[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-150204-en":3,"doc-seo-150204-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":11,"language":21,"language_code":22,"site_id":23,"html_lang":22,"table_of_contents":24,"faqs":25,"seo_title":26,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},150204,687197207057,"Sage","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_29158cc5080c5b710cf443261637dec0",7,"Healthcare","Tree of Life Exercise in a Family Finding and Permanency","Tree of Life exercise supports vulnerable youth by strengthening safe identity and reducing the risk of re-traumatization before exploring traumatic experiences. The document explains how this approach connects to Family Finding and Engagement (FFE), a strategy to discover family members, fictive kin, and other key people to build permanent supports for youth aging out of care. It outlines challenges in identifying connections, the need to engage people respectfully, and how the Tree of Life helps participants see youth beyond problem labels.","Tree of Life Exercise in a Family Finding/Permanency  \nContext  \nWhat is the Tree of Life?  \nThe Tree of Life exercise was created by Ncazelo Ncube of REPSSI in South Africa and David Denborough of the Dulwich Centre in Australia (Denborough, 2008; Ncube, 2006) . This exercise was designed for use with vulnerable youth as a means to assist them in standing in safe territories of identity before exploring the difficulties of their lives. Ncube and Denborough were initially working with vulnerable youth in Southern Africa. Ncube had found it difficult to get the young people to speak about their traumatic experiences and wanted to design a method that would allow them to connect with their intentions for life and ways that they had responded to difficult situations before delving into the effects of the trauma. Once the youth were standing in these preferred identities the risk of re-traumatizing was reduced and space was opened up to engage around the traumatic experiences. Many others have applied this exercise in a variety of contexts (see Dulwich Centre website) .  \nWhat is Family Finding and Engagement?  \nFamily Finding is a methodology originally created by Kevin Campbell in the United States. Many youth within the foster care system in the United States were aging out of care without having any permanent connections to natural supports. Campbell utilized search methods initially used by the Red Cross to find family members who had been disconnected during war in such places as Rwanda. He realized that these same strategies, plus others, could be employed to help find family members for youth stuck in the foster care system. It is estimated that most families in the U.S. have between 100-300 members (Kevin Campbell direct communication) . Although there has been some effort to reach out to extended family members when a child is in need, too many of the almost 400,000 youth in foster care in the U.S. will leave the system without lifetime connections to adults. Family Finding and Engagement is a strategy designed to discover family members, fictive kin, and other important people in the life of youth in order to establish permanent connections for those in foster care.  \nThe initial step in the FFE process is to discover at least 40 family members (again, this can include fictive kin, important adults, and anyone the youth or guardians might consider ‘family’) . Although some search strategies include using the internet and combing through documents, the most useful approach is to ask the youth or other known family members to identify people. This can be tricky as many of these youth are stuck in an identity version of themselves as damaged in some way which can lead them to believing that they don’t deserve connection or that others wouldn’t want to connect with them. While situated in this construction of identity they often find it difficult to identify people who might become lifetime connections or to even talk about anything ‘hopeful’ as hope can lead to disappointment and rejection. At the same time, with the best of intentions, many of those responsible for the care of these youth neglect to consult them about their own lives. Decisions are made on their behalf and they can easily get disconnected from any personal agency as it relates to their situations. In  \nthe face of these circumstances youth may shut down when an attempt is made to discuss people who might possibly join a lifetime support network. This silence is then interpreted as the youth not wanting connection and can lead to caregivers giving up on the search.  \nAnother area of difficulty in this process occurs after family/natural supports have been identified and found. Now the task is engaging people in ways that invite them to participate in the life of the youth beyond their time in foster care. This can be tricky for a number of reasons. Sometimes family members are angry with the system and have felt disrespected by those who now have custody o","cbCaiqjBuHgFfNSh","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiqjBuHgFfNSh","pdf",142710,1,"English","en",105,"# What is the Tree of Life?\n## What is Family Finding and Engagement?\n## Utilizing the Tree of Life as a Discovery Tool","[{\"question\":\"What problem does the Tree of Life exercise aim to address for vulnerable youth?\",\"answer\":\"It helps youth stand in safe territories of identity before exploring difficulties in their lives, reducing the risk of re-traumatization and creating space to engage with traumatic experiences.\"},{\"question\":\"What does Family Finding and Engagement (FFE) involve?\",\"answer\":\"FFE is a strategy for discovering family members, fictive kin, and other important people, so permanent connections can be established for youth in foster care.\"},{\"question\":\"Why can it be difficult to identify and engage family members in FFE?\",\"answer\":\"Youth may feel they do not deserve connection or struggle to discuss hopeful possibilities, and caregivers may interpret silence as disinterest. After supports are identified, family members may be angry, fear reconnecting, or hold limiting stories about the youth, making engagement challenging.\"}]","Tree of Life Exercise in a Family Finding and Permanency | PDF",1787815466,18,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":23,"language":22,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":86,"head_meta":88,"extra_data":90,"updated_unix":27},"tree-of-life-exercise-in-a-family-finding-and-permanency","",{"@graph":35,"@context":85},[36,53,68],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,47,50],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":46},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/tree-of-life-exercise-in-a-family-finding-and-permanency/150204/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":22,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":40,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-04","2026-08-27",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"What problem does the Tree of Life exercise aim to address for vulnerable youth?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"It helps youth stand in safe territories of identity before exploring difficulties in their lives, reducing the risk of re-traumatization and creating space to engage with traumatic experiences.","Answer",{"name":78,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":79},"What does Family Finding and Engagement (FFE) involve?",{"text":80,"@type":76},"FFE is a strategy for discovering family members, fictive kin, and other important people, so permanent connections can be established for youth in foster care.",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"Why can it be difficult to identify and engage family members in FFE?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"Youth may feel they do not deserve connection or struggle to discuss hopeful possibilities, and caregivers may interpret silence as disinterest. After supports are identified, family members may be angry, fear reconnecting, or hold limiting stories about the youth, making engagement challenging.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":51,"og:type":87,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":89,"canonical":51},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":23},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":92},[93,97,101,105,110,115,118,123,128,131,135],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},40,"healthcare",{"id":119,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":127},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":126,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":130},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":132,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":133,"show_sort_weight":132,"slug":134},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":136,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":137,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":138},19,"General","general"]