Michael Fitzgerald joins to talk about his investigative reporting looking into sexual and reproductive health policies for foster youth, an issue brought into sharp focus last year when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
GUEST INTERVIEW
Michael Fitzgerald a senior reporter covering state and federal child welfare and youth justice. He was previously an editor for Pacific Standard Magazine, and his writing has appeared in the New Republic, Vice, Outside and other outlets. Fitzgerald is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Surprising Findings on Aging Out, Removal Reasons and More
This week we discuss the race between Texas and New York to pass the first “Family Miranda” bill for child welfare investigations, clergy as mandated reporters, and the 28th state to ban juvenile life without parole sentences.
Serita Cox of iFoster joins to discuss some of the most interesting results from the organization’s second annual foster care survey, including some notable responses from current and former foster youth about reunification or adoption
Guest Interview Details
Serita Cox is the co-founder of iFoster, which uses a free platform to ensure that every child growing up outside of their biological home has the resources and opportunities they need to become successful. Before launching iFoster in 2010, Cox spent more than a decade consulting on technology and management in the Bay Area.
Institute for Family and Unbelievably Resilient (formerly FosterStrong) have allied together to amplify the voices of alumni of foster care and help change prevailing narratives surrounding youth who’ve experienced out-of-home placement. On the Unbelievably Resilient podcast, alumni of foster care offer a safe space to commune, laugh, and share stories of resilience.
Resilient Voices & Beyond
The mission of the Resilient Voices & Beyond podcast is to create a platform for the voices that were once silenced to be heard and received. We aim to showcase the hard work of community partners, leaders, advocates, activists, stakeholders, state and federal government agencies, policymakers, and legislatures, while empowering a new generation of foster care alum leaders. Through our podcast, we strive to educate our listeners on reforms, advocacy, policies, prevention, foster care, adoption, kinship, CCIs, JJ, and the child welfare system, while challenging and breaking away from the stigmas and labels surrounding these topics. We aim to create a dialogue on reform and advocacy that is already happening or needs to happen, ensuring that the voices of those affected by the child welfare system are heard and valued.
The Children’s Law Podcast
Welcome to the Children’s Law Podcast brought to you by True North Child Advocates. Our goal is to empower children’s lawyers to help abused and neglected children get home faster. Listen as we discuss practical tips, our unique permanency-focused practice philosophy, and topics of interest for any child welfare professional working to improve outcomes for kids.
Planning for Success, Not Survival
In this episode, Jim and Angela discuss using case plans to ensure the state agency is preparing your teen client for successful adulthood, rather than just meeting federal requirements for youth aging out of the child welfare system.
Meet Tori
Meet Tori, as she shares on her transformation from her time as a track star in the system to transcending the confines of burdensome stereotypes, to writing and publishing her own book and to raising her own family. Tori says her faith grounds her, but her outlook on life has her eyes to the sky. Tune in to inspire yourself to let your own inner flame glow brighter.
When Your Client is a Survivor of Sex Trafficking
This interview starts with Prof. Emma Hetherington explaining why she thinks a huge barrier to effectively serving HT/CSEC populations is that stakeholders don’t fully understand what trafficking is. In this powerful podcast, Prof. Hetherington, from the Wilbanks Child Endangerment and Sexual Exploitation Clinic at University of Georgia School of Law (CEASE Clinic), reveals how children’s circumstances and behaviors need to be examined differently when exploitation and trafficking issues are involved. She discusses tips for attorneys representing HT/CSEC survivors, screening tools, the harm reduction approach, and how to build trust with youth. We hope you learn as much as we did!
Here are the resources referenced in the podcast:
Red Flags of CSEC and Child Trafficking, New York State Office of Children and Family Services: https://ocfs.ny.gov/programs/human-trafficking/assets/docs/red-flags-of-CSEC-and-child-trafficking.pdf
Trust-Based Relational Intervention: https://child.tcu.edu/blog-tbri-ffpsa/#sthash.c5E1aPKh.dpbs
For a deep dive, check out these resources:
How can the child welfare system protect young people from commercial sexual exploitation?, Casey Family Programs Strategy Brief (November 2022): https://www.casey.org/media/22.07-QFF-SC-CSEC-update.pdf
Child Sex Trafficking Warning Signs, Shared Hope International: http://sharedhope.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/General-Warning-Signs.pdf
Summary of Screening Tools: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/opre/IAHT%20Screening%20Brief%204.22.pdf
Criminalized Survivors: Today’s Abuse to Prison Pipeline for Girls (April 2023): https://genderjusticeandopportunity.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Criminalized-Survivors_Georgetown-Gender-Justice.pdf
Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline: The Girls’ Story (2020): https://genderjusticeandopportunity.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/The-Sexual-Abuse-To-Prison-Pipeline-The-Girls%E2%80%99-Story.pdf
Harm Reduction Series Introduction, California Child Trafficking Response Unit (2018): https://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/BTB25-3E-01.pdf
Harm Reduction Series Caregiver, California Child Trafficking Response Unit (2022): https://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/lac/1125790_CaregiverHarmReductionI-31_22.pdf
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