PLA Blog

Okay I am among the late writers of final sessions attended. Saturday I blogged until 8 a.m. and still made it to an 8:30 session on Libraries and Foster Teens. There were three speakers and three distinct parts to the program:

            Home for a while – Using Literature to Understand foster Teens

The literature covers the three themes of Guilt, where kids feel responsible and have remorse; Impermanence, due to lack of a permanent home; and Resilience. The good news was that kids find wells of resourcefulness from within, due to experience making them grow up beyond their years. We as librarians can make available the materials written about their experiences, then they do not need to feel so alone. Books written about and by foster kids can inspire us to develop services that will make their lives better.             Navigating the Labyrinth: Explorations in Service with Foster TeensLibrarians can be of service to both the teens and the adults who help them. We need to develop a policy and also lines of communication with agencies and the teens themselves. We can offer life skills information, opportunities to volunteer but mainly a welcoming, safe place to be.             Seeking Their Voices: Explorations in Service to Foster TeensLibrarians need to get involved, establish community connections, offer the services libraries are so good at. Make a special effort to welcome all kids. Give out your business card to establish personal contact. Give a fresh start by clearing fines. Show how to look for jobs, write a resume, and prepare for an interview. Look up the 10 Steps to begin Outreach to foster youth and organizations available on the PLA website.  I made new friends waiting for something to drink between sessions and went with them to Superhero or Serial Killer: Librarians in Literature.You really had to be there - we had to stifle much of our laughter not to miss the next hilarious comment! We all agreed it is better to be a librarian now than in earlier times when several were killed through horrible means. Librarians certainly come from all walks of life – at least in literature! I am already missing the energy of PLA and hope I will be back to make more connections in 2010.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 at 7:56 pm and is filed under PLA Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.