Resources
YESolutions believes in collaborating and promoting best practice for betterment of the child welfare and mental health fields. We are proud to work closely with several leaders in these systems and have many of these organizations listed as resources on our Links page. Below are resources that may be helpful to both youth and adults who work to promote positive outcomes for youth. Check back often, as we will update this page regularly with new resources.
The 3-5-7 Model
The 3-5-7 Model is a child-driven practice approach to prepare children/youth, families and professionals to assist children and youth in doing the work of grieving the many losses they have experienced through traumatic family environments and numerous placements living in the child care placement system.
- The three (3) tasks of the model engage children and youth in clarification activities (Life Books, Loss Lines) to recognize the events and losses of their lives; integration activities (Life Books, puzzles) to assist them in building and rebuilding relationships through the attachment process; and, actualization activities to assist them in visualizing future.
- The five (5) conceptual questions support the work of the three tasks addressing the issues of identity formation, loss and grief, attachment and relationship building, and feelings of safety as they move towards belongingness and permanency with others. These questions are: Who am I? What happened to me? Where am I going? How will I get there? When will I know I belong? By answering these questions, the answer to why will reveal itself and guide the planning and decision making process.
- Seven (7) skill elements assure the work of professionals and parents to engage, listen, be truthful, validate, create safety and recognize that the work for children and youth is to resolve and heal the pain of the past.
Doing this work is about the heart of all of us…encouraging the expression of pain and hurt in a supportive relationship that connects behaviors to loss and the resultant behaviors that range from sadness despair and depression to anger and rage. Through the experience of learning the techniques and theories of this 3-5-7 Model, workers and families become comfortable in exploring these hurts and learn patience in supporting the expression of their pain. As a feelings practice, the use of this model has shown that children and youth do the work in grieving losses and are able to move forward towards permanency in relationships. It is based in the theories of child development, grief and loss, attachment and trauma-based concepts.Use of the 3-5-7 Model provides a practical, doable approach. It involves a three-fold plan to prepare children/youth, prepare families/caregivers, and prepare professional social workers and therapists to work collaboratively to support the grief and attachment work that children and youth will be doing. It enhances the work of Family Finding activities and Family Group Decision Making conferences
Permanency Pact
Youth transitioning from foster care are often unsure about who they can count on for ongoing support. Many of their significant relationships with adults have been based on professional connections which will terminate once the transition from care is completed. It is critical to the youth's success to identify those adults who will continue to provide various supports through and beyond the transition from care. Clarifying exactly what the various supports will include can help to avoid gaps in the youth's safety net and misunderstandings between the youth and the supportive adult.
Through FosterClub's Permanency Pact this relationship between a foster youth and supportive adult can be navigated.
