Living Locally
Getting Around
Taking Charge of Your Personal Space
Connecting with Nature
Taking Charge of Your Personal Space
Your Room
Make your space your own. Even if you share a room, you can do things to make your room a place that works for you, provides you some comfort, and inspires you. Your personal environment has a big impact on how you feel everyday. Here are some ideas to try:
Find Your Comfort Zone
Make your space physically comfortable and comforting. Get a favorite pillow and blanket. Buy cheap foam earplugs. Figure out how to make the temperature in the room work for you (clothes, small fan, small rug), or ask for help modifying it. Keeping the room cooler at night will help everyone sleep better.
Cut the Clutter
Visual “noise” increases stress. Start with one small area – a drawer, a shelf, a desktop.
If you don’t need or want something anymore, pass it on to someone else or recycle it. If you do, make a place for it. Keep it with similar items and label the container in some ways so you always know what goes in it. Once you have one small area decluttered, you will have one spot to rest your eyes. After you are successful with keeping that one spot organized, you can take on another spot.
Add What Helps Your Mind and Soul
Surround yourself with things that are meaningful to you. Put out a card, a photo, some artwork, mementos, things you want to do – or tuck these things away in a safe place that you can take out and look at each day. Consider ways to bring something natural into your space that relaxes your mind. See if you can adjust your space to allow sunlight, fresh air, or a view from the window. Maybe you can have a plant in your room. If you can, use headphones to listen to your own music.
Adapted from
How You Can Create a Healing Environment at Home
Know Your Rights!
Your Living Environment
When you are living in foster care, you have personal rights within your living environment. These include
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To live in a safe, healthy, and comfortable home where you are treated with respect.
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To be free from physical, sexual, emotional or other abuse, or corporal punishment.
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To have storage space for private use.
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To be free from unreasonable searches of personal belongings.
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To not be locked in a room, building, or facility premises, unless placed in a community treatment facility.
See
Personal Rights: Children’s Residential Facilities
for a complete list of your personal rights.
What is a Safe Space?
Assessing Your Safety in Community Environments
Safe spaces are places that respect you as an individual and allow you to develop into the person you want to be. This includes all kinds of community environments —where you live, learn, work, socialize, and generally take care of your daily needs. It also applies to virtual and online places.
These questions may help you observe your environment more carefully and identify what elements may be problematic for you. If you find yourself feeling unsafe in environments that you are required to be in, be sure to tell your social worker, therapist or another trusted adult.
Sense of physical and psychological safety
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Is the property well maintained, generally free of grime, toxins and hazards?
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Are there any conditions that deter from getting to or from the place?
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Are you threatened by anyone upon entering and leaving the place?
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Is harassment, discrimination or bullying tolerated by the people in charge?
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Are weapons obvious or presumed? Is illegal activity permitted in the space?
Clear and consistent structure and appropriate supervision
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Are there clear and consistent rules and expectations?
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Are people treated equally within the environment?
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Is there adequate supervision?
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Is there a designated person or process for handling grievances?
Presence of supportive relationships
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Are the people in charge responsive to you and others?
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Do the people in charge express their needs and feelings without blaming and shaming?
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Is there a general sense of warmth and caring?
Opportunities to belong
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Is the environment welcoming to you personally?
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Are there opportunities for you to participate in ways that are meaningful to you?
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Are activities consistent with your values?
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Does the environment support you in developing new skills, resources, ideas or ways of thinking?
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Are differences among people respected and accommodated within the space?
Respect for anonymity and confidentiality
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Is your desire to keep your personal history private respected (unless ordered by a court)?
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Are the terms of maintaining the confidentiality of information you may share clearly explained to you?
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Is there a procedure for you to participate without revealing your last name or other identifying information about you?
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Does participation require you to disclose personal data online?
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Have you observed violations of confidentiality or anonymity that have not been resolved to your satisfaction?
Adapted from guidelines presented in Creating a Safe Space: Environmental Factors, Collaboration for Evidence, Research and Impact in Public Health, Curtin University. For more information, please see My-Peer Toolkit, a resource aimed at supporting agencies to implement and evaluate peer-based programs for young people using good practice guidelines at mypeer.org.au.
Virtual Spaces
Several virtual spaces have been created for foster youth that are secure and password protected. It may be worthwhile to explore these websites to see what they have to offer.
