My 2020 Advocacy Goal is Persistence

The primary definition of persistence is: "A firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition."

Let's keep on being persistent about the things that matter.

Persistence can also refer to: "Continuing to exist or endure over a prolonged period."

Such is the case when it comes to the voices of Ohio foster care youth and alumni from 2006 - current.

Columbus Foster Care Forum, during which 11 foster care alumni were able to share testimony

Click to enlarge picture, and visit this link for more photos

Foster care alumna and Children Services Transformation Advisory Council member Juliana Barton was able to work with amazing allies at CSCC and the Council in order to hold a dinner/pre-meet before the Columbus Foster Care Forum. This provided a personalized opportunity for participants of Columbus State’s Scholar Network for former foster youth to share their insights with the Council.

Office of Children Services Transformation Director Kristi Burre and Policy Manager Kari Akins made it possible for participating foster care alumni to fill out testimony slips ahead of time. As a result, 10 foster care alumni were able to share testimony during the Columbus Foster Care Forum. (Eleven, if you count Cloe reading mine, because I was able to take photos, but my voice was gone. I remain deeply grateful to Cloé Cooper for reading my testimony aloud during the forum and being my voice).

Kristi Burre started off the forum by stating that, “This evaluation of our system is a long time coming and we know there’s a lot of work to do.” She explained how an Executive Order by Governor Mike DeWine (who is a long-time champion of Ohio foster care youth/alumni) led to the creation of the Council.

 Just as in his former role as Attorney General, DeWine held a series of Child Safety Summits, in his current role as Governor, he directed the council to host a series of forums: “All are invited to attend, and those with lived-experience with the foster care system are encouraged to submit testimony.”

This was one of ten Foster Care Forums facilitated by the council.

It was great to hear from foster care allies as well.

Senate Caucus on Foster Youth Recognizes and Supports ACTION Ohio's efforts

A decade of making a difference: Senate Caucus on Foster Youth
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee
12/23/2019

Ten years ago this month, Sen. Mary Landrieu and I founded the bipartisan Senate Caucus on Foster Youth. We launched this caucus a decade ago to give voice to the thousands of young people in America who deserved a platform to break the silence on the challenges and success stories of foster care. This issue impacts every community in America.

Our caucus not only provides the platform, we encourage foster youth to participate and lead discussions on issues that matter most to them. It’s become a vital network for young people to connect with other youth in foster care and empowers them to share their ideas with researchers, advocates and lawmakers.

When I first got involved in foster care and adoption policy more than 20 years ago, I learned kids in foster care are the last ones to have a say in determining their future. If they are even asked at all. I learned older youth in foster care are brimming with innovative ideas to improve the system. And yet, they rarely had an opportunity to share those ideas with policymakers. When we launched the foster youth caucus in 2009, we made this a specific priority. Our mission was to ensure foster youth had a seat at the table.

Over the years, we’ve hosted discussions to consider barriers facing foster youth, including access to education, pervasive rates of homelessness and juvenile justice involvement, and substance abuse. We heard astounding stories of seemingly impossible success, as well as heartbreaking examples about things that are broken in the foster care system. The caucus invited stakeholders in the foster care system to learn about innovative programs working in communities across the country. We’ve followed up with researchers to understand why. But most importantly, we listened to the real experts on foster care: youth who have firsthand experience.

Listening directly to them has made a big impact on policy development and implementation. Time and again, foster kids tell us they want stability, a safe place to live, and a loving family. Many times, we heard testimonials from foster kids that if someone had just helped their parents, they might have avoided foster care in the first place. These conversations led to enactment of the Family First Prevention Services Act. This federal law reforms the foster care system to focus on what keeps kids safely at home, rather than bringing them into foster care.

One of the challenges facing older teens who age-out of the system without reunification with their biological family or adoption is homelessness. Once again, we heard from foster youth to solve the problem.

