Under One Sky Self-Discovery Journey Camp
Opportunities for youth in foster care to make lasting peer and mentor relationships,
prepare for their next move and realize their inherent potential
Program Description
2016 Camp Season
Under One Sky Journey Camp invites children living in foster care between the ages of
11-17 into a mentoring community of caring adults to help prepare them for the next
phase of their lives, including adoption, new or continued foster placement, aging out of
foster care or reunification with birth family.
A dedicated staff of 15 professionals provides two weekends and one week-long
residential camp to the same, returning group of 24 children in spring, summer and fall
2016. Staff has been working together for five years and provide children with consistent
mentoring as they encourage their emotional and social growth and inspire life, work and
creative skills.
Our program targets children who are designated Level I and Level II; children
designated Level III will be evaluated for eligibility on an individual basis. We will
carefully review each youth through our intake process that includes an individual
meeting with the social worker and separate meeting with the youth to help determine if
the child is likely to be successful in this environment.
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Objectives
1. Prepare youth ages 12-17 for a healthy transition to the next phase of their lives
(stepping stones toward their future may include reunification with birth family,
adoption, relational permanence with a support adult, a new foster care placement,
continued secondary education, post-secondary education, vocational training or
aging out of foster care)
2. Develop youths’ healthy behaviors, coping mechanisms and self-efficacy skills in
order to promote positive relationships and the ability to successfully seek out social
settings and environments that support their own positive development now and in the
future
3. Cultivate internal leadership proficiencies that promote self-leadership as well as
leadership within various social and work venues
4. Establish permanent connections to a mentoring community of supportive adults as
well as positive, lasting and meaningful peer relationships
5. Explore life path goals and assess what is needed to achieve those goals, what already
exists and what needs to be developed
6. Create opportunities for youth to reclaim their self-esteem/self-worth, promote a
sense of belonging and acceptance among peers
7. Develop or deepen creative skills and life skills such as communication, writing,
building/carpentry, film making, photography, art, music, cooking, etc. that enhance
self-confidence, self-esteem, self-awareness and provides opportunity to meet with
success, which in turn stimulates the desire to be successful in other aspects of life
8. Build skills that will prepare youth to assist and mentor other youth in navigating a
successful journey to adulthood
Key Program Components
1. Overnight camp experience that includes one week (6 days) and two weekends
(3 days each) for a total of 12 days (youth stay in winterized camp cabins)
2. Intake is done individually with each youth’s social worker at their agency, then
youth are invited to enroll during a personal visit at their residence by the Camp
Director
3. Initial weekend camp gives youth the choice of whether or not they want to
continue in the program
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4. Opportunities for youth to engage in collaborative creative projects and to
immerse youth immediately into a project that captivates and intrigues them;
when youth are engaged with a collaborative project they are invested in – the
project becomes a classroom with inherent opportunities for discovering one’s
own gifts (building, design, leadership, etc.) and for therapeutic, social,
educational, and learning experiences
5. Activities are chosen by youth, creating a safe container for making choices,
mistakes, accepting responsibility, and providing opportunity for redirection
6. Talking circles encourage youth to speak authentically and listen
compassionately, which provides opportunities for trust-building, selfreflection/awareness, and connection; talking circles will explore attitudes and
beliefs about adoption and other forms of permanency, life path dreams,
relationships and sharing one’s own story
7. Youth identify attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that they want to release and
those they want to invite into their lives; they also have the opportunity to create
a vision for their lives that is big enough to change as they grow
7. Social workers receive a written summary of camper’s performance after each
camp via email
Why this model?
This model is based on the successful strategies of Under One Sky Passages Camp 20042009 and Journey Camp 2011-2015 based on the following philosophies:
 Youth learn from each other and have greater opportunity to make positive shifts
in attitudes and beliefs in a group peer setting, rather than individually
 Youth respond positively and whole-heartedly when they are given choices in
designing activities and creating future plans
 Youth have the ability to make critical decisions that will shape their life path
given the freedom, guidance and encouragement from adult mentors
 Youth develop healthy and often lasting peer relationships, and experience
belonging when they can share their stories and experiences with other youth in
foster care
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Investment
Ownership
Reclaim
one’s gifts
Best self
Motivation
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Bond
Trust
building
Peer support
Connection
Go deep
Create
Choices
Self-direction
Community
collaborative
projects
Staffing & Camp Location
Each overnight camp maintains a minimum 4-1 ratio of staff to youth and includes two
full-time overnight leadership staff. In addition, instructor-mentors, which are project
specific, and mentors in leadership training (former youth in foster care who are 19 and
older), may also be present.
Camp is held in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina in the Asheville area
at Lutheridge Camp & Conference Center in Arden.
Under One Sky Village Foundation is a non-profit, Asheville-based mentoring
community of caring adults helping prepare children in foster care for the next phase of
their lives, including adoption, new or continued foster placement, reunification with
birth family and healthy transition into adulthood.
Contact: Diane J. Delafield by phone: 828-645-4116 or by email: [email protected].
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