REMARKS
Council Member Stevens introduces concerns about LGBTQ+ youth in foster care
0:24:31
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119 sec
Council Member Althea V. Stevens begins by referencing a powerful testimony from a young person during a previous 'Shadow Day' event. The testimony highlighted concerning treatment of LGBTQ+ youth in foster care.
- Stevens emphasizes the importance of understanding what is happening in foster homes
- She mentions her focus on recruitment and support for foster families
- Stevens also acknowledges the Ali Forney Center's report on the issue
Althea V. Stevens
0:24:31
Well, thank you, and thank you for your testimony.
0:24:35
I'm gonna jump right into it, and I'll just start with last year as the chair of children in youth and having ACS added.
0:24:44
It was my 1st year to host Shadow Day here at Chambers.
0:24:48
It was amazing.
0:24:49
We had a lot of really amazing young people.
0:24:53
But one of the things that was, like, most alarming to me was one of the young people.
0:24:56
She came in with a list of legislation.
0:25:00
Yeah.
0:25:01
She had a list of legislation and was very adamant about her treatment and foster care.
0:25:07
And a lot of the treatment was because she was she identified as LGBTQU.
0:25:12
And so that sparked my interest in the sense of, like, well, what is really happening in these homes?
0:25:17
I know we have a a lot of questions around some of the policies for staff, but I was more curious about, like, the side of, like, how are we recruiting for these families?
0:25:26
And what does this look like?
0:25:28
So my first round of questions is I know I kinda focus more on that.
0:25:32
Because like I said, it was just it was just kind of alarming with some of the things and she's she experienced and feeling like there was nowhere for her to turn and get support.
0:25:43
There was a whole another host of other things that they talked about and we'll be having another hearing on.
0:25:49
But I just want to say I I I wanted to just uplift her because the courage for her to come in and have not only have legislation, but also was able to kinda talk very freely about that experience.
0:26:02
So and as always, Ali Forney, who I love and partner, in this work that I've been doing since I started, that their report also highlighted a lot of this stuff as well.
0:26:15
So thank thank you, Ali, for putting together your report as well.
0:26:19
Well, my first question is, what stage of the foster care intake process does a young person ask to identify as LGBTQ plus?
0:26:26
And does the young person have an input on their forced to care placement?