In 2013, ACTION Ohio, a group of foster youth and foster care alumni began advocating for changes in housing policy to access federal housing assistance. Although HUD’s Family Unification Vouchers were previously available to youth who “aged out” of care, this group flagged flaws in the program. We collaborated and crafted solutions. These efforts led to the development of HUD’s Foster Youth to Independence Initiative and my introduction in 2017 with Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) of the bicameral Fostering Stable Housing Opportunities Act. This legislation to make additional improvements to accessible housing for foster youth was reintroduced and is making its way through the 116th Congress.

In its first decade, the Senate Caucus on Foster Youth flexed its influence and made a difference. In the 116th Congress, nearly one-third of the Senate is on board with 32 senators from both sides of the aisle. Even in divisive political times, there’s a chord of bipartisanship to help kids in foster care.

All children deserve a safe, permanent, loving home and consistent, caring adults to parent them. Society owes a debt of gratitude for all those who work to achieve this goal. Foster parents, caseworkers, court officials and youth advocates are a lifeline to vulnerable youth. I commend foster kids and teens for speaking up, demanding action, and fervently working to improve a system that in some cases failed them.

As a co-founder and current co-chair of the Senate Caucus on Foster Youth with Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, I will continue listening and leading the way so foster youth are empowered to pursue their dreams like every child in America.

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

Columbus Dispatch Editorial Board endorses FSHO

Many thanks to the Columbus Dispatch Editorial Board for endorsing the Fostering Stable Housing Opportunities Act:

• "Brown and Grassley’s bill would offer a lifeline to former foster children who find themselves suddenly on their own and without the family support most young adults can count on."

• "Currently they have to join long waiting lists for housing vouchers through a federal program, and many become homeless. The Fostering Stable Housing Opportunities Act would make the vouchers available to aged-out foster youth on demand and in more communities."

The Fostering Stable Housing Opportunities Act passed by unanimous consent in the U.S. House of Representatives, and is currently being championed in the U.S. Senate.

Diffusion of Innovation

Adopting a new idea or behavior is a process - and some people are quicker to do so than others. 

1.) Innovators -tend to be eager to try it out; they might have helped design it in the first place
2.) Early Adopters - are willing to adapt to change and try out new methods/ideas
3.) Early Majority - respond to success and evidence of the innovation's effectiveness
4.) Late Majority - wait to see if the innovation really works
5.) Laggards - are skeptical of change and bound by tradition; they tend to be the last to buy-in

Strategies that can help promote buy-in to a new innovation (such as FYI Housing Vouchers for former foster youth) include:

1.) Explaining the why: They need to be aware of the need for this change. Why is the status quo not working?

2.) Explaining why this matters: Assuming they care about the big picture (i.e. improving youth outcomes) and appealing to their values.

3.) Coaching them through the how: They might at first perceive that the innovation is difficult/complicated. Offering them support and walking them through it can make a big difference.

4.) Asking the innovators and early adopters to try it out first, to prove it works: This evidence helps encourage others who might be fearful, uncertain or reluctant to be open to change.

5.) Gathering evidence: Tracking data in order to demonstrate tangible results.

We each have our personal journeys.

As a foster care youth, I was accepted into college at 16 years old, and entrusted to care of a legal guardian.

After being emancipated at age 17, and getting my own apartment, I tried to save a former group home roommate - and ended up homeless. Today, we have a workshop about this called “When Helping You Is Hurting Me.”

I couch-surfed. I slept on the college bus. I slept in college libraries.

I kept on working and going to school, and saved every penny I could.

I was lucky enough to find a future dorm/home in the UK Wesley Foundation I was able to make it through college and grad school.

That was forever ago —- and it doesn’t make sense that our nation hasn’t done more to help with housing supports since then.

The Fostering Stable Housing Opportunities Act is long-overdue.

During the 2018 trip to DC that Ohio foster care youth made, we had a legislative meeting with Senator Brown’s Office during which there were three of us former fosters in one room who had aged out at age 16, due to academic progress. And  yet, the tightrope when it comes to succeeding vs. ending up homeless hadn’t changed. They were youth and still fighting the same battles to survive that I had.

