Episode 105: Fostering Kids Fostering Families

50 min • June, 03 2024

The Growing Crisis in Youth Mental Health

Social isolation, technology use, and mental health conditions like anxiety and depression are sharply rising among children and teens. The US Surgeon General’s Advisory highlights that the current generation faces challenges that are both unprecedented and exceptionally difficult to navigate. The impact on their mental health has been profound, particularly for the nearly half a million children in the U.S. foster care system each year, who often endure trauma, instability, and neglect.

Foster Care Awareness and Mental Health Awareness Month

May serves as a critical month, hosting both Foster Care Awareness and Mental Health Awareness. During this time, we amplify the interconnectedness of foster care and mental health. Through the powerful narrative of Sharrica Miller, PhD, RN—a nurse practitioner and foster care survivor—we gain unique insights into the lived and professional experiences that link these important areas.

Advocacy and Action: Shaping Policy for Foster Care Youth

In this episode, Sharrica Miller provides a raw and insightful look into the foster care experience. She discusses how nurses can leverage their advocacy and clinical skills to collaborate with social services, protecting and stabilizing children in foster care. Moreover, Sharrica shares her research, mentoring efforts, and advocacy for legislative and policy changes aimed at improving the child welfare system. Her work focuses on safeguarding the health and well-being of children as they transition out of foster care.

ABOUT SEE YOU NOW PODCAST

See You Now is a podcast highlighting the innovative and human centered solutions that nurses are coming up with to solve for today’s most challenging, healthcare problems, created in collaboration with Johnson and Johnson and the American Nurses Association and hosted by nurse, economist and health tech specialist, Shawna Butler.

Resources:

• National Foster Care Month | Child Welfare Information Gateway
• Mental Health Awareness Month 2024 - National Council
• Getting to the bottom of the teen mental health crisis
• How many kids are in foster care in the US?
• Verses: Lessons Learned From Foster Care
• The Power of One Caring Adult
• Trauma of Separation for a Child
• Mental and Behavioral Health Needs of Children in Foster Care
• Youth Mental Health — Current Priorities of the U.S. Surgeon General
• CDC: Report shows concerning increases in sadness and exposure to violence among teen girls and LGBQ+ youth
• ‘A cry for help’: CDC warns of a steep decline in teen mental health
• Foster Youth Resources - Guardian Scholars Program | CSUF
• Kids in the Spotlight: Empowering Foster Youth through Filmmaking
• Global minimum estimates of children affected by COVID-19-associated orphanhood and deaths of caregivers: a modelling study - The Lancet
• The Number of Children Orphaned by COVID Keeps Rising | Scientific American
• From Foster Child to DEI Consultant, Professor, and Mentor: Meet Dr. Sharrica Miller - Minority Nurse
• Transition Readiness, Perceived Health, and Health Services Utilization in Transitional Age Foster Youth Compared to Controls
• Film: Still Waters Never Crash
• A Place Called Home: Memoir by David Ambroz | Davidambroz
• The Science of Resilience
• The Science of Resilience | Harvard Graduate School of Education
• Defining Moments: Finding Peace After Foster Care