09/05/2022
What does it mean to be a youth from care?
This is a question we will dive into this week as we listen various youth share their stories and insights about the Child Welfare system in Ontario.
Last August, Project Outsiders hosted a workshop in partnership with the Adoption Council of Canada (now named the Child and Youth Permanency Council) to share digital stories of youth experiences in the Child Welfare System. Over that weekend, we shared heartfelt stories and memories from our times while in care and bonded over our passion for change. Together we came up with the idea of creating a roundtable talk inspired by Jubliee’s Think the Same series on YouTube. We wanted to know if all foster kids think the same and rendered it to depict a message of how our experiences, in the end, shape who they are.
This week we aim to reflect on some messages that can be taken away from our video.
In this clip, Sadeqah and Christina touched on instability in 2 different ways, through housing and relationships. We often take responsibility for our unstable environment, which can be seen by trying to please others to keep the waters calm during such unpredictable times. After leaving care and processing our experiences, we realize what authentic stability looks like, and then we begin to reimagine our life with this new perception integrated into it. One thing that can be taken away from Christina and Sadeqah is the importance of forgiving ourselves for blaming ourselves. I hope that makes sense. Our control was very limited. We have to be gentle to ourselves as we heal and figure out our true value.
I highly encourage viewers to start a dialogue in the comment section below and reflect on what you’ve taken away from this clip.
Check out the full video and share it with your network to continue to support this group and their ongoing advocacy for Child Welfare affairs. https://youtu.be/fWjHLdDbe_Q
