In the most recent Fostering Perspectives writing contest we gave young people in foster care the following prompt: \u201cAdvocating for yourself means telling others what you need to be safe and happy. Tell us about a time you advocated for yourself and who helped you.\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s what they had to say.<\/p>\n\n\n 1st Place – Tattianna, age 16<\/strong><\/p>\n A time when I advocated for myself was when I was going through a very rough spot and my intrusive thoughts were getting to me and my mental health was really bad. I didn\u2019t think I would get through it but one day when it got worse I decided to try and reach out to my guy best friend Jackson, who I\u2019ve been friends with since 8th grade. I told him about what was going on and he talked to me about it and about ways to help it get better and told me that I should also talk to my mom about everything going on and that\u2019s what I did. I talked to my mom ( AKA my foster mom who I love so much.) About everything and she helped me. I also got help from my therapist and everyone I trusted and loved and they showed me so much love and support. I\u2019m forever grateful for Jackson (J) and my mom and everyone in my life who helped me and loved me and cared for me. I\u2019m now happy and safe and I\u2019m glad to have had that love and support. That was when I was 14 and I\u2019m now 16 and I\u2019m still forever grateful.<\/p>\n , and in her love, I learned that true love is not just a feeling but a transformative force that has the power to heal, to nurture, and to inspire<\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Tattianna received $100 for taking top prize in the writing contest.<\/em><\/p>\n 2nd Place – Tyrell, age 18<\/strong><\/p>\n Advocating for myself was something I struggled with, especially during a difficult time in 10th grade. I was dealing with a lot of stress at home, and it began to affect my schoolwork and mental health. I wasn\u2019t sleeping well, felt constantly overwhelmed, and didn\u2019t know how to manage it. For a while, I kept it to myself, thinking I could handle it on my own, but eventually, it became too much. I realized that I needed to speak up. One day, I decided to go to my school counselor, Mrs. Thompson, and tell her what I was going through. I felt nervous and unsure, but she listened to me without judgment. She helped me understand that it was okay to not have everything under control and that asking for help was a sign of strength, not weakness. She connected me with a support group at school, where I could talk to others who were facing similar challenges. She also taught me coping strategies to manage my stress. That experience taught me the importance of advocating for myself. By speaking up, I was able to get the support I needed and learn how to navigate tough situations. Mrs. Thompson helped me find the strength to keep moving forward.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Tyrell received $50 for taking second prize.<\/em><\/p>\n 3rd Place – Brooklyn, age 14<\/strong><\/p>\n My father started abusing me when I was only 5 years old. I grew up thinking it was normal, until I was 14. It was my freshman year of highschool when a friend of mine told me that what my dad was doing was not okay, and not at all normal. She told me that I could get away from him, and go somewhere where I wasn\u2019t constantly being mentally and physically abused. She told me that her mom worked in the system and she could help me. One day, her mom told me I had to say something. I told my school counselor, who called DCF for me. Thanks to my two caseworkers, I\u2019m now able to live a day to day life where I am not in fear, and can enjoy the little things with my \u201cfound family.\u201d In just three weeks, after spending two years in the foster system, my new family will adopt me. I was given a chance to speak up for myself and I took it, as should anyone else who is in a similar position, if given the opportunity. It will be terrifying and hard, but it is absolutely worth it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Brooklyn received $25 for taking third prize.<\/em><\/p>\n Conner, age 9<\/strong><\/p>\n When I get MAD my foster mother Christina will always help me by telling me to get to the calm down corner or take deep breaths. After I calm down sometimes, we play a board game or do fun things. Whenever I am mad, I will always take a deep breath and go to the calm down corner or go to a different room. Sometimes all other people get mad, and they may do the same thing. Whenever I am sad, my foster mother will always ask me what\u2019s wrong and I will tell her what happened so she can understand and help me out. Even at school friends help me when I get upset and sad, not just at school, even your friends who live next to you can help you understand like my friend Weston. Sometimes both of us get upset and we must go to different rooms to calm down like one of us plays the piano and one of us plays the drums, usually we are not in the same room. Sometimes me and my foster mother Christina both get mad so we both go to different rooms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Chloe, age 12<\/strong><\/p>\n I struggle with having anxiety and have a difficult time telling people when I need help. My adoptive mom has been encouraging me to advocate for myself and speak up when something is bothering me. My right ear has had a lot of infections and developed a perforation in the ear drum. I had surgery to fix the hole and returned to school a few days later. When I played my instrument during band class, I started to feel dizzy and felt pain in my right ear. After getting home from school I told my mom about how my ear and head felt during band class. She said that I should tell my band teacher about what happened when I played. I was incredibly nervous to tell my band teacher. When I got to school the next day I remembered what my mom said to me and told the band teacher about my ear. I\u2019m relieved I spoke up because she was very understanding and told me I could just imitate the notes. After my ear heals completely I can go back to playing without pain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n All other submission authors received $20 for contributing to this issue.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Writing Contest In the most recent Fostering Perspectives writing contest we gave young people in foster care the following prompt: \u201cAdvocating for yourself means telling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2733,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[],"series":[1697],"class_list":["post-2783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-more-additional-content","category-uncategorized","series-may-2025-vol-29-no-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fosteringperspectives.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fosteringperspectives.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fosteringperspectives.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fosteringperspectives.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fosteringperspectives.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fosteringperspectives.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fosteringperspectives.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fosteringperspectives.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fosteringperspectives.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fosteringperspectives.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2783"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fosteringperspectives.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fseries&post=2783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n\n\n\n