Resources for Reunified Youth

Reunification is a term that refers to the process of when a child or teen is sent back to live with their biological family after spending time in foster care.
What happens to children and teens who experience foster care, and are sent back home?
What resources exist to help them succeed?

Top Five Local Resources for Reunified Youth:
*Hopefully, some of these resources might exist in other Ohio counties as well. 

1. Franklin County Children’s Services has an Asset Building program for youth ages 14-17 years old who are reunified with their biological families. The young person needs to call the FCCS Intake Line at (614) 229-7000, and ask specifically for the “Asset Building Program.”
2. Buckeye Ranch has a Same Day Assessment program for counseling. In the assessment they will talk with the young adult about what services would best support them, including in-home, or community based outreach. Teens can consent to their own treatment on a time-limited basis.
   
   (Directions for Youth offers outreach services to youth ages 5-18, but not sure if teens can consent to their own treatment).
3. Achieve More and Prosper (AMP) is a free program for youth, ages 14 – 24 years old, who need help with financial issues, limited job options, low wages, unreliable transportation, and lack of support with a personal advocate and a range of services. Here’s a link to their online application.
4. Huckleberry House provides a 24-hour Crisis Shelter for teens ages 12-17 who are homeless, who have run away and/or who are dealing with a crisis at home. Youth can go to a designated Safe Place site for immediate assistance and support. Safe Places include: Kroger, White Castle, the Fire Station, every Columbus Metropolitan Library branch and Worthington Public Library locations.
5. The Franklin County Youth Advisory Board is a great local resource for peer support and advocacy opportunities. Link to sign up and get involved. 

It never hurts to reach out the young person’s school as well. Some schools provide bus passes and other academic support resources.

2018 National Estimates of Homeless Youth

Source:  HUD's 2018 Annual HomelessAssessment Report to Congress

Our foster care system is failing teens on a national level

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Planning ahead for DC in 2019

Broken Bridge Between Youth-Serving and Adult-Serving Systems

Lack of access to existing services by former foster youth is a national problem:

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Part of this is that there needs to be a better bridge between youth-serving and adult-serving systems:

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Employment and Education Outcomes for Ohio Foster Youth By Age 21

Ohio has a fractured safety net for transitional youth in general, and this is especially true for young people "aging out" of foster care.

1.) Ohio ranks dead last in the nation when it comes to state funding for child-protection services.

2.) Our child welfare services are county-administered, with 88 different children services agencies with varying levels of taxpayer support.

3.) It is important for young people with a foster care history to know about about available resources, and to have the skills to navigate (often complex or disjointed) systems to access them.

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Love this story from Angie, my college friend

Yesterday (her son) disobeyed, and he was put in a time-out and lost his screen time:

He took this piece of paper and he drew a very small circle and he said, "This is how much I love you."  Then, he took another piece of paper, and drew large circles to represent all the other people he “loved more” than me. 

I picked up the first piece of paper, with the tiny circle, and said, “I understand you are upset with me because of what’s happening but this is how much I love you even though I’m upset with what you did.”  I drew a very large circle covering the whole page.

His eyes widened, his tight shoulders released, and his face relaxed into a smile. He took a moment, and then drew an equally large circle and said, "This is how much I really love you - and I’m sorry I didn’t do what you asked - and I’m sorry I ate the cookies”.

I realize that even though he misbehaved, he inherently felt shame and he reacted in anger towards me instead of accepting what he had done. When I responded with reassurance that I still cared about him, he felt safe again and took responsibility and moved forward. 

Just thought I would share this moment, because when I drew my circle I didn’t expect the response from him that he gave, I just wanted him to know that his mistakes in childhood would never change my love, for him and that every one of us needs to accept what we do and take responsibility -- but that’s so much easier when you know you are supported and loved.

Benon Lutaaya: Collage Artist

Benon Lutaaya, Johannesburg, South Africa

Patrick Bremer: Collage Artist

Patrick Bremer, German collage artist

Scheduling a Visit With Your District Office

Many thanks to foster care youth, alumni and allies for signing the online petition in support of the Fostering Stable Housing Act.

Let’s keep working together to remind federal legislators about the need for housing opportunities for former foster youth between ages 18-25.


The Fostering Stable Housing Opportunities Act has passed United States House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee. The next step is consideration on the Floor of the House. In the meantime, a partner bill (that mirrors this one) is also going through the United States Senate.

During the month of September, we are reaching out to foster care youth, alumni and allies throughout the nation, and asking them to reach out to their local district office about this issue.


1.) Who is my legislator?

Here’s a link to find out. You can put in your zip code.
We are also trying to reach specific legislators from specific states. If you live in that state, please reach out to them.

2.) How do I schedule a meeting?

You can call and make an appointment, and say something like this:

“Hi, my name is __________ and I am a constituent of your district. I am calling to schedule a meeting with your office regarding important issues related to housing and child welfare. Is Congressman/Senator [NAME] available to meet with me on [DATE]? If not, could you let me know some dates that he/she or a staff person might be available to meet? Thank you so much for your time.”

3.) How can I prepare for the meeting?

You will want to read over, and be familiar with these Talking Points.
(And please keep us posted in advance of your scheduled visits, in case we can be of support).

