CULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS: VIDEO – “A CHILD OF THE STATE”
In Lemn Sissay’s TED talk “A Child of the State,” he describes his experiences growing up in the English foster care system in the 1960s and 70s. Sissay, the son of a single Ethiopian immigrant woman, was forced into foster care and a foster home when he was born because state social workers believed placing him with a white nuclear family was in his best interest. His mother had planned for her son to be in foster care for a short period of time while she was in school. Sissay explains in the video: “But the social worker, he had a different agenda. He found the foster parents, and he said to them, ‘Treat this as an adoption. He’s yours forever. His name is Norman.’” This social worker took Sissay away from his mother, his name and his cultural identity.
Sissay describes his childhood in foster care and institutional settings, and his journey to find his family as an adult. Through telling his story, he maintains that children in foster care deserve our respect, not our pity – “You can define how strong a democracy is by how its government treats its child. I don’t mean children. I mean the child of the state.”
Watch the video below.
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CASA for Children is committed to our goal of ensuring the highest quality advocacy possible for all children in the child protection system, regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, expression, or disability status – that’s why we are now highlighting resources to support the CASA network’s journey to becoming more inclusive, welcoming, affirming and culturally considerate. Explore more Cultural Considerations articles.