If you are "jealous" of emancipating foster care youth, then maybe you need a heart transplant

I am currently wrestling with an issue regarding how to respond to the "But I had it harder" attitude -- which I believe is inaccurate, and stands in the way of helpfulness to today's foster care youth.

During a recent college event for foster care youth, an adult presenter from an outside agency, who came from an impoverished background, commented on about how much she wished that she had access to the resources available to emancipated foster care youth (in terms of filling out the FAFSA as an independent and ETV funds).

However, that doesn't take into account:

• the value that "family privilege" brings to youth from intact families
• the accrued knowledge, information and love that adds up over the years (aka: "common sense")
• the value of actually having a place to go to on the holidays, and having someone miss you when you aren't there.

I'm not only a former foster child, I'm also a college-and-grad school graduate, wife and stepmom to two beautiful daughters who are now in college.

My husband and I view parenting as an honor, a privilege and a charge. This means that our daughters will NEVER need to worry about:

• Whether or not they are lovable and precious to us.
• Whether or not we will protect them and provide for them.
• Whether or not they can call when they are struggling, or stay with us during college breaks.
• Whether or not, on holidays, we would miss them if they weren't there.

Such is not the same for foster children.

Such was not the case for me. I remember, so clearly, what it felt like to be a young person in college, and facing that existential crisis of wondering why I was here on earth if there isn't going to be someone to love me.

But, at the end of the day, it is not about me. It is about each and every one of these young people who are "aging out" of foster care in the midst of A RECESSION and trying to survive.


And that's the cause that I am dedicating my heart to...

Litmus Test for Child Welfare

One of the litmus tests of child welfare agencies regarding how much they truly care about the clients they serve and lifelong outcomes for youth is how they respond to alumni of the foster care system.  

I've seen the good.... the bad... and the ugly.

85% of College Students Move Back Home After Graduation

CNN recently reported that the number of college seniors who plan to move back home with their parents after graduation has risen from 67% in 2006 to 85% in 2010.

Reasons?

• A 15% unemployment rate for young people ages 20-24

• An average of $24,000 in student loan debt 

• The highest unemployment rate for college graduates on record

Increasing Access to Higher Education for Unaccompanied Youth

The National Center for Homeless Education has developed an issue brief: Increasing Access to Higher Education for Unaccompanied Youth: Information for Colleges and Universities.

This publication exists to inform postsecondary educators and education administrators about the struggles of homeless youth and possible solutions that can help these youth achieve a college education.

2010 NE Ohio Independent Living Summit

The 2010 Northeast Ohio Independent Living Summit, sponsored by Stark County Children Services, took place on Friday, October 29, 2010, from 9:00 am-4:00 pm at First Christian Church, 6900 Market Avenue North, Canton, OH, 44721.

This event was dedicated to “Supporting Success for Youth Transitioning From Foster Care.”

Supporting Organizations included: Stark County Children Services, OACCA, Foster Care Alumni of America Ohio chapter, Adoption Network Cleveland, Community Care Network, Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services, Family and Community Services of Portage County, Institute for Human Services, Lorain County Children Services, Lowery Training Associates, Lucas County Children Services, Mahoning County Children Services, Montgomery County Department of Job and Familiy Services, Pressley Ridge, Starr Commonwealth, and Voices for Ohio’s Children.

Young Adults Are the New Face of Homelessness

Quotes from article referenced below:

• "Young adults are the new face of homelessness."

• "It's a group driven by two large converging forces: an economy that has been especially brutal on young people, and the large numbers currently exiting foster care."

• "Precise numbers are difficult to pin down. But based on a study done before the economy collapsed, an estimated 2 million young people age 18 to 24 will be homeless nationwide this year."

• "The largest driver of the young adult homeless population is the foster-care system."

Source: Generation Homeless: The New Faces of an Old Problem by InvestigateWest, a nonprofit investigative journalism center based in Seattle.

