Lifeset Gave Shylann Tools to Cope with Anxiety, Succeed in School

Lifeset Gave Shylann Tools to Cope with Anxiety, Succeed in School

Imagine this scenario: You’re a dormitory resident assistant (RA) on a college campus. A winter storm comes through, dumping several inches of snow and lowering temperatures below freezing. Then, the dorm’s pipes burst. Suddenly, your residents have no water—to drink, shower or even flush toilets. They all are looking to you for help and guidance.

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A Lifeline of Hope

A Lifeline of Hope

Young people who experience foster care are resilient and capable. Still, they need support as they move toward adulthood.

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K’laja’s Journey with Youth Villages

K’laja’s Journey with Youth Villages

K’laja is currently enrolled in Youth Villages’ LifeSet program, an intensive support program designed to help youth actualize their goals of self-sufficiency and independence as they prepare to age out of foster care. Without these supports, young people face far...

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Youth Villages Routes Mariana’s Life Course

Youth Villages Routes Mariana’s Life Course

When many teenagers enter their junior year of high school, their life pathways are somewhat charted. For some, the path leads to college. For others, a trade or technical school. For still others, finding employment. But often that path is set up starting with the...

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Learning How to Cope

Learning How to Cope

Nineteen-year-old Trinity has learned many life skills through the Youth Villages LifeSet program, which serves as a bridge from foster care to successful adulthood and helps young adults build the skills they need to live independently and successfully. After a few...

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Achieving Goals – Ayla’s Story

Achieving Goals – Ayla’s Story

High school is difficult for any teenager, but for a teen facing issues at home, those challenges can become even more daunting. It is even more difficult as 18 approaches. Ayla endured years of uncertainty and trouble at home. She was finally placed at a center due...

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Amani’s LifeSet Story

Amani’s LifeSet Story

Amani, 19, spent over three years in the foster care system due to instability in her home. During that time she was placed in the care of relatives – a kinship foster placement, often the best for children.

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Brandy Finds Her Path with LifeSet in Middle Tennessee

Brandy Finds Her Path with LifeSet in Middle Tennessee

Brandy was a thriving junior in high school when her world turned upside down. Her mother died of a stroke, leaving her and her younger sister unsure of what would happen next, including whether they could stay together. Luckily, Brandy had an aunt who took guardianship of the girls during her senior year of high school.

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How does it feel to “age out” of foster care

How does it feel to “age out” of foster care

Every year, approximately 20,000 young people turn 18 in child welfare systems without ever being reunited with their biological family. Ary, a young woman receiving help in Youth Villages Oklahoma’s LifeSet program experienced the ups and downs of that big birthday.

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Serena is taking control over her future

Serena is taking control over her future

Serena’s success from foster care to adulthood, with a little help from LifeSet. Serena first entered foster care when she was 16 years old. “When you are taken into foster care, you feel like you lose everything and lose control over your life,” Serena said.

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Scholars like Ali show how to ‘defy the odds’

Scholars like Ali show how to ‘defy the odds’

When Ali graduated from college this year, she decorated her cap with a special message. “I chose to put ‘defying the odds’ on my graduation cap because statistically, I shouldn’t have even gone to college, let alone graduate,” Ali said. “But I did both!”

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Turning Points LifeSet helps Jamyra Achieve Her Goals

Turning Points LifeSet helps Jamyra Achieve Her Goals

Jamyra was on her way to becoming just another negative statistic — a former foster child who failed to become an independent adult. But, just when the young woman needed help most, Turning Points for Children partnered with Youth Villages to bring LifeSet to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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Julia beats the odds

Julia beats the odds

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the United States, affecting 40 million adults, or 18% of the population, age 18 and older. Julia is a 19 year old in our LifeSet program who has struggled with anxiety her entire life.

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Hope in the Middle of Despair

Hope in the Middle of Despair

An Open Letter to my Brothers and Sisters the World Over: My one birthday wish for today…a gift of healing for the world. My heart is broken… I don’t know how else to say it. Never in my lifetime have we, as one race (the human race), faced such challenges as we do...

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“I Am Janie”

“I Am Janie”

On April 2nd, Janie’s Fund launched the I Am Janie campaign in conjunction with Sexual Assault Awareness Month. With the participation of influencers like Jane Lynch, Terry Crews, Rumer Willis, Derek Hough, and Mia and Chelsea Tyler, the campaign has brought...

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If you or someone you know may be experiencing abuse or neglect, please call the Childhelp® National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) or visit childhelp.org/hotline/ for help. Anyone can report suspected child abuse or neglect, and reporting can save a child’s life. For state-specific info, visit Childwelfare.gov. Your call can protect a child and get help for a family. Contact Us

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