Sharing Best Practices at the 2020 Foster Together Conference

Though the world has felt more disconnected than ever, Extraordinary Families actively strives to connect with the foster community and find keyways to better serve our children and youth. This past month our team joined colleagues across Los Angeles at the Foster Together Virtual Conference to share breakthrough ways to strengthen our foster care system during Covid-19. EF’s Director of Programs, Kayla Wright, shares her experience of how we are making strides within the sector.

“Being a moderator at the conference has been a powerful experience. We heard from former foster youth on ways the foster system could be improved to better fit a child’s needs, paying special attention to how to support foster youth who carry past trauma.”

The purpose of the Foster Together Conference and its various workshops is to bring faith-based organizations, foster family agencies, Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), resource parents, former foster youth and other community organizations together to discuss and share strategies to increase recruitment and retention of resource parents, family reunification, and resources to current and former foster youth.

“When we begin to incorporate the experiences of those most impacted by the system into our policies and practices, our work is strengthened.” Kayla continues, “Our youth help us, as practitioners, as policy advocates, and as parents and families, to better understand the implications of our work to address trauma. By working together, we can ensure every child has the opportunity to thrive.”

The Foster Together Network was founded in 2017 by a coalition of philanthropic and public entities committed to making lasting change within the foster system in LA County. If you are interested in attending their conference, you can sign up for the remainder of their sessions here. 

Click here to read more about the Foster Together Network.