Challenges faced by LGBTQ youth in foster care

The Family Acceptance Project, a comprehensive study of LGBT youth and their families discovered that nearly half of the foster care youth in their study had been removed from their homes, run away or were thrown out of their homes because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

A 2001 study by the Urban Justice Center found that:

• Once placed in a foster care setting, 78 percent of LGBTQ foster youth were forced to leave their foster placements due to anti-LGBT violence and harassment.

• Fifty-six percent of LGBTQ youth interviewed in the study had spent time living on the streets because they felt safer there than they did living in their group or foster homes.

Feinstein, R., Greenblatt, A., Hass, L., Kohn, S., Rana, J. (2001). Justice for all? A report on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered youth in the New York juvenile justice system. New York: Lesbian and Gay Project of the Urban Justice Center. Ryan, C., Diaz, C. (2005). Family responses as a source of risk and resiliency for LGBT youth. Paper presented at the Preconference Institute on LGBTQ Youth, Child Welfare League of America 2005 National Conference, Washington, DC.

No Extended Health Coverage Until Age 26 for Former Foster Youth until 2014

Have you ever wondered 

how emancipated foster care youth cope 

when their wisdom teeth come in 

and they have NO medical insurance?

Health Care Reform for Emancipated Foster Youth


Section 2004 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which expands Medicaid coverage to former foster children up to age 26.  However, this provision will not be implemented until January 2014.

After January 1, 2014, all states will be required to extend Medicaid coverage to youth who have "aged out" of foster care. To qualify, individuals must have been enrolled in Medicaid while in foster care.

Health Legislation Related to the Fostering Connections Act

The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act previously gave states the option to expand coverage to youth who have aged out of the foster care system up to age 21.

In response, some states have introduced healthcare legislation related to the Fostering Connections act:

• California: SB 597, Chapter 339 (enacted)
• Oklahoma: HB 1734, Chapter 338 (enacted)
• Oregon: HB 3664 (enacted)
• Minnesota: HB 934 and SB 665 (pending-carryover)

Additional Health Tools, Analyses and Research are available at the Fostering Connections Resource Center.

It's Not Too Late to Apply for HUD's Family Unification Program

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has given public housing authorities nationwide until December 1, 2010 to apply for Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers through the Family Unification Program (FUP).

• FUP vouchers can be used to help foster youth with their housing needs in transitioning from foster care to adulthood.

• For FUP vouchers to be successful, and for youth to actually receive this assistance, child welfare organizations must build a strong partnership with their local housing authorities.

Learn more at the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare.

Finishing the First Lap: The Cost of College Dropouts

Finishing the First Lap: The Cost of First-Year Student Attrition in America’s Four-Year Colleges and Universities revealed that, over the past five years:

• States appropriated almost $6.2 billion to colleges and universities to help pay for the education of students who did not return to school for a second year.

• States gave over $1.4 billion to support students who did not return to their college or university for a second year.

• The Federal government provided over $1.5 billion in grants to support students who did not return for a second year.

• In Ohio, the cost for college freshmen who dropped out after their first year in college was $300 million.

Chancellor Eric Fingerhut, of the Ohio Board of Regents, views this issue as top priority:

“The goal is not to enroll people. The goal is to graduate them. Freshman to sophomore retention is key to the graduation rate. We are totally committed to it.”

Sexual Abuse in Foster Care

Have you ever wondered about the rate of sexual abuse experienced by foster care survivors?

• As many as 75 percent of all children in foster care, upon leaving the system, will have experienced sexual abuse. 
• One study by Johns Hopkins University found that the rate of sexual abuse within the foster-care system is more than four times as high as in the general population
• In group homes, the rate of sexual abuse is more than 28 times that of the general population.
• Foster children who suffer sexual abuse tend to be those who live with those caregivers who have the least verbal contact with child-welfare workers. 

