Sedgwick County, Kansas – Refusing to speak and behind in her schoolwork – it wasn’t until the third time that former program participant Andrea was connected to Youth Advocate Programs (YAP™), Inc. in Sedgwick County, Kansas – that she opened up and began to flourish.
Andrea is one of approximately 20 youth in the youth justice program and one of two who were child welfare participants assigned to YAP as an alternative to group home placement. Many of the young people are homeless, couch surfing or even sleeping in social services offices.
Kansas Program Director Vanessa Alexander said Andrea started out rebellious, refusing to speak to staff and was behind academically.
“However, with patience and persistence, YAP staff were able to start bringing Andrea out of her shell,” Alexander said. “Within 30 days, Andrea was engaging and meeting her hours. Within 60 days, Andrea was assigned to a YAP Supported Work site where she amazed her foster care team, probation officer, and YAP workers with her strong work ethic and performance on the job. Within 90 days, YAP had helped identify a kinship placement for Andrea, who had been ‘bouncing’ from place to place daily within the foster system, carrying everything she owned in backpacks everywhere she went. We are excited to see where this youth who came to YAP lost, homeless and hopeless, goes in the future.”
She was paired with YAP Administrative Manager Debra Arnett who served as her Advocate who was patient with her and eventually gained her trust. It took 30 days before she opened up, Arnett recalls.
“Andrea just flat out refused services before,” Arnett said in reference to the first two times she was referred to YAP. “I think some of it this time around is that she’s just tired and really wants help. Her biggest barrier has been trust. She’s been in foster care since she was 4 years-old. People always promised her things that they didn’t deliver.”
However, Arnett was able to deliver, by offering YAP’s wraparound services – known as YAPWrap™ support – and care to Andrea by letting her know she was safe with her. YAP’s evidence-based model is centered in delivering culturally and linguistically responsive services by hiring neighborhood-based Advocates and mobile behavioral health professionals trained in empowering young people with tools to see and nurture their strengths.
Since August, Arnett has been Andrea’s YAP neighborhood based-Advocate who supports her with individualized economic, emotional and educational tools to help set her on a path to success.
YAP is a national nonprofit in 35 states and Washington, D.C. that provides community based alternatives to youth incarceration, residential care, and group home foster placements. The agency partners with public systems to provide community-based and behavioral health services as an alternative to out-of-home placement. YAP also uses its unique wraparound services approach to help cities curb community violence.
“In the past [Andrea] was combative and aggressive. I’ve been working with her and I had faith in her. I think that is where I got Andrea to open up,” Arnett said. “She didn’t really take care of herself and looked depressed. Once we started engaging, she started doing her hair and her nails. She did that on her own.”
The 18 year-old is also doing well in school and is on track to graduate in December. She works at a movie theater taking tickets, at the concession stand, and helping to clean up, thanks to YAP Supported Work, a YAP service where program participants are matched with employers close to home in fields that align with their interests and strengths. The hope is that the paid employment turns into a permanent job.
“When she first started working there she was good at all aspects of her job but was closed off to customers,” Arnett said. “Now they say she’s come out of her shell and is amazing at her job. We have not had one issue with her.”
Arnett, a former social worker, couldn’t be happier to see Andrea become confident and hopeful.
“In other jobs you plant seeds and you don’t always get to see the benefits of it,” she said, adding, “but with YAP you get to see the fruits of your labor. At YAP you get to plant the seeds and get to see them grow. You get to meet kids where they are.”
To learn more about YAP, visit yapinc.org or follow the organization on X at @YAPInc.