Our younger brothers and sisters of the system deserve better - and  things don’t tend to get better unless we work together to make them so. For a young person with a foster care history who is experiencing homelessness this is immediate and urgent, and not just some random issue that can be scheduled on a calendar.

 If you have the chance, please call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be transferred to your Senator's office. Please ask your Senator to co-sponsor The Fostering Stable Housing Opportunities Act (S. 2803) this week and move it to a vote next week. The Fostering Stable Housing Opportunities Act passed unanimously in the U.S. House of Representatives. Our hope is for the U.S. Senate to move forward and pass it THIS YEAR. ❤️❤️❤️

Inequity undermines foster care outcomes

In Ohio, social service programs are state sponsored and county administered. This is true for some other states as well -- but, according to the Center for Community Solutions, Ohio is unique in the degree to which we rely on local support of health and social service programs.

While all 50 states have property taxes, Ohio relies on locally-generated funds to support health and social services to a greater degree than most other states do.

This leads to inequity of resources, inconsistency of resources, and explains why, when it comes to social services, our state might seem to be doing the same thing 88 different ways.

Ongoing support for social services in each county is far from guaranteed. If local levies fail, agencies must determine how to maintain mandated services with fewer resources.

What would it take for our state to fund social services differently, rather than relying so heavily on local funds?

Let's get FSHO passed in the U.S. Senate

Click to enlarge picture

It has already passed unanimously in the U.S. House of Representatives...

Click to enlarge picture

Thankful for this year's early Thanksgiving dinners for foster care youth and alumni

2019 Central Ohio Thanksgiving

2019 SE OhioThanksgiving

2019 SW Ohio Thanksgiving

2019 NE Ohio Thanksgiving

“Despite the multiple ways that demands on Chafee-funded services have grown, Chafee has received minimal funding increases over the years. In fact, after counting for inflation, Chafee’s funding levels are about 30% lower now than when it was established” in 1999.

Source: Funding Supports and Services for Young People Transitioning from Foster Care by Lynn Tiede and Kristina Rosinsky, Child Trends, September 25, 2019

Senate version of Fostering Stable Housing Opportunities Act is introduced

The Senate version of the Fostering Stable Housing Opportunities Act was introduced this week by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA).

Senator Grassley is the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Senator Brown serves as Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.

The bill was introduced with no changes. The wording of this bill has been honed by foster youth for years, and they wanted to maintain its integrity.

1. Press Release
2. Thank you letter to Senator Brown
3. Thank you letter to Senator Grassley
4. Proponent testimony by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

20 years at CML

Miles wins 20 under 20 award

Click to enlarge photo

Link to more photos.

Op Ed by HUD Secretary Ben Carson

Young people enter our foster care system for many different reasons, but too many share a common story once they age out: They don’t have a stable home of their own.

One of our recent “Humans of HUD” spotlights here at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development features Adora, a young lady who was just a teenager when her mother died and her father returned to his home country. For Adora and her siblings, America was the only home they knew. But without their parents, they entered the foster care system and were shuffled from place to place. Imagine growing older and aging out of foster care, alone, without a home or any of the support young people need to set out on their own path. 

Each year, there are more than 20,000 young people with stories like Adora’s who age out of foster care. Shockingly, the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare estimates that 25% of these young people will experience homelessness within four years. 

Recently, it was my personal and professional point of pride to announce a brand new initiative: Foster Youth to Independence, a collaborative effort to combat homelessness among at-risk youth by targeting housing assistance to young people leaving foster care. HUD’s new program allows local public housing authorities to request tenant protection vouchers for young adults who have recently left foster care without a home to go to.

It is complementary to FUP, our Family Unification Program, and has three main goals:

 ▪ It will address the lack of availability of housing vouchers to young people in communities without access to FUP resources. 

 ▪ It will prioritize resources to our nation’s at-risk youth. Currently, young people encounter significant barriers to accessing affordable housing resources, including the FUP program. For example, local welfare authorities often prioritize families at risk of homelessness over single, young adults. This contributes to the fact that early-age populations make up only about 5% of FUP housing voucher recipients.

