A Note From Our Staff

"The Beauty In Me

When I think of the term “the beauty in me,” two words come to mind: self-esteem and identity. One of BEST Kids’ goals in working with our youth is to help them gain self-esteem by seeing concrete results of something they worked hard on. Self-esteem is the confidence we have in our own worth or abilities. It is garnered by intentional self-love and self-respect. How often do we, as people, challenge ourselves in this area? How often do we doubt ourselves and focus on our deficits rather than our strengths? Just think, if we, as adults struggle with this how much more of a challenge could this be for youth in foster care who are battling traumatic circumstances and constantly searching for their true identity?

This is one of the reasons the mentor-mentee relationships BEST Kids’ stewards are so key. We work extremely hard to ensure that our youth are connected to mentors who have a heart to see the best in them and to keep their best selves at the forefront. This is why we strongly encourage our mentors and mentees to come up with goals that actively work towards building up our youth’s innermost beings. This is why BEST Kids keeps the importance of fostering healthy relationships at our core. Our youth need this level of love and support in order to continue to build up their self-esteem and courage within themselves.

I personally take joy in knowing that we are not simply a program solely focused on building up the youth externally (academically, physically, or socially). But we care deeply about seeing our youth thrive as a result of being confident in the beauty they carry within and being assured of who they are. Our goal is to build upon their strengths and dismantle any thoughts that their deficits or lack in area is what defines them. We believe whole heartedly that there is beauty in each and every one of the youths we serve and we will continue to make sure they understand the importance of self-value, self-worth, self-love, and self-respect. If one can show these beautiful attributes to themselves, just think of how easy it will be for them to spread this positive energy to others, ultimately making the world and the communities they reside in a better place.

Dan'Talisha Deans
BEST Kids Staff
Development Director