If you want to know more, it might help to look at:

– a statewide youth board’s Letter of Support

–Federal Testimony on behalf of a foster care alumna

– a Detailed Support Letter from the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare

4.) What information should I bring to the meeting?

You can print a copy of the Talking Points and the Turner bill summary, and give them to the legislator and/or their staffer.

5.) How can I follow up after the meeting?

You will want to keep a copy of their business card, and write a thank you letter afterwards.


Please keep us posted, and know that we are here to support.  I’m a former foster youth myself, who experienced homelessness within a year of “aging out” of foster care. But I aged out in 1989 – so why are our brothers and sisters of the system still struggling with this (predictable and fixable) issue?

We can and we must end the Foster Care to Homeless Pipeline – together.

We need the Fostering Stable Housing Opportunities Act to pass, in order to help former foster youth between ages 18-25 with housing.

The latest research demonstrates that even when states extend foster care supports to 21, there are still barriers to housing:

Findings Regarding Housing Options for Young Adults in States That Have Extended Foster Care Supports to Age 21

• Housing program is at capacity.
• Housing program is not eligible to serve young adults in extended foster care.
• Housing program does not receive child welfare funding.
• Young adult does not meet the program's eligibility criteria.
• Caseworker did not inform youth about or refer young adults to the program.
• Young adult was referred to but not selected by the program.
• Licensing or other regulations limit potential housing options.

My husband is my constant

Support with Reconnecting With Bio Families After Foster Care

--> Adoption Network Cleveland recently created “Reconnections Support” to support former foster youth who are trying to reconnect with members of their biological families…  Through one-on-one and peer support, this program focuses on helping young people navigate those relationships, set realistic expectations, and maintain healthy boundaries.

As foster care youth and alumni, this challenge of how to reconnect with biological family members after foster care can be complex for each of us:

- Some of us are contacted by family members who try to take advantage of us financially.

-  Some of us seek out and are finally able to connect with our long-lost sibling - but the process of rebuilding that relationship can take time.

- Some of us reach out to family members and experience rejection.

- Some of us try to talk with parents about previous abuse or neglect, and the parent denies it ever happened.

From the time when I first “aged out” of foster care to my volunteer work ever since, I have both witnessed and experienced these complications. Trying to reconnect is complicated, and I am deeply grateful that Adoption Network Cleveland has created this statewide resource to help.

Anniversary Steak

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Photos from Carly's Wedding

Link to more photos.

Nathan and Lisa's 18th Wedding Anniversary

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The 18th wedding anniversary is the "cook your wife steak with a blowtorch" year -- or at least that's what the hubby tells me. The steak was delicious!

Developmental Relationship Framework

The Search Institute first created the 40 Developmental Assets, and has recently been exploring the Developmental Relationship Framework.

Time for ACTION to end the Foster Care to Homeless Pipeline

Youth who age out of foster care face many challenges during our transition to young adulthood – but our greatest challenges are related to housing. When you don’t know where you are going to sleep tonight, this makes it harder to succeed when it comes higher education and employment.

The Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness was our nation’s first-ever comprehensive federal plan to prevent and end homelessness. It was presented to Congress on June 22, 2010.

The idea behind it was that change would take place in the following order:
1.) End chronic homelessness by 2015
2.) End Veterans homelessness by 2015
3.) End homelessness among families, children and youth by 2020
4.) Set a path to ending all types of homelessness by 2020

It's strange that, from the very beginning, the mission of ending youth homelessness was ranked so low a priority on the timeline.  Why and how could ending chronic homelessness precede ending homelessness for youth?. 

If you look at homelessness as an overflowing bathtub – why not try to turn off the faucet first?   Our young people are Ready to Launch into adulthood.  If we don't help them now, they are likely to become chronically homeless later.

Obviously, 2015 has passed, and chronic homelessness has not been alleviated. 

They have since separated out:

• Ending homelessness for unaccompanied youth under 25  
• Ending homelessness among families with children

So, what's their plan to end homelessness for unaccompanied youth under 25 by 2020?

It looks like this. 

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It's a data strategy, rather than an action strategy. Their plan is highly based on point-in-time counts, numbers and data -- which, when it comes to youth aging out of foster care, they already have.

Chapin Hall research has demonstrate that one in five foster care alumni report being homeless for some period of time after emancipating from foster care. Without investment, the cycle will continue: 1 in 4 homeless adults is a former foster child.

Likewise when it comes to transitional youth, they also have the data.

If the below diagram was their preliminary vision back in 2010, then how has it evolved since then?  And how involved have homeless youth and young adults been in shaping that plan?

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12 years later...

Sweet surprise at my foster parent training on Friday - from a young person in foster care that I met and gave books to back in 2006. He still has the books.

Thousand People of Genoa Project

It's been a weird week, with car problems and what not. Then, I go to work and discover that I've been chosen for second part of the Thousand People of Genoa project.

The intention was to capture 1,000 portraits of the people in Columbus, which will all be exhibited in Genoa next year. Photographer Timothy Costa said he wanted to celebrate “the warmth and kindness of the people of Columbus.” So, that was pretty sweet of him.