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feature story
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Keisha Walker of Memphis and Shelby County CASA
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Fostering Futures by Helping Older Youth See Their “Possible Selves”
When Adrian Sanchez aged out of foster care in the 1980s, he had no family, no high school diploma, no safety net, no plan and, he says, “no idea what to do or how to do it.” Simply staying alive took all his time and energy; envisioning a future was a luxury he could not afford. He learned to be an adult by trial and error. Mostly error, he adds.
Today, Adrian is 41, a dad and a volunteer for CASA of Memphis and Shelby County in Tennessee. He works passionately to make sure young people have the support, the education and the life skills they need to transition out of foster care safely and successfully.
Teenagers served by the Memphis CASA program—and 16 other local programs in the National CASA network—are using new tools to plan successful transitions from foster care.
These are pilot sites for National CASA’s Fostering Futures project, which trains volunteers to be advocates and advisors to older youth, helping them to create comprehensive transition plans, make positive adult connections and develop strategies to achieve positive outcomes both during and after their time in foster care. Fostering Futures, which is supported by a grant from the Walmart Foundation, has a particular emphasis on African American and American Indian/Alaska Native youth, who are highly overrepresented in foster care and in the aging-out population.
Melissa Rivera-Jackson, a CASA volunteer in Memphis, completed training last summer and put it into action immediately. She especially likes the “possible self” tree, a tool to help young people evaluate strengths and formulate goals.
The "possible self" tool is based on a research model from the University of Michigan that helps young people achieve their full potential by promoting a positive self-identity, setting goals for the future and planning to achieve those goals.
For the young people Melissa works with, the tree is a graphic representation of where they have been and where they want to go. For instance, the roots represent sources of strength; the bark represents obstacles; the crown represents goals; and the rain represents sources of nourishment. “The tree helps young people think about what they’re good at,” says Melissa, “and it’s something we return to and revise every time I visit them.”
Emphasizing possible selves at a time of life when youth are more focused on acquiring basic life skills is tricky but important, says Keisha Walker, executive director of CASA of Memphis and Shelby County. “Most youth who are approaching their 18th birthdays aren’t thinking about who they want to be when they grow up,” she says. “They’re thinking about how they’ll survive tomorrow. Possible selves is a higher level of thinking, and our children desperately need that kind of advanced planning.”
Possible selves research has found that imagining and planning for positive future goals is a strong motivator and predictor for achievement. Melissa sees the potential in this new tool. “The tree gives me an opportunity to show these kids what they’re worth,” she says. Melissa is using the tool to help guide one young woman toward higher education. “The tree is helping her think about what direction she wants to go in, and then I can help her get rolling,” she says.
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