 ▪ This program will further HUD’s goal of ending homelessness. No person should experience homelessness. Not only will this initiative provide foster youth with housing, but it will also provide them with the tools they need to become self-sufficient through supportive services they can access for up to three years. 

Stable housing lays the foundation for a stable family and, in turn, a stable life. This program will work with local authorities to direct housing assistance to the young people who need it most. For too long, foster youth have been forgotten when it comes to affordable housing. HUD is committed to changing that.  

I am proud of HUD’s many efforts to help set forgotten Americans onto a path to self-sufficiency. No matter the obstacles, no matter how difficult the beginnings, anyone can rise to their potential in the land of the free. And at HUD, we are committed to making that dream a reality for all of America’s vulnerable — our young people included.

~ Ben Carson is secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

FYI Housing Vouchers Are Announced

Many thanks to the Ohio foster care youth and alumni 

who have worked for seven years

to make this happen!

Technical Details About FYI Housing Vouchers

Click to enlarge photo

What is the Foster Youth Independence Program (FYI)?

Since 2013, the FSHO Coalition, led by ACTION Ohio, has worked in partnership with the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare (NCHCW), elected officials including foster youth champions, Reps. Turner and Bass, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to study how to knit existing federal programs together to eliminate the gaps through which foster youth fall into homelessness.

The FSHO Coalition discovered that the best way to eliminate gaps is to synchronize existing programs such as HUD’s Family Unification Program (FUP), with the predictable nature of emancipation (the date a young person leaves state custody). FYI allows all local Public Housing Authorities to provide an “on demand” FUP voucher that is timed with a young person’s emancipation from foster care. In this way, existing federal resources, can be knitted together and used as a platform for economic success.

What is the Family Unification Program?

HUD’s Family Unification Program (FUP) is the only national housing program aimed at preventing family separation due to homelessness and easing the transition to adulthood for aging-out youth. HUD provides Housing Choice Vouchers (“Section 8”) to local public housing authorities (PHAs) who apply to administer the program. These PHAs are then required to work in partnership with the local public child welfare agency to identify youth and families to refer to the program. FUP has existed since 1990 for families and youth were added as an eligible population in 2000. Unlike families, young people participating in FUP receive vouchers that are time-limited to three years.

The impact of this relatively small program is extraordinary. Each year more than 75,000 children live in safe, affordable housing and avoid out-of-home placement and homelessness due to FUP. Since youth were added in the year 2000, more than 5,000 young people have received housing vouchers and their own, independent apartment upon leaving foster care.

How does FYI change FUP for youth?

Here is a Detailed Briefing Paper from HUD, and a link to Frequently Asked Questions.

Currently, FUP vouchers for youth come from an unpredictable pool of funding and are only administered by certain PHAs. FYI will address this challenge in two ways. It will provide a method for national consistency by allowing all PHAs to administer FUP. FYI will also make it possible to issue youth vouchers on demand, by changing the funding source to a flexible but little-known account at HUD called the Tenant Protection Account. Vouchers (TPVs) from this account can be issued “on demand” at the discretion of the HUD Secretary. To learn more about TPVs visit www. nchcw.org.

Who is eligible?

FYI does not change FUP eligibility for youth.

• The PCWA will certify that the youth is at least 18 years old and not more than 24 years old (has not reached his/her 25th birthday), that he/she left foster care at age 16 or older or will leave foster care within 90 days, in accordance with a transition plan, and is homeless or at risk of homelessness.
• Keep in mind that a housing choice voucher requires that an individual sign a legal document called a lease with a private landlord.
• Thus, the FYI Coalition recommends and research by the University of Denver indicates that young people who are participating in extended foster care or Chafee Independent Living Services, are close to reaching their 21st birthday, and who participate in supervised independent living placements are the best candidates for referral.

How does a child welfare agency make a referral?

Here is a link to some diagrams to help understand the process.

