Relationships & Support

Anastasia entered foster care when she was 14 years old. She moved to five group homes, none of which were healthy environments for her. Anastasia ended up in juvenile hall for six months. To her surprise, she found it to be a positive experience because she met a probation officer who was particularly supportive. “She would tell me, ‘You were meant for something,’” says Anastasia. Her bond was so tight that when her sentence was near its end, Anastasia requested to stay longer. Although the judge denied her, Anastasia’s request is very telling. Perhaps for the first time in her life, Anastasia had made a strong connection with a caring adult who believed in her.

Juvenile hall should not be the first place a young person is told that they matter. Every young person deserves the chance to form positive relationships with supportive, caring adults throughout their lives regardless of their family situation. The ability to have sustained relationships can help opportunity youth navigate the transition into adulthood, develop resilience, and address past trauma.

Photo Courtesy of Beyond Emancipation

Why This Matters

 

Many opportunity youth have dealt with significant trauma, abuse, and neglect in their lives. In addition to unstable home lives, many live in neighborhoods surrounded by poverty, violence, and crime. Youth in the foster care and juvenile justice system, in particular, show high rates of trauma.

Source: Harvard Medical School, Univ. of Michigan, Casey Family Programs, & U.S. Dept of Justice

Traumatized youth who do not receive sufficient care and protection can experience anger, anxiety, aggression, impulsivity, rule-breaking, and reckless or self-harming actions. They are at higher risk of chronic absence, suspension, disengagement from school, gang membership, substance abuse, depression, shame, and suicide.  

Trauma also impedes a young person’s ability to form healthy relationships, negotiate social situations, and appropriately respond to everyday challenges that come up in school and job environments. Without a caring adult to help them navigate these situations, opportunity youth do not develop social and soft skills necessary to succeed in school and the workplace.

Encouragingly, Governor Gavin Newsom recently signaled his interest in combating childhood trauma by appointing Dr. Nadine Burke Harris as California’s first-ever surgeon general. Dr. Burke Harris, founder and CEO of the Center for Youth Wellness (a Battery Powered grantee), is a national leader in treating the effects of childhood adversity. Governor Newsom also intends to shift control of the state’s Juvenile Justice Division away from corrections officials to health and human services, which could create opportunities to better bridge mental health, education, and social services for justice-involved youth.

 

Our Approach

 

Our approach hones in on two areas that contribute to the health and wellness of opportunity youth, enabling them to form positive relationships and function more successfully in school and the workplace.

Improving Access to Mental Health Services

Despite significant trauma, many opportunity youth do not have access to mental health supports. Those who do manage to get treatment tend to be assigned trainees, not experienced professionals. Foster and youth with disabilities, in particular, are often over-prescribed psychotropic drugs, a trend that is now on the decline in California.

A more effective way to address trauma is to treat issues such as anxiety, depression, and neglect through trauma-informed mental health services. Fortunately, there are several local agencies providing such services, such as Lincoln and Seneca Center, which partner with school districts to provide treatment, Westside Community Services, which offers a community-based treatment model, and A Home Within, which provides consistent psychotherapy to foster youth for as long as it takes.

Because funding for mental health services is limited, some agencies are exploring how to become Medi-Cal contracted organizations. This holds promise for a more sustainable funding stream that would allow agencies to fund ongoing mental health services for low-income youth. However, it requires significant upfront investment to draw down these federal funds. Philanthropy can provide initial funding to agencies interested in offering mental health services through this funding stream.

Developing Resilience

Not all youth have such acute challenges that they need 1:1 therapy. Sometimes, youth just need a caring adult in their lives to help them believe in themselves and learn to navigate issues as they come up.  

Most youth receive this type of support from their families, or perhaps from teachers, coaches, mentors, pastors, or counselors. But because opportunity youth have a harder time forming social relationships in general, they may not form the same types of bonds with adults in their lives. Realizing how critical adult relationships are, some organizations have been intentional with models that are relationship-centered.

“The single most common factor for children who develop resilience is at least one stable and committed relationship with a supportive parent,  caregiver, or other adult.”

Harvard University,    Center on the Developing child

 

For example, Pivotal (formerly Silicon Valley Children’s Fund) implements a proven coaching model where coaches act as “youth advocates” and are an important part of their success in education and employment services. San Francisco YouthWorks matches over 450 high school juniors and seniors each year with mentors in San Francisco city government who become a support system for youth interns.

Although science shows the importance of relationships, many policies work against this approach. For foster youth in particular, building solid connections to nurturing adults can be further disrupted by multiple home and school moves. Realizing the impact that healthy and sustained relationships have on their lives, foster youth with California Youth Connection worked with legislators earlier this year on a bill to prevent abrupt placement changes that have negative consequences on a young person.  

By identifying programs, agencies, and policy solutions that prioritize strong and healthy relationships with adults and access to mental health services, opportunity youth can build internal resilience and social-emotional skills that are integral to overcoming hardship and succeeding in life.

 

 

Read next topic: Resources & Services →