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The Voice of Youth In Care Newsletter Project Launch
The Voice, 2013 (Photo Credit: John Chiasson)
Sandy MacDonald, the current director of The Voice, addressing the amazing work of the youth this year. (Photo Credit: John Chiasson)
Andrew Safer, a founder of The Voice, with the three recipients of the Andrew Safer Award: Alexandra Randolph, Tamara Cooper, and Kimber Wesley. (Photo Credit: John Chiasson)
Stefan Illsley reading "A Letter to the Minister of Community Services." (Photo Credit: John Chiasson)
K'jipuktuk (Halifax) - The 13th edition of The Voice was launched on Wednesday, May 15th, 2013. The Voice is an annual newsletter project put together by youth in care, former youth in care, and youth on income assistance.
The Voice was initiated in 2000 and directed by Andrew Safer, who saw the need for youth in care to have a safe place to share their experiences, their strengths, and their hopes, as well as to develop writing skills, public speaking skills, and emotional awareness. Since the beginning, over 135 youth have been involved in the program, which runs for thirty weeks each year from October until June. “When this project began, we thought that the best thing would be for youth in care to have a voice. Give them a voice, give them their own publication” Safer commented in an interview. Youth are referred to the program by social workers, group homes, or by the foster care system. This project operates through the Youth Voices of Nova Scotia Society, a non-profit organization.
Sandy MacDonald, the current director of the program, began working with the project in 2008. MacDonald commented in an interview on his experience with the youth in care saying: “it is so inspiring for me, coming from a stable home, to see how well these youth manage adversity.” When asked how he believes this program helps youth in care, Macdonald explained “a lot of the youth work a little bit harder in school, their confidence is boosted, they become more comfortable with themselves and their common shared experience of being in care.” But the most important thing is that “they show up, they continue to show up, and to me that is amazing.”
Being able to be in the audience of this newsletter launch was an inspiring experience. I felt blessed to have the opportunity to listen to the youth each stand up and share a piece of their written work. These youth put an incredible amount of effort and heart into this project, despite facing barriers in multiple aspects of their lives. Many of them spoke to their frustrations experienced in the school system resulting from stigma and a lack of knowledge surrounding youth in care. In an interview with Alexandra Randolph, one of the contributors, she expressed her frustrations about school: “I don’t like the people at school because they stereotype you. My strength comes from my close friends and my family members. At The Voice, there is always someone to talk to about what is going on in life, and it is a break from life where I can just be myself.” In Randolph’s published piece on stereotyping youth in care she writes: “People that have heard of group homes are more likely to be thinking about the negative things, like the youth living there are not ‘normal’. People need to understand we are just like everybody else and some of us do have goals for the future and some of us actually do achieve those goals.” When I spoke with Randolph, she expressed excitement about the future and her goal is “to be an entrepreneur and to travel a lot.”
Barbara Negus shared that the most useful thing she has learned from participating in this project is: “we all learn how to treat each other well.” Negus commented that the most difficult thing about being in care was “not being able to see my family.” Negus aspires to be a Veterinary Technician, and expressed that her favorite thing about being a part of the voice is “being able to express my feelings and have a good time.”
The writing assignments they explore each week include topics such as stereotypes, goals, fears, friendship, and letters to the minister. Stefan Illsley wrote a letter to the Minister of Community Services addressing how to make his life better. In this letter he diplomatically addressed areas surrounding clothing allowance, policies, and recreational spending for youth in care. It is evident in reading their newsletter and hearing these brave youth capture the audience with their spoken word that they are wise beyond their years and have an abundance of knowledge surrounding policy and social programs in Nova Scotia.
This newsletter proves to be a space in which youth in care can come and learn, be themselves, and get their voice heard by the community. To download a copy of the newsletter and to learn more about this project, check out the website: www.youthnewsletter.net. Two thousand hard copies of this newsletter are also printed and distributed annually around the community.
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