The Foundation for Child Development has released a report on the impact of the current economic recession on children.

They project that the percentage of children living in poverty is expected to reach 21 percent by 2010, and that many gains in family economic well-being since 1975 will be eliminated.



Graph from Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Major Federal Legislation Concerned With Child Protection, Child Welfare, and Adoption, Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2009


Source: Child Welfare Information Gateway

As recently recognized by the Ohio Child Welfare Training Program, former foster children can be engaged to generate positive change within the child welfare system in the following ways:

Foster Care Alumni as Consultants
• As work team members
• At state committee meetings
• At special events (i.e. conferences)
• As a regular featured column in child welfare publications
• As co-interviewers of selected trainers
• As observers of trainers
• As experts to provide technical assistance to trainers
• As curriculum content experts

Foster Care Alumni as Trainers
• As trainers – (age 18+ and no longer in the custody of children services)
• As co-trainers – (age 18+ and no longer in the custody of children services)
• As panel presenters in workshops
• As guest speakers in the training room
• In media (video-clips, distance learning, GoToMeetings)

Foster Care Alumni as Curriculum Developers
• As content experts
• As contributors/authors

Labels: child welfare policy, child welfare trainers, consultants, curriculum development, engage, foster care alumni, foster care alumni of america, foster care youth

1.) Foster Care Alumni of America's mission is to connect the alumni community and to transform policy and practice, ensuring opportunity for people in and from foster care: http://www.fostercarealumni.org/

2.) FosterClub provides online networking and the opportunity to apply to become an All-Stars, and travel the country inspiring their younger peers and infusing youth perspective into the child welfare system: http://www.fosterclub.com/

3.) The National Independent Living Association is committed to enhancing the futures of young people by promoting quality services including technical assistance, youth advocacy, and support mechanisms to assist youth who are making the transition into adulthood: http://www.nilausa.org/

*Please note: Now that the Casey It's My Life conference is on hiatus, the annual NILA conference is the primary conference that facilitates interaction between foster care youth, foster care alumni and child welfare professionals this year.

4.) Orphan Foundation of America is the country’s leading provider of scholarships for foster youth pursuing higher education. They have a virtual mentoring program to support students seeking higher ed: http://www.statevoucher.org/

5.) Youth Communication helps teenagers develop their skills in reading, writing, thinking, and reflection, so they can acquire the information they need to make thoughtful choices about their lives: http://www.youthcomm.org/

Labels: aging out, chat, foster care alumni, foster care youth, online forums, online resources

As a former foster child, current youth advocate and co-founder of the Ohio chapter of Foster Care Alumni of America....I am so excited about this Ohio Reach May 12th event!

Back in 1989, when I entered college as a 16-year-old ward of the state in the custody of a legal guardian named Mrs. Virginia Combs, there were NO foster care liaisons.

There was only an admissions counselor at the University of Kentucky named Randy Mills who read my transcript, reviewed my ACT scores, met with me in person, and decided to take a chance on me.

I grabbed that chance, and ran with it. Mr. Mills didn't know that I would finish college and graduate school. He could not predict that one day I'd be offered the privilege of being a state leader in a national organization that exists to connect former foster children and positively transform the child welfare system.

Ohio Reach is important because there are 1,300 young adults "aging out" of the Ohio foster care system this year. They will face the adult world, in the midst of a recession, armed with only their courage, their dreams, and their endless potential.

If one person in their lives invests in them and offers guidance, without wanting anything in return, as they try to obtain the higher education that can pave the way for their future, that can make ALL the difference in terms of their future.

The goal of this project is to establish foster care liaisons at every Ohio community college and university, in order to address recruitment and retention of emancipated foster youth in Ohio’s higher education system.

Labels: college, foster care youth, Ohio, ohio reach

Tonight, a wave of sadness swept unexpectedly up the banks of my emotional shore and pulled me in with its undertow.

And so, I asked myself: "What's beneath the waves?"


1. I'm sad that there isn't going to be a Casey "It's My Life" conference this year. Every year, this conference revitalizes the hearts and rekindles the energy of foster care youth, alumni and allies.

We need it more this year than ever: Young people are "aging out" of foster care in the midst of a recession.

Ohio folks have been planning for the 2009 IML conference ever since the 2008 one.

FCAA member Ryan Dollinger and I had hoped to co-present a "When Helping You Is Hurting Me" workshop about boundaries with bio-family members and/or when helping other foster care youth/alumni.

My logical mind knows that the only thing to do is:
- Figure out another way to compile and share this information by other means
- Channel my energies into Ohio conferences this year
- Google my little librarian heart out and find out some other national conferences to present at...

And I will DO these things.

But there is something about the Casey "It's My Life" conference that is incredibly special and incredibly unique, and the fact that it's not going to take place this year is just such a shame.

2. I'm sad that after all this time, we still have such a long way to go.

I gotta admit... I am flat-out baffled by the decisions and practices of some organizations:

- Why opt for token involvement of foster care youth/alumni rather than empowering them as current and future leaders?

- Why invite youth to go to DC, without providing a stipend that is sufficient to cover their meals?

- Why put young people in the spotlight to showcase a program, without taking the time to realize that:

a. They are homeless
b. They are in deep emotional pain over something that happened during the event
c. They are struggling (at school, at work, in some other area of their life)

3. I'm sad because I wonder: Is what I do ever going to be enough?

That's the real question beneath all of this.... isn't it?

As a leader, I sometimes feel like Sisyphus rolling an enormous rock up a mountain, only to see it roll back down on its own weight.

I volunteer in my position for the Ohio chapter of FCAA. I have a full-time job that I need to be faithful (and, in this economy, incredibly productive and proactive) in. I have a marriage to maintain and two stepdaughters whom I love, love, love because they hang the moon.

I need to juggle these things. How do I do this?

Well, so far I:
- Take/make phone calls in my car while I'm driving to/from work
- Schedule foster care events on my days off work (or work extra days to make up for them)
- Spend every lunch hour at work (no kidding) working on some aspect of foster care reform

So far it has worked out:
- I was rated "Distinguished" two years in a row at work (highest rating a person can receive)
- I'm still married, love the man, and we are currently refinancing our house
- My stepdaughters hung the moon at our house last weekend and shared songs and skits (Flight of the Conchords, not theirs) last weekend.

But it has to KEEP working because:
- I remember when I first "aged out" of foster care, and what it was like to have unmet needs, but didn't want to overburden people

- I remember making sure I alternated who I asked for help about things, because when you don't belong to anyone, you have to be careful who you ask for help because they will get tired of hearing from you.

- Which is why it breaks my heart that there are foster care youth and alumni all over my state today who are facing the world (in a recession) feeling this degree of being alone.

- Which means that TODAY I must maintain a healthy level of emotional reserves so that I can be there for them when I can, refer them when I can't, and still be there for the family I've built for myself today.

- Or else I WILL be pulled in by the undertow - and I can't allow that to happen, because then I won't be helpful to anybody.

When I wake up tomorrow morning, I will have bounced back from this. I know this about myself.

Why?
- Because the work is WORTH it
- Because everything that we are doing now can and WILL make a difference

But I share this internal struggle because... we all have them. Let's admit it. And just as our scars remind us that the past was real, our struggles remind us that the work we do is worth it.

Comic from my favorite online artist, Ozge, who captures the beauty and wisdom of Ordinary Things:

One of the projects that I am working on right now is a national survey of programs that enlist foster care youth and alumni as child welfare trainers. Ohio's statewide child welfare training system would like to better incorporate the voices of first-hand experience into child welfare training in our state.

Labels: child welfare trainers, foster care alumni, foster care youth, octwp