Blog
Fostering Futures Friday
August 4, 2017
Meet Brittany. She is 18 years of age. She is a 2017 graduate and a Fostering Futures participant. Coming into care around the age of 12, Brittany lived with her first foster home for 5 years. Her foster mother at the time was a great. However Brittany felt that she was not able to be herself while living […]
Fill in the Gaps: Diamond’s Story
August 3, 2017
Meet Diamond. Diamond was in and out of care with her two older siblings, however she was two young to remember most of her time in care. Diamond’s past experience motivated her to enroll into community college where her tuition was guaranteed through a specified time and the overall costs were more affordable. In her second semester of […]
Youth Spotlight: Tiniqua
August 1, 2017
Meet Tiniqua. Tiniqua has been in foster care for little over a year. Now that she is 18 years of age, she is enrolled in a program called Fostering Futures that allows her to stay in care with some of the same services. Tiniqua has recently graduated from high school. She plans to enroll in […]
Choose a Less Traveled Path: LaShawn’s Story
July 27, 2017
Hello, My name is LaShawn. I am 29 years old and I am a foster care alumni. I was in and out of foster care on three accounts beginning at the age of 8 over the course of two years. The initial feeling that I had was fear and sadness as we were removed from my […]
Fostering Future Fridays
July 21, 2017
My name is Jasmine, the Social Media Contractor for Project LIFE and a Fostering Futures participant. I am from the Western Region of Virginia and have been in foster care for three years. I turned 18 in January and graduated from high school this past May. Upon turning the age of 18 I had the desire […]
What is Fostering Futures?
July 13, 2017
Fostering Futures enables LDSS to extend foster care financial and social support and services up to age 21 for two groups of young adults who reach age 18 on or after July 1, 2016: • Youth who are in foster care when they reach age 18; and, • Youth who were in foster care at […]
What is Great Expectations?
July 5, 2017
Great Expectations is currently available at 18 of Virginia’s Community Colleges, Great Expectations is a nationally recognized program that helps Virginia’s foster youth gain access to community college education and transition from the foster care system to living independently. The program can help foster youth in obtaining an Associate’s Degree, Career Studies Certificate (1 year […]
SPEAKOUT
June 22, 2017
Calling all foster youth! Have you ever felt like changes need to be made to the foster care system, but felt like you were powerless to make these changes in any way? As a member of the newly formed SPEAKOUT foster youth council, you have a real chance to use your voice to make changes […]
Youth Spotlight: Robbie
June 1, 2017
Meet Robbie. He has been in foster care for five years. Robbie is excited to be completing his last year of high school, and this year he intends to enroll in the Cisco Networking Academy while he attends school. Once Robbie receives his certification, he plans to enroll in community college and receive a diploma concentrated […]
May Statewide Conference
On May 19-21, Project LIFE’s Statewide Youth Conference was held in Midlothian, Virginia. A total of 59 youth from around the state came together for a weekend full of learning and fun. The conference was focused around advocacy, and the importance of finding one’s inner voice. Throughout the weekend, the youth participated in workshops related to leadership, […]