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the importance of mentorshipTrauma for foster children doesn’t end with placement in foster care. There are new crises to experience that add to older ones. Children often change foster homes numerous times, and each time means new adults, a new school, new friends, new rules, new everything. And rarely the sense that this time would be the last. One of the consistencies that can be in place throughout the troubled life of a foster child is mentorship.
When working with a foster youth, a mentor needs to understand that a life of neglect and uncertainty make it hard to develop trust. Mentoring an older foster youth takes extra patience and extended knowledge to help the young person step out in the world with self-esteem, knowledge and confidence. Support provided by a caring and trained adult can help prepare for aging out, an all important life changing event. by the numbers *
* from Mentoring Youth in Foster Care
and the National Mentoring Partnership and a quote...“The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.”
- Steven Spielberg, motion picture producer
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