"This past February, nine teenagers in foster care geared up in their warmest winter apparel and snowshoed two and a half miles to a cabin in Jackman, Maine for a three-day retreat and intensive Getting Beyond the System Self-Advocacy Workshop... The teens divided into teams and developed self-advocacy strategies, at the same time taking first steps toward planning for their futures." And so a new learning adventure in being well informed and confident begins.

We have written before about the work of New York's Youth Advocacy Center and were once again impressed with this one-to-one learning experience in which the participants enjoy arguing mock cases that portray young people just like them.

This particular exercise was the idea of Shaun Taudvin of Casey Family Services, who said that a lot of the youth he works with have no idea how to advance. What he saw was an opportunity for raising aspirations and inspiring young people to think critically.

A success? Yes, and Shaun has already started bringing more youths at his organization into the GBS programs.