Teens in Wisconsin Foster Care Feeling Unwanted

Jake is among the dozens of Wisconsin Foster Care teenagers referred to us monthly. He has been in a Wisconsin residential facility for 7 months and is eager to move in with a loving foster family. Jake needs a well-structured environment with adult supervision, consistent expectations, and fair rewards and consequences.

Teens in Wisconsin foster care struggle to find homes.

Finding a flexible foster home for a teenager like Jake is a challenge. This is partly because many foster parents are afraid of teens and thus wish to help younger children. Also, it can be difficult for working foster parents to provide the necessary supervision and attend appointments. Jake has therapy sessions twice a week, which are essential for his progress and transition back to a family environment. Individual and family therapy will help support his development and adjustment.

Wisconsin teens often feel unwanted and out of place.

Jake desperately needs emotional nourishment and support to feel valued and secure. He has endured significant trauma due to his abusive family background, having been exposed to drug use, domestic violence, and physical abuse. He felt adrift amidst the turmoil of his home life and the previous foster homes he lived in before the group home failed to provide the stable environment he needed.

Jake hopes to connect with a friendly couple or single foster parent who won't give up on him. He feels that people judge him quickly because he is an older teen in foster care. Living in a group home has taught him a lot, but he admits that he still needs to work on healthy relationships, managing his anger, and making better decisions.

Jake is eager to acquire new skills that will help him become independent and care for himself once he leaves foster care. He is fearful that he will fail once out of foster care.

Jake will need the following from a foster family:

Monitoring of medication by a psychiatrist
Supervision around children under age 12 or vulnerable individuals
Participation in positive community activities to foster healthy social relationships
Individual bedroom accommodations
Working towards high school graduation
Involvement in family therapy with his biological family
Ongoing support to learn skills for independent living

Foster kids often visit with biological family

During visits with his family, Jake quickly becomes annoyed and verbally aggressive. When his older brother intervenes, he can become physically aggressive. Family therapy seems to be helping Jake with his anger and aggression towards family members. His parents struggle with mental health and drug use. Jake reports that his family home was chaotic and overwhelming. Consequently, he would like a foster home that is laid back yet has some structure.

Above all, he hopes to have foster parents who are calm and don't yell too much. He feels that nobody listens to him or cares what he thinks.

Teens in Wisconsin foster care want a chance to succeed.

Jake is polite, helpful, and considerate of others. He doesn't mind helping with household chores and is eager to learn new things. He acknowledges that he struggles with managing his anger and is open to trying new methods to control it. He enjoys being around family pets and assures his new foster parents that they can count on him to be kind to their animals. Jake wants his new family to give him a chance to prove that he is changing and making progress.

With structure, patience, and a calm home environment, Jake has enormous potential to heal from his trauma. He is currently receiving mental health services and will need the support of his foster parents to stay on a path of growth and healing.

Youth like Jake are referred to CCR daily. Unfortunately, CCR did not have a foster home in the right location to accommodate Jake.

Regardless of the county you live in, we encourage you to consider fostering older children. We desperately need homes in all corners of the state. Please contact us to explore how to become a foster parent.

* To protect the identity of all children, real names are never used in any CCR blogs or social media posts.

Foster Parents Save Wisconsin Teen

Wisconsin foster care was all I could remember.

I never thought I would get out of foster care and survive. I couldn't remember not being in foster care. Then I was placed with a CCR foster family, and this happened...

My name is "Julia." I was placed in a CCR foster home when I was 13 years old. I had been in foster care for most of my life. I lived in 8 different foster homes since I was four years old. I was a victim of sexual abuse at a very young age. Fast forward to my teen years, and I was acting out all of the anger that I felt inside. I was lashing out at people, running away, stealing, and experimenting with weed. Even though I knew I could do better if I tried, I continued to struggle in all areas of my life. I was not attending all of my classes and got suspended for bad behavior more than once. I felt like I didn't belong anywhere and that nobody wanted me or cared.

I tested my foster parents at every turn.

The first six months in my CCR foster home, I continued to struggle and tested my foster parents at every turn, thinking they would eventually have me removed. I was verbally aggressive and defiant, slammed doors, stomped around, complained about everyone and everything. Then, when anyone confronted me about it, I would become highly defensive or shut down.

I eventually began to see that they were not giving up on me. I began to feel like my foster parents were willing to accept me for who I was and give me a chance. When I stopped fighting them, I began to trust both of them. I realized that I could turn my life around if I wanted to. I also realized that I had some positive qualities that would help me make the changes I needed to make. For example, I knew I was smart because I had been on the B honor roll at least once before and wanted to achieve that again.

I made a lot of progress in the foster home by healthily expressing my emotions and began to trust other adults, succeed academically, and participate in typical, healthy teen activities. I also participated in therapy with my foster mom and learned to work through my feelings in healthier ways.

I never thought I would have a family to lean on.

I was with my foster family for four years when they became my legal guardians. After that, I no longer thought of them as my foster parents but more like my real parents. The unconditional love and support that they gave me allowed me to grow and be successful.

After high school graduation, I attended UW-Platteville. I have remained very close to my family and know that they will always be there for me. Sometimes when I look back, I know for sure God put them in my life to save me. I don't like to think about what would have happened to me if I had not met them. I am very grateful for my family.

* Teens need adults who refuse to give up and will accept and love them through trauma—using trauma-informed parenting techniques works! We have helped thousands of youth like Julia heal and grow. Please get in touch with us and learn the truth about fostering teens. The healing that happens is fantastic.

For more information on qualifying to be a foster parent, spend some more time on our website. There are five simple steps to becoming a foster parent, and we will be happy to get you started.

All identifying information are altered to protect the privacy of children.