Youth Communication » Represent Magazine
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Youth Communication (YC) amplifies youth stories and empowers young people to achieve their personal and academic goals. We are committed to teens of color and other young adults whose voices need to be heard. The Represent Magazine feature the Stories by Teens in Foster Care.
Youth Communication » Represent Magazine
2w ago
When I was 6, my father took my two brothers and me to New York’s famous Far Rockaway beach. Humongous waves slammed on us, and we were fascinated by our first experience on American sand. I didn’t know how to swim, so I clung to the safety that the shallow water provided ..read more
Youth Communication » Represent Magazine
1M ago
As an unaccompanied refugee minor, I’ve faced many challenges in pursuing my education, but the support of my foster families, agency, and friends has helped me along the way. For me, being a successful woman in the world means having a family of my own and working as a social worker or mental health counselor ..read more
Youth Communication » Represent Magazine
2M ago
I was a daddy’s girl. In elementary school, whenever someone asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I said, “I want to be like my dad.” He worked hard, and he was my role model. He didn’t tell me or my siblings about his childhood ..read more
Youth Communication » Represent Magazine
2M ago
I first went into foster care when I was 12 years old because my mom abused and neglected me. (My father was mostly not around.) My last placement was at a residential treatment facility called Madonna Heights, where the other girls bullied me ..read more
Youth Communication » Represent Magazine
4M ago
It’s quiet in the house and my sister and I are sound asleep. There’s a blue tint coming in from the window; this morning light rests over our eyelids and slowly wakes us from our dreams. We share a bed, and when she starts moving around I begin gaining consciousness ..read more
Youth Communication » Represent Magazine
7M ago
I don’t remember my first hospitalization. I was either too young to understand it or too high off the five milligrams of morphine. But for as long as I can remember, I’ve gone to the hospital for extreme pain about 10 times a year ..read more
Youth Communication » Represent Magazine
7M ago
In 2021, when Sarah was 15, she attended a virtual Youth Advisory Board (YAB) meeting for Fair Futures, a New York City organization that provides coaching and other support to young people with foster care experience. Sarah is the founder and executive director of Achillea, a nonprofit that provides peer tutoring to youth impacted by the child welfare system ..read more
Youth Communication » Represent Magazine
1y ago
Barbara Kingsolver dedicates her novel Demon Copperhead to survivors of the opioid crisis and foster care. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the book is dedicated to someone like me: I am an Appalachian who was put in foster care due, in part, to my father’s opioid addiction. ..read more
Youth Communication » Represent Magazine
1y ago
Names have been changed. My father sexually abused me as a child and, a few days shy of my 13th birthday, I entered foster care. When detectives were first assigned to my case, I had to explain the what, when, where, who, and how of the assaults over and over ..read more
Youth Communication » Represent Magazine
1y ago
In 17 years, I’ve had to move more than 10 times throughout New York City. In 3rd grade, I attended five different schools. As a child, I never understood why my family moved around like a military family, but now I know some of the reasons. ..read more