Meet Justin and Alexis Black!
Justin and Alexis are former foster youth who bring a special outlook on life. With creative drive and their entrepreneurial spirit, the Black family is providing voices for children in foster care. We all have different past experiences which is common amongst us all, yet many children in foster care have experienced far more events in their childhood than most can relate.
Many of us do not have first-hand experience being in foster care, but Alexis and Justin Black bring a prospective to life from their past experiences that is both motivating and refreshing. In October of 2020, Justin and Alexis released their new book Redefining Normal. Through the pandemic, the opportunity arose to share their family’s story, advice, and insight to their past lives. Justin and Alexis Black journey is a beautiful success story that shows not just one but two foster youth who have now found love and are helping others in foster care successfully transition into adulthood.
One of our favorite descriptions which Justin and Alexis share in Redefining Normal is understanding the role of foster parent when supporting foster children.
Alexis shares in part three of Redefining Normal; “When children have no safe port in the storm of their own feelings, the anger turns inward and results in lashing out, hysterics, and other destructive ways of seeking attention that are often misinterpreted by others, causing the child to repeat unsuccessful forms of communication with others.”
In raising awareness and providing proper care for children in foster care, we must be their “safe port”. Justin shares that the best way to do this is by viewing our role as a “puzzle piece”. We each have a unique role in supporting children in foster care and can be active in that role by striving to listen, comfort, and “speak life” to those in our influence.
Alexis and Justin Black provide many opportunities to help us identify our role in supporting foster children while growing in our understanding of others “normal”. Some of the many ways to become involved include purchasing Redefining Normal and listening to Justin’s insightful podcast ROSE from Concrete.
Read Redefining Normal Listen to ROSE from Concrete
We’d also like to invite you to learn more about how you can actively provide care for children in foster care by completing the Care Provider Form below.