December Face of a Foster Care Graduate -Dr. John Seita
December 4, 2009
Our December feature comes to us from Michigan. He is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at Michigan State University and has published 4 books; In Whose Best Interest ?, God is in the Kitchen and other Everyday Miracles, Kids Who Outwit Adults, and his most recent is a joint publication with our November featured graduate Waln Brown called Growing up in the Care of Strangers that features stories from 11 different former foster care children. Please welcome John…….
John --- Age 12 when he was ordered by the Court to leave Cleveland. He was put into long-term residential care in Michigan.
Name: John Seita
State: Michigan
Occupation: Assistant Professor and Author
Marital Status: Married
Website: www.johnseita.com
Blog: http://careofstrangers.blogspot.com
Favorite source of inspiration: Working towards changing Foster Care.
John Seita holds a doctorate from Western Michigan University where a
scholarship for foster care alumni has been established in his name http://www.wmich.edu/fyit/scholarship.html.
Dr. Seita is a former youth at risk who beat the odds. He was removed from his mother’s home at the age of eight and spent the remainder of his childhood and adolescence in multiple foster homes, detention facilities, group care settings and on the streets. Abused and neglected as a child, his journey though children’s institutions and countless foster homes was a litany of degradation and humiliation.
His unrestrained anger at his mother and the child welfare system led to a childhood of bitterness, loneliness and one where he fought with adults, counselors, teachers, house parents, childcare workers and anyone else who crossed his path. His understanding of how to reclaim challenging youth is based upon his own journey of 15 placements out-of-home placements.
John has dedicated his life to teaching and training future social workers about the challenges and strengths of young people who are aging out of the foster care system. Drawing upon his own experience and leading edge research on evidence-based best practice, he has given workshops and keynote presentations across North America, Europe and Australia that have provided insight into evidenced-based practice and skill- building models for parents, teachers, social workers and others who are providing care to children and youth in the foster care system. For more information on John’s bio, visit http://www.wmich.edu/fyit/about.html.
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3 Responses to “December Face of a Foster Care Graduate -Dr. John Seita”
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Wow, what an inspiration and amazing man you are! I would love to speak to you by phone some time. Please visit my website.
For the children,
Lin
This is another inspirational person who has himself suffered much in his life and has overcome the worst to become a success story.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Fostercarer, Fostercarer. Fostercarer said: Great to see input into'the system' from one who knows it well – Dr John Seita at http://www.fostercareinamerica.com http://ow.ly/R3wv [...]