The Problem With Foster Youth Voices Month

The month of October marks the beginning of the fall season. During this month, families are celebrating the season by attending fall festivals, going to fairs and carnivals, sightseeing in nature to see the colors of the tree leaves change, choosing their costumes for Halloween - the only time of the year when people can be whatever they want without judgment, and so much more. The month of October is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month and is partially shared with Hispanic Heritage Month. Overall, the month of October screams, "See Me," and there is truly so much to celebrate, see, bring awareness to, and appreciate. October is a great month to celebrate identity, but the problem with Foster Youth Voices Month is that our voices should be elevated and heard every day.

What does it imply when there is only one month out of an entire year to celebrate the voices of foster youth? Is it finally an admittance of the silencing many foster youth, both current and past, have experienced as a direct result of being in the foster care system? Is it an opportunity for those who have been silenced for speaking out about silencing to receive the permission they have been made to believe they have to receive to be supported in whatever it is they have to say? Or maybe it's the honest recognition of the fact that so many of our voices have simply been ignored and have gone unheard despite hundreds - and maybe even thousands - of current and former foster youth all over the country lending their voices to make change for their future peers on a daily basis. Whatever the message Foster Youth Voices Month implies, the voices of people who have been in the foster care system and who are in the foster care system now should never be silenced.

The months in which we recognize and celebrate culture and identity are special. The purpose of those designated times is to encourage people to remember the challenges and contributions of every individual who identifies with the culture being honored. The problem with Foster Youth Voices Month is that it is acknowledging one of the most horrific realities of being in the foster care system: Silencing. And yet, there is still no accountability for silencing a foster youth in the first place.

The problem with Foster Youth Voices Month is that this annual designation, in and of itself, indicates our voices need to be heard, but ask yourself, is the silencing in the foster care system so bad that we need a whole month dedicated to only alluding to that form of abuse in the foster care system? Now, I’ll answer your question. Yes! The silencing in the foster care system is that bad, so we don't need a month dedicated to hinting at the problem: We need to talk about that form of abuse every single day.

The problem with Foster Youth Voices Month is that, yet again, it encourages us to sugarcoat a problem that we should talk about 365 days a year. Additionally, the experts who are no longer in the foster care system should teach the adults currently working with foster youth how the effects of being silenced manifest in our lives in the short and long term. Additionally, those who have survived the foster care system should be contracted to teach current foster youth how to use and elevate their voices every day and in every situation they find themselves in, especially during what is arguably the most challenging life experience any youth will ever go through: being in the foster care system.

About Freedom From Foster Care A Nonprofit Organization

Freedom From Foster Care A Nonprofit Organization’s mission is to end generational foster care because we believe foster care survivors should have the skills to be the best parents. To help foster care survivors prevent generational foster care by not losing their children to the foster care system, we provide parental support and encouragement, as well as parental rights advocacy and training to parenting foster care survivors. We also provide strategic leadership to influence, promote, and support the implementation and development of environments, programs, and policies designed to create thriving futures for foster care survivors and their children.