Should I Take in a Spanish-Speaking Foster Teen With a Baby? - Weekend Wisdom

Question: I was just asked to take on a Spanish-speaking teen with a baby. Do you have any resources to address fostering a teenager with a language barrier, as well as supporting her in developing adult skills and independence? She comes with a complicated history involving immigrating here on her own. 

Resources:

• Welcome an Older Child to Your Home (Resource)
• Former Foster Youth Voices (Resource)
• Helping a Child Heal from Trauma (Resource)

Transcript

Please pardon any errors, this is an automated transcript.
- Welcome to Weekend Wisdom by Creating a Family. This is our opportunity to answer your questions. So please send us your questions. You can send them to info @creatingafamily .org.
So I'm gonna jump right in. Our question today is from Suzanne. I was just asked to take on a Spanish speaking teen with a baby. Do you have any resources to address fostering a teenager with a language barrier as well as supporting her in developing adult skills and independence?
She comes with a complicated history involving immigrating here on her own. What a lot this young woman is going through and how scared she must be. I am so really so glad Suzanne that you are considering stepping up for her.
So it seems to me that there are several layers to your question. First, let's talk about the initial period time when she's in your home. Now, if she's been in the US for a while, she may have more receptive language skills than you realize,
but it's good to go in with the expectation that she won't. So your interactions at the beginning with her will mostly be a game of charades and using Google Translate. But most of what you need to communicate at the beginning will be easily accomplished with these tools.
Simplify what she really needs to know about your house and routines at the beginning. In other words, make it easy for her to fit into your home. And something that I would suggest when she is first placed in your home is to find someone who is fluent in Spanish to meet with the two of you,
preferably coming to your home, to help her tell you in detail what she needs and how she is feeling. You can also express through the translator what your role will be and that you're here to support her and the baby.
And if there are confusing family rules that are hard to pantomime, then you can include those in this discussion too. But the real purpose behind this is to allow her to feel heard.
You know, think about it. It must be terrifying to be in her position and not be able to express herself or to be understood. To find her translator, Ask around any groups you belong to or church,
synagogue, or mosque. Let your friends know that you are looking and they may know someone. Also, if there's Spanish -speaking businesses in your community, reach out to them as well. Try to find a Spanish -speaking pediatrician for the baby,
because you want her to be as involved as possible in the care for her child. And I know you're limited to what child welfare will pay for, but often in areas, particularly when there's a higher population of Spanish -speaking people,
the many of the pediatricians will have someone on staff that can translate. So in other words, ask around. And while you're at it, do the same for a doctor for her. As time goes on,
one skill she's going to need is to learn English. And I'm assuming that she's going to be in school, and that's something that they're going to be working on. But ask around if there are English classes that she can attend if she's willing.
And you're correct that one of your roles with this young woman will be to help her become a fully functioning adult and mom. Fortunately, many of these types of skills are taught by showing rather than telling.
Unfortunately, of course, some are not. I don't know her age and how long she's going to be with you. However, it would help to prioritize the skills that you think she needs the most and figure out ways to make them as visual as possible.
Fortunately, most of the baby -related skills, especially with little babies, are easy to show. Things like budgeting are a little harder, but for example, you can make budgeting more visual by using the envelope method.
My last suggestion is to make sure you join the Creating a Family support group. It's a closed Facebook group. It has lots of been there, done that, folks that can truly help you with very practical suggestions if you decide to foster this young woman here,
baby. You can check out the Creating a Family Facebook group at facebook .com /groups /creatingafamily or you can just put in Creating a Family in the Facebook search box and it will pop up there as well.
Good luck with this decision. And for everyone else, remember that we would really, really, really love for you to rate and review this podcast. That is how the podcast apps are supposed to rate podcasts is through reviews and your ratings.
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And I will see you next week.