Why hair care is important…
Did you know that Hispanic, Black and LGBTQ+ youth are overrepresented AND underserved in foster care?
It's true. These youth and young people remain in foster care longer, are adopted less frequently, and must overcome discrimination, trauma, and other foster care hurdles to find success.
Ticket to Dream created their Ally program to meet these youths' unmet needs and to boost feelings of self worth. Have you heard of Ticket to Dream (TTD)? TTD matches resources to the needs of foster children across the nation. Foster Forward has been a recipient of these resource matches, receiving winter boots, shoes, baby items, and even a bedroom makeover, as well as specific funding for various projects.
We are endlessly grateful for TTD! Their new Ally program enabled us to host a series of three hair care workshops for foster parents caring for children of color.
It's not uncommon for foster parents and foster youth to have differing races and ethnicities, which results in confusion on how to care for different hair textures. Hair is connected to self-worth. Think of how many of us love getting our hair cut, colored, brushed and/or styled!
With the help of a professional stylist, our workshops helped foster parents learn the basic fundamentals of textured hair, how to properly care for textured hair, some basic hairstyles, and what types of products to buy.Foster parents practiced on mannequins and were also given products to take with them. Two of our Works Wonders participants also came to help with the workshops and offer their experience and expertise.
We want our foster youth to know that they are cared for and respected, and we want foster parents to feel confident in their abilities to care for foster youth with different hair textures.
Thank you to TTD, the foster parents in attendance, our stylist, and the Works Wonders participants for making these workshops a beautiful success!
Sincerely,
Lisa Guillette
Executive Director,
Foster Forward
P.S. Are you interested in becoming a foster parent? Right now, the state of Rhode Island is in particular need of more foster parents of color to support foster youth and young people.
