Weekend Wisdom: How Do I Teach Safety Skills to a Foster Teen Without Being Overprotective?
How can you build safety skills for foster teens without becoming so protective that they feel you don’t trust them? Older youth who have experienced neglect, unsafe adults, exploitation, family disruption, or other trauma may need extra help learning to recognize risk and make safe choices as they gain independence.
In this Weekend Wisdom episode, we share practical ways to build relational safety, practice decision-making before a crisis, set clear expectations without making them feel controlling, talk about friendships, dating, peer pressure, and online safety, and surround teens with trusted adults they can turn to for help. The goal isn’t to prevent every mistake—it’s to help young people recognize risk, think through their choices, recover when things go wrong, and know they always have a safe place to land.
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Resources:
- Strengthening the Connection with Your Tweens & Teens
- Navigating the Internet with Adopted or Foster Tweens and Teens
- Advice for Foster & Kinship Parents from Former Foster Youth
Music Credit: Michael Ashworth; Podcast Producer: Megown SoundWorks;Photo by Kindel Media: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-mother-and-her-daughter-smiling-7977944/