“Adolescents really have a need for a connection with caring adults who can help them deal with the many experiences they may have had that have had an adverse impact on their growth and development and really speak to their need for someone to be really nurturing and supportive of them,” O’Neal said.
Since those older foster kids who age out of the system are more apt to struggle with negative life events, like unplanned pregnancy or unemployment, O’Neal said there are efforts to give them support. “We have a major contract with Youth Villages that ensures every child who ages out of foster care in Tennessee has the opportunity to receive services to help them with skills for a job, or to help them negotiate financial aid in college applications; and to really do the kinds of things for them that we do for our own children to help them make that transition.”
WGNS recently spoke to Blake Bohanan with Youth Villages and he told us that more foster families are needed in the Murfreesboro area. Bohanan said that being a foster parent and a mentor to a child can literally change the life of a child in a very positive way…
To learn how you can be a foster parent to a child in the Middle Tennessee area, call 615-250-7282 or visit YouthVillages.org.
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In Tennessee, there are about 8,000 children in the foster care system. More information about foster care is available at http://1.usa.gov.
