Jake is among dozens of Wisconsin Foster Care teenagers referred to us monthly. He is about to leave a group home and is eager to move in with a foster family in Northwest Wisconsin. Jake needs a well-structured environment with adult supervision, consistent expectations, and fair rewards and consequences.
Finding a flexible foster home for a teenager like Jake is a challenge. In part because many foster parents wish to help younger children. Also, it can be difficult for foster parents who work to provide necessary supervision and attend appointments. Jake has therapy sessions twice a week, which are essential for his progress and transition back to a family environment. Individual and family therapy will help support his development and adjustment.
Jake desperately needs emotional nourishment and support to feel valued and secure. He has endured significant trauma due to his abusive family background, having been exposed to drug use, domestic violence, and suffering sexual and physical abuse. He felt adrift amidst the turmoil of his home life and the previous foster homes he lived in before the group home failed to provide the stable environment he needed.
Jake hopes to connect with a friendly couple or single foster parent who won't give up on him. He feels that people judge him quickly because he is an older teen in foster care. Living in a group home has taught him a lot, but he admits that he still needs to work on healthy relationships, managing his anger, and making better decisions. Jake is eager to learn new skills to help him become independent and care for himself once he leaves foster care. He is fearful that he will fail once out of foster care.
Jake has been diagnosed with the following:
Jake will need the following from a foster family:
During visits with his family, Jake quickly becomes annoyed and verbally aggressive. When his mom or older brother intervenes, he can become physically aggressive. Family therapy seems to be helping Jake with his anger and aggression towards family members. His parents struggle with mental health and drug use. Jake reports that his family home was chaotic and overwhelming. Consequently, he would like a foster home that is laid back yet has some structure. Above all, he hopes to have foster parents that are calm and don't yell too much. He feels that nobody listens to him or cares what he thinks.
Given the pattern of aggression within his family, it would be best if he were not placed in a foster home with younger children.
Jake is polite, helpful, and considerate of others. He doesn't mind helping with household chores and is eager to learn new things. He acknowledges that he struggles with managing his anger and is open to trying new methods to control it. He enjoys being around family pets and assures his new foster parents that they can count on him to be kind to their animals. Jake wants his new family to give him a chance to prove that he is changing and making progress.
With structure, patience, and a calm home environment, Jake has enormous potential to heal from his trauma. He is currently receiving mental health services and will need the support of his foster parents to stay on a path of growth and healing.
Youth like Jake are referred to CCR daily. Keeping up with family therapy meant Jake needed to stay close to his family in Northwest Wisconsin. Unfortunately, CCR did not have a foster home in the right location to accommodate Jake.
No matter what county you live in, we would love for you to consider fostering older kids. We desperately need homes in all corners of the state to place as many youth as possible in loving, stable homes. Please contact us to explore how to become a foster parent.
* To protect the identity of all children, real names are never used in any CCR blogs or social media posts.
