The SaintA Youth Transitioning to Adulthood (YTA) Program has expanded its services and moved its offices to the south side of SaintA’s main campus on Capitol Drive and 88th Street. On March 15, staff held an Open House for colleagues and community partners. In attendance were numerous SaintA staff, representing child welfare, clinical training, human resources and family services. Also … Continue
Join us on March 15 for our Youth Transitioning to Adulthood Program’s Open House! Continue
SaintA has hired Jody Pahlavan, Psy.D. as Chief Program Officer for Community Services. This newly developed position is responsible for oversight of – and innovation within – all community programs, such as Treatment Foster Care, Integrated Community Services, Care Coordination, Functional Family Therapy, and Youth Transitioning to Adulthood Services. Pahlavan previously served as the Executive Director of Clinical Programming at … Continue
When we asked several youth from SaintA’s Independent Living Services what makes a good foster parent, some of the answers surprised us. In addition to being loving, caring and supportive, find out what makes a good foster parent. Watch the video, featuring our ILS youth in their own words, below. Passion. Determination. And believe it or not, structure. Those are … Continue
We asked several youth from SaintA’s Independent Living Services to reflect on what it feels like to hope for, have, and occasionally be surprised by, unconditional love. Now young adults, many are going to school, to work and into parenthood themselves. And they all demonstrate what happens when resilient children grow into persevering adults. Watch the future of our community … Continue
In the video below, former foster kids talk about how stress on the child can be eased when they see their bio and foster parents working together. What’s more, when bio and foster parents work together to nurture the child, permanency can usually be achieved more quickly. When you become a foster parent, you can also become a mentor, coach … Continue
When children are removed from their homes due to unsafe circumstances, the first thing they need is some sense of normalcy. Our ability to keep siblings together in a foster care placement provides at least a little bit of that. As some of our former foster youth tell us in the video below, it can be heartbreaking when siblings are … Continue
Did you know 25% of kids in out-of-home care in Wisconsin are teens? Watch as these SaintA Independent Living Services clients (all of whom are former foster kids), talk about why older youth need just as much care, guidance and love as younger children. And in some ways, may need more. Teens are kids, too. Please consider becoming a foster … Continue
Daniel, a SaintA Independent Living Services client, sheds light on one of the most common misconceptions about kids in foster care. In the video below, Daniel suggests that putting the stigma-evoking adjective “foster” in front of the word “kid” isn’t fair to the children and youth who are in the system, due to no fault of their own. Help correct … Continue
There are 6,000 kids in out-of-home care in Wisconsin at any given time and 25% of them are teenagers. To bring awareness to the need for foster parents for children and youth of all ages, the SaintA Foster Care and Treatment Foster Care teams asked some former foster youth if they’d be willing to share their stories. And they did. … Continue
Perhaps most of us would define our family as the group of people we grew up with, usually ancestral. For our youth who have aged out of foster care, the concept of family as we know it may not apply. Jane Doolan The 18-24-year-olds in our Independent Living Services (ILS) Program often do not have the luxury of maintaining long-term … Continue
Traci Singleton was in foster care since she was 4, in so many different homes she can’t remember how many. At various times, she stayed with relatives, ran away a lot, then lived in group homes and in transitional living. But education was always important to her. “I looked at education as a way out from an early age. I … Continue
A youth in SaintA’s Independent Living Services program who attended a recent Community Building event came in on the Saturday of the two-day program looking like she was carrying the burden of the world. By the end of the day Sunday, she had a big, broad smile and she looked like she was floating on air. “I feel so much … Continue
This past fall, our Independent Living Services team hosted another round of Parents Interacting With Infants (PIWI) sessions. For those of you who have been following us since PIWI’s inception, this was our third class in the series. The sequential experience of facilitating the six-segment series has contributed to our expertise, and this most recent session was our most gratifying … Continue
Sometimes all it takes is encouragement. Shlonda never had much. Then when case manager in SaintA’s Independent Living Services (ILS) program reached out to her, things started to change. Shlonda is 26 and has been with ILS, which helps former foster children achieve successful and independent adult lives, for five years. Her younger sister first became a participant in the … Continue
