Independent Living Project: In the News

The Institute Helps Transition Young Adults

March 11, 2002

Imagine being 18 years old, homeless and facing a day-to-day struggle for survival. That’s the plight of thousands of American youths — some 400 of them in Colorado — who "age out" of foster care homes each year. Now a unique theater and video project aims to educate others about the difficulties facing teens whose state-supported foster care ends when they turn 18 years old.

The Graduate School of Social Work (GSSW) Institute for Families is producing a play and a series of training videos to help program managers, foster parents, child welfare workers and others understand the special needs of these adolescents as they transition to adulthood. Thirteen youths who are or have been in foster care are the script consultants, actors, stagehands, set design crew and video and sound assistants. Selected through interviews and auditions, the young adults are paid for their participation. Social work Assoc. Prof. Cathryn Potter and seven institute staffers designed the project and are developing a guide for replication by other states.

Federal funds totaling $56,000 for the two-year project are provided through the Chaffee Act, passed in 2000 to assist youths with transitional rent subsidies, food, college tuition and training for workers helping the youths become self-sufficient. Other project partners include the Colorado Department of Human Services, Casey Family Programs and Metropolitan State College of Denver — whose theatre, journalism, media and social work departments are providing technical assistance and rehearsal space.

Incorporating the expertise and experiences of foster care "graduates," the play offers these young adults the chance to learn technical and artistic aspects of video and stage production while helping others who face similar problems. "If I can help make it easier for someone else to go through foster care, then it’s worthwhile for me to be here," says 19-year-old Salem Anzick, one of the participants.

"The foster care system has been focused on providing food, clothes, therapy, medicine and other concrete needs, but it hasn’t focused on building the positive connections we all need as we move through adulthood," says institute Director Sandra Spears. "This program gives youths a sense of belonging and makes them less vulnerable to negative influences like gangs."

During production, discussions of artistic interpretation can become heated, but this offers the youths a chance to work on problem-solving skills and provides valuable lessons for adults who work with them. "[Helping] isn’t always about family preservation," says R.J. Lobato, MSW ’95, a professor in Metro’s social work department. "It’s about listening to individual clients — that’s what I learn from these kids."

Videotapes of the rehearsals will be incorporated into classroom-style training modules the institute is producing for Colorado’s child welfare workers and others. The play opens March 17 at a statewide mental health conference in Pueblo and continues through September with performances around the state.

For information about performances, phone the Institute for Families at 303.871.4174.