November is National Adoption Month, and this year’s theme is Empowering Youth: Finding Points of Connection. Throughout November, we will be highlighting our recruiters who work tirelessly to find connections and homes for the children in Vermont waiting for their forever homes.
Meet Ashley Sargent
Title: Wendy’s Wonderful Kid’s Recruiter
Years of Service: 12
Ashley is a Wendy’s Wonderful Kid’s Recruiter in the Lund Adoption Department and works with youth in the Franklin and Chittenden County areas to find connections, recruit families, and help youth achieve permanence. She enjoys using games to build connections with the youth she works with—a fun and faster way to get to know one another.
How do you build a connection with a new youth you are working with?
In my role as a Wendy’s Wonderful Kids Recruiter, it is so important to build connections with the youth and establish trust. One of the ways that I work on those connections with youth is to interact through playing different games. One of the games that I particularly like is Jenga with a twist. I created a version of Jenga where each Jenga piece has a number on it, and the number corresponds with a question. While playing the game if I pulled a Jenga piece out with the number 7 on it, the question might be “What is your favorite food?” I would answer the questions and then allow the youth to answer the same question so we can get to know each other better.
Another simple activity is having a bowl of M&M’s in front of us. I ask the youth to take the amount of M&M’s they would like, and based on how many they take they tell me that many things about themselves. For example, if they take 8 M&M’s, they would tell me 8 things about themselves (only if they choose). I encourage them to tell me what they think I should know and only if they feel comfortable sharing the information.
What is your goal with using these games?
My goal is to allow youth to feel safe and build positive relationships when they might not feel that sense of security during this time of their life.
How has playing games to build connection been successful?
I have found that when first having conversations with youth it works well to play games so that they feel more at ease and not like I am asking them a million questions while sitting face to face. I’m able to build a rapport more quickly when interacting in these ways. The social benefits are wonderful as well—it creates space for the youth to be vulnerable, increases empathy, promotes mindfulness, and teaches them how to express their needs and feelings confidently.
