Supporting Youth in Care as They Navigate Challenging Times: Understanding Rights and Advocacy Pathways in the Context of Systemic Harm

Youth in foster care are often placed in systems shaped by structural inequities that limit their autonomy, agency, and access to support. Many experience instability, decisions made without their input, and rights that exist on paper but are difficult to exercise in practice. These challenges are compounded for youth who are multiply impacted by racism, classism, ableism, adultism, sexism, cisgenderism, and other forms of systemic harm.

This session explores the relationship between youth rights, systems of power, and the many forms of advocacy that can emerge in response. Advocacy is not always formal. It can be relational, quiet, everyday, or collective. It can look like a young person asserting their preferences, asking questions, or choosing connection. Participants will examine the conditions that limit or expand youth advocacy and explore their own roles in either reinforcing or interrupting those patterns. Together, we will move beyond surface-level compliance to explore how professional practices can help shift systems toward accountability, care, and long-term support for youth in care.

Learning Objectives: Participants will…

1. Understand the foundational rights of youth in foster care and the systemic forces that impact how those rights are experienced.

2. Examine how decision-making structures, institutional barriers, and interpersonal dynamics affect youth agency and access to support.

3. Identify both formal and informal strategies to support youth in navigating systems related to placement, education, healthcare, and permanency.

4. Explore practices that interrupt systemic harm and reinforce accountability, agency, and care in everyday interactions.

After attending this session, attendees will be able to:

1. Describe key rights youth in foster care are entitled to, and how those rights are constrained by systemic harm.

2. Identify 2–3 systemic factors that commonly limit youth advocacy and self-determination.

3. Demonstrate 1–2 practical strategies to support youth in navigating their rights and making empowered decisions.

4. Apply approaches that move professional and caregiver roles from control and gatekeeping toward shared power and long-term support.