From Nancy Trevino-Schafer:
I try to do all of my work with youth in foster care and their caregivers or other caring adults using a positive youth development approach and emphasizing a strengths-based perspective. When I talk about trauma-informed practices, I begin by discussing the basics of adolescent development. I have found that this helps to point out that youth in foster care are not “worse” than their peers and that much of their “defiant” behavior is often them testing their boundaries and developing their autonomy and identity, just like other youth their age. Then I move on and discuss some of the effects of trauma on development and some of the things that might be different than their same age peers. After that, I like to discuss easy to implement tips and tools for helping youth to develop skills and strategies they need to be “successful” in society.