Get a Digital Locker and Personal Assistance at iFoster
Founded by a former foster youth who had a successful career in Silicon Valley, iFoster provides services to transition age youth (TAY) between 16-24. iFoster offers an online personal assistant for TAY along with a digital locker for securely storing documents. It also offers free and reduced priced goods and services. Membership is free. Some programs include additional eligibility requirements. Check out these videos to learn more about these programs:
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TAY Assistant and Digital Locker
This is an
iFoster program that provides on online personal assistant to help transition-aged foster youth manage their lives. Store documents in a safe place, find resources, apply for programs, and keep track of it all in one place.
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iFoster Resources and Services
You will find an overview of services and resources that iFoster is working to provide youth in foster care nationwide.
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1 Laptop per Foster
Watch this informational video on an iFoster partnership established in 2012 to provide a laptop to every foster youth. A similar program is also available to provide free cell phones.
For more information, visit
iFoster for Youth
, send an email to
support@ifoster.org
or call at 1-855-936-7837.
Get a Virtual Room at VStreet
This website is all about life skills. Learn about apartment hunting, car ownership, careers, decision making, money management, alternatives to anger, HIV/STI education, and information about getting and keeping a job.
Get Your Own Dashboard at Foster Club
FosterClub.com is a nation-wide website that offers young people in foster care a place to connect with each other. It provides lots of information on foster care, including articles, questions and answers, message boards, contests, discussion of foster care topics, and even biographies of famous people who grew up in care.
What Can You Do in Youthhood?
This website is a virtual neighborhood for all youth, not just foster youth. What can you do here? Most of you will use this site with an adult in your life -- a person the site calls your
Youthhood Guide
. But you can also use this site by yourself. Once you register you can:
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Visit places in the neighborhood
to think about things like making and keeping friends in
The Hangout
, volunteering in
The Community Center
, having a plan to graduate in
The High School
, and lots more.
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Private Journal
Write in your very own online private journal about anything that moves you!
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Life Map
Use our goal-planner to set and achieve goals in any area you wish, and get feedback from your Youthhood Guide!
Staying Safe on Social Media
Protecting Your Online Identity
Excerpted from Protecting Your Online Identity and Reputation @TeensHealth.org
From the first time you log on to a social networking site, pick a screen name for instant messaging (IM), or post to a blog on your favorite band, you're creating an online identity. Your online identity may be different from your real-world identity — the way your friends, parents, and teachers think of you — and some parts of it may be entirely made up. Playing around and trying on different characteristics are part of the fun of an online life. And, just as in real life, you can take steps to help make sure you stay in control.
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Remember that nothing is temporary online.
A lot of what you do and say online can be retrieved online even if you delete it — and it's a breeze for others to copy, save, and forward your information.
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Mark your profiles as private.
Anyone who accesses your profile on a social networking site can copy or screen-capture information and photos that you may not want the world to see.
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Safeguard your passwords and change them frequently.
If someone logs on to a site and pretends to be you, they can trash your identity.
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Don't post inappropriate or sexually provocative pictures or comments.
Even if it's on a private page, it could be hacked or copied and forwarded.
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Don't respond to inappropriate requests.
You can report inappropriate behavior or concerns at
Cybertipline.org
.
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Take a breather to avoid "flaming."
A good rule to remember: if you wouldn't say it, show it, or do it in person, you probably don't want to online.
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Learn about copyrights.
Don't post, share, or distribute copyrighted images, songs, or files…you don't want to accidentally do anything illegal that can come back to haunt you later.
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Check yourself.
Try typing your screen name or email address into a search engine and see what comes up.
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Take it offline.
Ask a trusted adult. Sure, you might know more about the online world than a lot of adults do, but they have life experience that can help.
Read more…
Facebook Advice from Youth
Excerpted from Social Media: How Do We Have Accountability? YLS Book of Proceedings, Youth Mental Health Open Space Conference, 2011. Convener: Lorall; Notes‐taker: Lorall, Eddy, Kate; All members: Lorall, Eddy, Kate, Silver, Jamie
Facebook Guidelines
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Do you want your family to see it? And/or children, or partner or future partner?
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Your future boss may look at what you have on your page, what kind of impression do you make with what you post?
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What if youth you mentor see what you post?
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Will the people who read your post perceive it the same way you write it? Misinterpretation can cause a lot of trouble on Facebook ‐ lose
friends, gain enemies. It is important to think before you post.
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Timing is important (for example, if you’re in a heavy conversation with someone and you tell them you don’t have time to talk with them and need to talk to them later and then post you’re bored and want someone to go to the club with you)
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Are you implicating other people? Let other people know when you’re checking them
in.
Be mindful of naming people when you are
commenting on what they’re doing (or not doing).
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Regarding sexually implicit posts ‐ message the person. These posts come off overly personal to everyone (family, friends and colleagues).
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Be thoughtful about privacy settings and use them.