Talk Justice, an LSC Podcast: Ensuring That Foster Youth Know Their Rights
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Carl Rauscher
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WASHINGTON– Experts discuss developments in access to legal information for foster youth on the latest episode of LSC's “Talk Justice” podcast, released today. Talk Justice Co-host Molly McDonough is joined by guests Taylor Sartor, staff attorney at the L. David Shear Children’s Law Center of Bay Area Legal Services and creator of FosterPower, and Rebekka Behr, statewide chair and peer specialist at Florida Youth SHINE, a youth-led organization that empowers current and former young people in foster care.
Launched in May, FosterPower enables Florida’s foster youth to easily access information on their legal rights. Inspiration for the project that would become FosterPower came from Sartor’s interest in supporting children and teens during her time as an Americorps teacher and volunteering as a guardian ad litem—a person who protects the legal interests of individuals who are unable to do it themselves, for instance a minor. Teens would come to her with questions about foster care, and she discovered how complicated it could be to find the answers.
“My goal has always been to empower youth and young adults who are still involved in child welfare, whether extended foster care or other programs to become their own advocates,” says Sartor.
It began as a booklet that Sartor and a team of law students created, and has since evolved into Bay Area Legal Services’ FosterPower, a website and free app. The project was funded by a Technology Initiative Grant from LSC and support from Community Foundation Tampa Bay.
Behr became an advocate for foster youth after experiencing the Florida foster care system firsthand from ages 16 to 18. She didn’t have anything like FosterPower at the time, and she says it would have enabled her to better advocate for herself in difficult situations.
“During my time in the foster care system I faced adversity after adversity constantly fighting to be a normal 16-year-old,” says Behr. “I lost about 90% of my rights when I entered the foster care system and I was not educated on what was normal versus what was not normal for foster youth and I felt like a prisoner and didn't know that's not what I was supposed to feel like.”
At Florida State University, Behr came into contact with Florida Youth SHINE and learned about her rights—after she was already out of the foster system. Now, as a part of the organization, she has advocated for a bill that would require the state’s foster care youth to routinely receive information about their rights. The Nancy C. Detert Champion for Children Act passed on July 1.
“I believe that all youth should be educated about their rights and that everyone within their case should also be held to the standard of knowing these rights,” says Behr. “It has become a passion of mine to educate myself about [ways to] reform our different organizations within the child welfare system to ensure that everyone in a child's case—the judge, attorneys, guardian ad litems, case managers, caregivers, and most importantly, the youth—are educated on their rights.”
Sartor is currently doing community outreach and trainings on FosterPower for organizations like Florida Youth SHINE, group homes, courts and child welfare professionals. She says that adding document filing resources relevant to the legal needs of foster kids is also underway.
“I really hope in Florida we are really changing the conversation and focusing more on kids and their rights,” says Sartor. “So putting all this information in one spot to be able to access it is really just making sure that we have all the information to serve kids the best that we can and that kids have that information themselves to advocate for themselves and stand up when something isn't right.”
A previous episode of “Talk Justice” that covered additional topics related to child welfare in New York is available here. Future episodes of the podcast will feature a discussion about legal aid for natural disaster recovery and a look at alternative legal service delivery models.
Talk Justice episodes are available online and on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple and other popular podcast apps. The podcast is sponsored by LSC’s Leaders Council.