Foundation 2 mentor empowers foster care teens

CEDAR RAPIDS - Above Shelby Holsapple's desk in the office she shares with another Foundation 2 employee, one of the signs hanging on the wall says 'Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young.”

It's a message Holsapple instills in the foster care teens and young adults she works with.

For nearly three years, Holsapple has worked as a case manager for the not-for-profit Foundation 2 human services organization based in Cedar Rapids. Through that position and in her office in Hiawatha, she helps run the Iowa Aftercare Services and Achieving Maximum Potential (AMP) programs for foster care youth.

Holsapple, who spent some of her childhood in the system herself, didn't always envision working with teens in foster care. But when she started working at Foundation 2, Holsapple said she realized how important it was to show others - and the teens themselves - that foster care youth deserve a chance to define their own lives.

'I don't share my story publicly with youth because I don't want it to take away from their stories,” Holsapple said. 'It's not something that defines me and it's not something that defines them.”

Holsapple brings some of the teens she works with to foster parent training meetings to show them how important it is to welcome teens into their home.

'A lot of foster parents come into the foster care system looking to take in younger kids,” she said. 'Sometimes teenagers are scary. They might be 16 or 17, but they still want that permanency feeling of the home, the family. They've been through some things, but they're also really mature and they're really great kids.”

As the program facilitator for AMP in Cedar Rapids, Holsapple meets with 20 to 35 foster care teens or young adults twice a month. The group, open to 13 to 21-year-olds, meets to have a meal and develop leadership and advocacy skills in between, Holsapple said.

'I get to teach them to advocate for themselves,” Holsapple said. 'So often in the foster care system, you have adults making decisions for youth: (Iowa Department of Human Services) workers, and lawyers and judges and guardians. They're not asking the youth what their end goal is or what they want. AMP really gives youth back their voice and say you have the right at age 14 or 15 to go to court hearings. You have the right to get an education.”

Holsapple said AMP, a statewide program, allows its participants to set the organization's legislative agenda for the year and advocate for what they want at the Capitol in front of legislators. There is no better way to see teens in foster care empower themselves, Holsapple said.

In the past, AMP youth have advocated for bills that allow former foster care youth to stay on state Medicaid programs until 26 and declare that kids in foster care have a right to see their siblings.

Holsapple also is one of three aftercare case managers at Foundation 2. The program, for 18 to 21-year-olds, helps young adults transition out of foster care. The program provides a support system and helps participants with everything from understanding rental leases to applying for financial aid for college.

In both programs, Holsapple provides guidance, or just an ear to listen.

Celia Van Meter, who was involved with AMP and now attends Kirkwood Community College, said Holsapple was the first person she called after a recent job interview.

Holsapple said those are just some of the moments she enjoys as being a mentor for foster care teens.

'I've seen that happen in AMP a lot: youth that come in angry and then they're in the leadership roles because ... they feel supported and they feel safe,” she said. 'I've seen them grow.”

l Comments: (319) 368-8516; makayla.tendall@thegazette.com