Children enter foster care when their family is going through a crisis, and foster care gives the family an opportunity to resolve conflicts.  Foster care is a temporary arrangement that gives the youth’s family a chance to learn healthy skills so they can safely return home.  There are over 10,000 youth in foster care in Kentucky as of March 2019 according to KVC Kentucky with at least twenty-seven children in foster homes in Letcher County.  

The Letcher County Family and Consumer Sciences Agent was contacted to do a training for the Letcher County Foster Care Review Board.  The Letcher County Family and Consumer Sciences Agent contacted the coordinator of the Foster Care Review Board and planned a 6 hour training.  The Letcher County Family and Consumer Sciences Agent, Agriculture and Natural Resource Agent, and the 4-H Youth Development Agent along with the Kentucky State Police joined together to present a program that included human trafficking, bullying, walk your land, and the adolescent brain.   

Evaluations showed:

• Participants had a good understanding of human trafficking before the program with 100% having an excellent understanding after the program
• Participants had an average understanding of the affects that bullying can cause to youth before the program with 100% having an excellent understanding after the program
• Participants had a good understanding of increased methamphetamine use before the program with 100% having an excellent understanding after the program
• Participants had an average understanding of recognizing danger and long term effects to the teenage brain before the program with 100% having an excellent understanding after the program
• 100% of the participants stated they felt like what they learned during the training provided them the ability to lead more effectively

Comments made were “I found this information helpful and will share what I learned every time there is an opportunity” and “This is the best training I have had”.