Six Casa Valentina residents were recognized for their accomplishments and hard work with Miami Youth SHINE Shining Star Awards.

Florida Youth SHINE (Striving High for Independence aNd Empowerment) is a youth-run, peer-driven organization that empowers current and former foster youth to become leaders and advocates within their communities.

We are so proud of KB, SB, TB, RD, JM and KS!

Our Program Director, Natalia Giordano, received an award for her outstanding support of our clients, and Casa Valentina was honored for our ongoing service to youth who have aged out of foster care.

Best of all, our very own Angel ran the whole show, in her capacity as President of the Miami Chapter of Youth SHINE. It was a great evening for Casa Valentina and our clients!

One of the world’s most visible advocates for medical research recently wrote an article sharing her childhood experiences in foster care and aging out of the system.

Dr. Claire Pomeroy, President of the Lasker Foundation – which awards the respected Lasker Prizes to the world’s leading clinical and basic medical researchers each year – published a piece in The Huffington Post urging all Americans to do what they can to support foster youth.

Here is an excerpt:

Beating the odds
I was lucky. People cared enough to make the foster care system work for me. Foster homes took care of me, teachers supported me – and I was white, middle class and educated. As I went through the system, I saw children who were not as fortunate …  who were failed by the system and society. They were robbed of their ideals, gave up hope and struggled to find a reason to live.

I experienced the unconscionable reality that society too easily creates “throw away children,” especially if they are poor, disabled, of a minority race or ethnicity, immigrants or gay, among others. There are so many foster youth and at-risk young adults who need help. As individuals, communities and a nation, it is our responsibility to ensure that all children have the opportunity to pursue their dreams so that they have the chance to lead happy, healthy and fulfilling lives.

The U.S. needs an adequate foster care system to save neglected, abandoned and abused children – and society needs to grasp the scope of challenges that foster youth face throughout their lives as well as the different ways we can extend a helping hand. When young adults are on their own again after exiting foster care, they need complete medical and social services to help them navigate new challenges in transitioning to adulthood. Foster youth cannot beat the odds without hope, compassion and support.

Next steps
The greatness of a society is defined by how it treats its most vulnerable members. By this measure, the U.S. is failing and the cost comes in wasted talent and unfulfilled potential among foster youth. Each of us must care enough to save children one at a time and change the systems to ensure that all children are saved.

I offer three insights from my foster care experience to help each of us as we reach out to foster youth.

1. Foster children need more than physical shelter; they need emotional shelter to help heal the damage that they have experienced. The youth we try to help may be too untrusting and self-protective to accept us – we must keep trying.
2. Foster care parents, mentors, tutors and advocates have enormous impact on children who have never experienced an adult’s kindness and generosity in sharing the wisdom that they have accumulated. Your time can change a child’s life.
3. Foster care systems must be expanded and improved, yet so must school systems to provide foster youth with access to the wonderful world of knowledge and skills. And foster youth must have job opportunities so they can support themselves to get to college and pursue careers.

Do the right thing
The future of foster youths depends on their spirit, belief in themselves and sense of realistic opportunities. It depends on us sharing our time, knowledge and resources – and hearts. I believe the path to progress is guided by a simple credo that is too often ignored – “just do the right thing.”

I urge everyone to look beyond ourselves, reach out to vulnerable members of the community, and come together to create a brighter future for everyone. Now is the time for the nation – and society – to truly care about foster youth. It is time to stop forcing children to be the heroes of their own survival.

For the full article, click here.

We love “introducing” you to one of our residents each week on our blog. Our hard-working, resilient, and dedicated clients are half of the reason Casa Valentina is so great.

Our amazing staff is the other half – so we want you to “meet” them too! Today, you have the opportunity to get to know Dashweil, one of our Program Coordinators. She works with our young women and young mothers. She is awesome!

At only 19, DM is an accomplished spoken-word artist, with big plans to share her gifts with the world… She definitely has the talent and determination to make her dreams come true!

Many thanks to Amy Zambrano and the Island Angels for sponsoring a wonderful back-to-school celebration for our residents!

Our young men, young women and young mothers enjoyed an evening of great food and great fun at the Key Biscayne Beach Club. It was a special event, and a great way to kick off the school year…

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