“It takes a village to raise a child,” this now, well-known African proverb aptly describes exactly what is needed in order to help transitioning teens from foster care become happy, healthy and successful adults. Adults who some day will be raising the next generation of little villagers.

In our first installment of It Takes a Village, we discussed Step I: Community Needs Assessment/Environmental Scan. In our second, third, and fourth installments, we began discussing Step II: Prioritizing Strategic Needs & Issues and Operationalizing Plans. Understanding the most pressing needs and issues of the village will allow us the opportunity of addressing them the best way possible and to finding solutions.

Under Step II, we have discussed the educational life of a young villager, life skills and daily normalcy matters, and Life-long Connections and Relationship Development. Today, we will look at Employment – one of the true end goals of a transitioning villager.

When we, or a least I, speak of employment, I think of the following: To support each young person in garnering a living wage, increasing opportunities for advancement, and developing a career path. Ok, so I also think of a young villager popping over to “McD’s” for a part-time job flipping burgers. After all, we learn best by doing, and if we are going to learn how to participate in the workforce we must be in it. But, as the village elders, we must remain focused and cognizant that our ultimate goal around employment for transitioning villagers needs to remain long-term; with lots of baby steps in between.

Most young people from middle-class village families are not finding well paying employment until their mid to late twenties. Due to the need of post-secondary education (whether vocational or collegiate), establishing a career that “pays your own way” is a rarity for the late teenager and early 20 something population living in America today.

While education needs to be a teen villager’s “full time job,” so to speak, engaging in the world of work and earning money can greatly enhance a growing teen’s self-esteem and level of maturity. Thus, while work should never replace an educational focus for a teen in foster care it can absolutely teach a growing young person time management, teamwork, and personal responsibility. Moreover, it introduces them to the social and professional expectations of what it means to be an employee. And they also get the side benefit of what it is like to “work for the man.”

Working a part-time job for teens in care who are keeping up with their school and personal responsibilities adds another positive dimension to their life. With a life skill component, supported and/or coordinated from the teen villager’s primary caregiver, focused on employment skill/readiness (everything from preparing a resume to “how to dress for success,” and how to professionally carry oneself in the workplace), a young adult in care can become more well rounded and a better employee.

As a teen villager is transitioning from care, employment needs to be part of their life; though usually it will be in a part-time capacity initially. Approximately 75% of all post-secondary school attendees in America work, at least part-time; no matter whether in vocational school, private school, or a public university. Further, their grades, attendance, and rate of graduation are not negatively affected. It is especially important for transitioning teens to be engaged in the world of work, because after all, without income, how are they to pay their bills?

The village experts with regards to employment and/or employment training should be fully engaged in order to buttress a community system of care aimed at supporting work for transitioning teens. Workforce programs should begin to engage teens when they turn 16. Further, the business sector, the village folks with the jobs, should be sought in order to gain their wisdom, leadership, and resources with regards to employment opportunities. Many businesses, themselves, have training programs specifically geared toward their industry; thus, may have a job waiting its village graduates.

Ultimately, employment, self-sufficiency, and interdependence are the final goals of a community’s efforts to support transitioning teens from foster care. One caveat, however, a village or system of care should not expect that transitioning villagers will be different from other young villagers in the general population; even with employment training and a job, most will not be able to live self-sufficiently until well into their twenties.

Finally, to wrap up this edition of village-speak, a healthy village for a transitioning teen requires a coordinated, incrementalized approach to moving a young person into the workforce. Each transitioning villager needs to be prepared (job readiness), eager (must understand the value of working and earning an income), and afforded the opportunity (helped with finding a J-O-B) for employment. And be given lots of opportunities at messing up, as they become more professional in their work abilities.