1. First, all public child welfare agencies (PCWAs) should establish a point of contact at their local PHA and begin to develop a relationship with their peer at that organization.
2. Next, PCWAs use a variety of independent living funding sources to prepare young people who are likely to reach adulthood in state care.
3. As young people move along this continuum of services, PCWA staff should monitor if a young person is at risk of homelessness and interested in the stability of renting their own apartment.
4. If it is the case that a young person will not be able to afford to rent an apartment without a government subsidy then, the PCWA staff will notify their peer at the local PHA about three to six months prior to emancipation (in most states this is just before age 21) that the young person is eligible for and interested in a FUP voucher.
5. PCWAs should also begin to forecast and predict how many young people will need vouchers within their caseload so that they can request vouchers in batches from their local PHA.

D.) How many young people will this program serve annually?

• The National Youth in Transition Database report indicates that 20% of 19-year-old alumni (1,576) and 28% of 21-year-old alumni (1,991) experience homelessness.
• Given these figures, the FSHO Coalition estimates that approximately 2,000 youth people who are leaving foster care could benefit from FYI/FUP for youth.
• PCWAs must begin to work with their local homeless service providers and identify young people who can be brought back into the fold of the public child welfare system and provided with appropriate services to prepare for access to independent apartments through FYI/FUP.

Housing Vouchers After Foster Care

Click to enlarge photo

Update from John Kelly, of the Chronicle of Social Change, July 25, 2019. Earlier this year, we reported on the case made by current and former foster youths to use existing authority at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to connect youth aging out of care with housing supports. The Chronicle of Social Change has learned that, after a thorough review of the policy by HUD’s general counsel, the agency is set this week to approve this and notify thousands of public housing authorities. HUD has yet to publicly comment on these developments. But an event is being planned for this Friday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during which Secretary Ben Carson will announce the Foster Youth to Independence initiative. “I truly believe that in order to improve outcomes for our youth, our people who make the decisions have to be willing and able to listen to the population they are serving,” said Jamole Callahan, one of the former foster youths who helped campaign for the policy. “This solution … was a simple fix. This is another step towards ending youth homelessness." The plan was pitched to HUD by Fostering Stable Housing Opportunities (FSHO) Coalition, whose members met in early March with HUD Secretary Ben Carson to lay out a plan for a $20 million voucher program. Under that plan, HUD would use an existing pot of money – a federal rental assistance account – to pay for the vouchers. “We see kids attempt post-secondary and fail just because they don’t have housing,” said Callahan, who helps lead Foster Action Ohio, in an April interview with The Chronicle of Social Change. “They have to work to maintain an apartment, then school becomes the background. And it becomes all about survival.” As per this plan which was crafted by Ohio foster care youth and alumni: A child welfare agency would file paperwork with HUD for what’s called a Family Unification Voucher in the months before a youth aged out. That youth would be tied into HUD’s Family Self-Sufficiency Support program as well, which means the voucher could last up to five years. After a youth’s voucher is up, it is then “recycled” back to HUD to be used for another youth. HUD, after reviewing the argument, agreed it is allowable under existing authority and is moving forward on it. The agency did not cap the voucher availability either, which means the total spending on foster youths could exceed $20 million. The need for housing supports for foster youth is critical. Anywhere from 20,000 to 25,000 youth age out of care each year in America, and 28 percent experience homelessness by age 21, according to the National Youth in Transition Database. In some states, it’s above 40 percent. In a recent study based on interviews with 215 young adults who experienced unaccompanied homelessness as youths, foster care was identified as a major factor. Ninety-four out of the 215 interviewees had a history in foster care; of that group of 94, nearly half said entrance into foster care was the “beginning of their housing instability.” Advocates for the plan are still pursuing federal legislation to codify it into law. The FSHO Act would guarantee a housing voucher starting from emancipation through age 25 for any youth aging out of foster care who could demonstrate the need for a subsidy. The bill is co-sponsored by Reps. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) and Karen Bass (D-Calif.).

Meet the latest addition to the Dickson household

Click to enlarge

Staycation Movies