I know in my sons middle school they are taught about bullying through the DARE program. A DARE officer teaches the course. Most bullying is addressed by the principal and if it’s serious enough a student can be expelled.

How do you think a youth’s sexual orientation affects his or her identity? I think it would be confusing and difficult to understand what his or her identity. I imagine it would be a process of trial to decide what identity felt best. What obstacles might LGBTQ youth encounter in foster care that would hinder their ability to maintain their identity? I think they may experience prejudice, ignorance, lack of understanding and compassion. Do you think these obstacles are unique to LGBTQ youth? If so, why? If not, how are these issues transferable to youth in other situations? No I feel other youth may experience these things as well if they go into a foster home that doesn’t understand certain situations or has certain prejudices or ignorance on culture or How could a CASA/GAL volunteer have advocated for Randy? I think a casa could have advocated for Randy by becoming more educated on LGBTQ youth and possibly finding some different programs or support groups that he could be included in possibly finding him a therapist to work with

Honestly I don’t remember being picked on or picking on others. Not very helpful on this one!

I agree with Hannah, I was surprised. I only got one wrong but it still said I strongly preferred light skin. Maybe based on how quick I went? I also agree that education and experience help to lessen stereotypes

@Hannah Driscoll yes I would definitely feel self conscious

How do you think the caseworker or others might perceive you, and what would be the implications? I think they may perceive me as young. Irresponsible. Unfit to na a mother. I would worry they would permanently take my child. When you describe yourself to them, how might you anticipate their opinions, and how might your concerns impact your interactions with them I think my concerns may keep me from being completely honest or keep what I shared very minimal. I would be afraid to trust them.

I come from a family where my grandparents started the health club industry in our state. Health and physical fitness is always something that has been very important in my family. Choosing food that was lower in calories. Trying to avoid Sugar. Exercising regularly. Keeping a healthy weight and doing what we can to look good and postpone aging. W would never dream of having regular mayonnaise or white bread or regular soda in our home. Appearance and health has been very important.

I think older youth need more guidance making decisions that will affect their future as an adult. Older youth often think they know enough to make certain decisions on their own so it requires a different approach to mentor and influence them. With children under 10 I think they are a little more comfortable being guided by and adult or mentor. But I’m both scenarios I think it is important to respect the child’s thoughts and feeling and to give them the opportunity to make as many decisions about their own life as they can.

I think three protective factors in Baileys life would be the mentors/parent figures she found in her foster parents. School. Extracurricular activities.

I think that a CASA could have made a difference by continuing to try to find her an adoptive home. Bailey decided to remove herself from her home with her biological mother because it was an unsafe environment for her. She recognized the foster home was better for her and she received more support and care there. I think overall her decision to stay if foster care was beneficial to her life. She was able to create relationships that continued to benefit her even as she aged out of the system. Bailey showed resistance by taking matters into her own hands and letting the police know she was in and unsafe home. She was able to continue to create lasting relationships despite not being adopted. She continued to improve herself and make the best of her situations.

After I read through it once it wouldn't let me click on the link to go over the different kinds of trauma after I watched the video. But it sounds like there was substance abuse and physical abuse, including abuse to him personally, in his home all his life until he was removed. So I know it wasn't the one time experience trauma.

Yeah, the link doesn't appear to be working

As I listened to the stories of the children I just felt so much sadness for what they had been through. Wondered how the transition to foster care could be less traumatic. I felt bad for the mother, frustrated, and sad for the addiction she had and struggled so much to overcome. I don't think my opinion changed about those struggling with addiction. I have always had mixed feelings about it. I know they are often victims of bad parenting/influence. I know they often hate themselves for not being able to overcome it. I feel sympathy for them and that terrible situation. But honestly, I also feel frustrated when they can't pull through or honestly try even for their children. I think in this situation as the CASA it would be challenging to decide how much to allow the mother to fail before we decided to permanently place the children in a new home. To make decisions on how much more trauma may be involved for the children if we continue to try to send them home as opposed to finding them a new home.

As I listened to the women's stories I felt so sad for them. Sad that they experienced such difficult things for so longs and didn't know how to get out. I didn't realize that asking a domestic violence survivor why they stayed would make them feel as though they were responsible. That was a good perspective to learn. I think hearing this information will help me to be on the watch for signs of abuse in cases I work with and will give me more sympathy and a different perspective on the situation and what could be accomplished if the the abuse was taken out of the picture. Also I am more aware of the seriousness for the children, even if they aren't personally being abused. As far as what other information I would like on this subject, I would just like to know what resources are available and recommended for people in domestic violence situations in our area. I know about the Family Crisis Center in Rexburg, but are there other resources?

I believe that disproportionality exists in the child welfare system because minority races have a higher rate of poverty and poverty tends to lead to stress, lack of education/knowledge, abuse, etc. and those issues are perpetuated through generations. Some other systems I will/may work with as a CASA that would impact children could be the court system, health care, prison, housing, food/WIC. I believe that the same issues of disproportionality will exist there for the same reasons. Something I can do to become aware of unconscious bias I may have would be to check in with myself when I make decisions about children welfare. Double check with supervisor and ask for her opinion.

I agree that the same problems that cause disproportionality in the prison system, poverty and education are most likely the same problems causing issues in the child welfare system.

I thought that was interesting too Hannah. I imagine it is just because the white population is greater.

Living in poverty could effect your ability to regular healthcare because of the cost or challenge of getting enrolled in a program. If you don't have access to transportation, internet or phone that would make it difficult as well. I believe that the effect of current poverty often leads to future poverty. Children learn from their experiences and often don't know how to get out of poverty or where to find resources to do so. Also children become accustomed to living a certain way and may not see a need to make changes to improve their situations.

Minimum wage is $7.25 found on www.labor.idaho.gov It looks like our term in Idaho is TAFI found on healthandwelfare.idaho.gov Sill working on gathering the information for the last three

I don't really have any questions regarding mental health and how it would impact a case at this time. I imagine if I have the opportunity to experience a case which includes mental illness I may have some questions that arise at that time as I interact with the parent/child.