Sources:
Benedict, M., Zuravin, S., Brandt, D. and Abbey, H. (1994). Types and frequency of child maltreatment by family foster care providers in an urban population. Child Abuse & Neglect,18 (7): 577-585.
Child Welfare League of America. (2003). Child maltreatment in foster care: CWLA best practice guidelines. CWLA, Inc.: Washington, D.C.
Poertner, J., Bussey, M., & Fluke, J. (1999). How safe are out-of-home placements? Children and Youth Services Review, 21(7): 549-563.
Rosenthal, J., Motz J., Edmondson, D., and Groze, V. (1991). A descriptive study of abuse and neglect in out-of-home placement. Child Abuse and Neglect 15(1): 47-49.
Tittle, G., Poertner, J., Garnier, P. Child maltreatment in out-of-home care: What do we know now? Accessed online at: http://cfrcwww.social.uiuc.edu/pubs/Pdf.files/knownow.pdf
Zuravin, S., Benedict, M., and Somerfield, M. (1993). Child maltreatment in family foster care. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 63(4): 589-596.

Kids' Share 2010: Report on Federal Expenditures on Children

Kids' Share 2010: Report on Federal Expenditures on Children through 2009 is an annual report that looks comprehensively at long-time and recent trends in federal spending and tax expenditures on children.

• Findings suggest that historically children have not been a budget priority. 
• In 2009, this trend continued, as children's spending accounted for less than one-tenth of federal outlays. 
• Even though the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provided a temporary boost, children's spending will continue to be squeezed in the next decade:

Latest Children’s Budget: http://www.childrensbudget.org/

Too Many Children Die in America as a Result of Abuse and Neglect. We Can Do Better.

Every Child Matters has released the second edition of  We Can Do Better: Child Abuse and Neglect Deaths in America, a compelling report that explores the crisis of child maltreatment fatalities in the United States.

A weak economy and resulting state budget cuts are putting even more children at risk, leading to a Growing Crisis in Child Protection.

A series of recommendations were previously proposed during the 2009 Summit to End Child Abuse Deaths in America. Included among them is the observation that "Current levels of federal spending are far below the level needed to protect all children at imminent risk of harm."

The National  Coalition to End Child Abuse Deaths has launched a campaign urging Congress and the Administration to:

1. To conduct Congressional hearings on child abuse deaths
2. To provide emergency funds to stop state cuts in child protective services
3. To adopt a national strategy to prevent child abuse and stop child deaths

This Coalition includes the following partners:

• Every Child Matters 
• National Center for Child Death Review
• National Children's Alliance
• National Association of Social Workers
• National District Attorney's Association

More information about the Coalition, including how YOU can advocate to support their efforts is available at: http://everychildmatters.org/resources/reports/child-abuse-and-neglect

Young Lives On Hold: The College Dreams of Undocumented Students

The United States and Immigration: 

• The United States is in the midst of the largest migratory wave in history: 
• Since the 1990s, more than 1 million new immigrants have arrived each year.
• A total of approximately 38 million immigrants live in the U.S. — about three times the number of transnational immigrants in the world’s second-largest country of immigration, the Russian Federation.

Unauthorized Immigration

• Nearly one-third of the immigrant population of the United States is now undocumented, by far the largest number (and proportion) in U.S. immigration history.
• In total, the number is approximately 12 million unauthorized persons.

Children of Immigrants:

• More than 70 million people in the United States are immigrants, or the children of immigrants. 
• Children of immigrants are now the fastest-growing sector of the child population in the United States.
• Approximately 2 million children are in the United States as undocumented immigrants. 

Undocumented Students:

• About 65,000 undocumented children who have lived in the United States for five years or longer graduate from high school each year. 
• Although they can legally attend most colleges, they are not eligible for most forms of financial aid. 
• Given the opportunity to receive additional education and move into better-paying jobs, undocumented
  students could pay more in taxes and have more money to spend and invest in the U.S. economy.

Learn more by reading Young Lives On Hold: The College Dreams of Undocumented Students.

Generation Why

• There are over 1.6 million homeless youth living in America every year (1 in 50 American children)

• Over 50% of youth in shelters and on the streets report that their parents told them to leave or knew they were leaving and did not care. 

• 1 in 4 homeless youth come from the foster care system

• 33% of heterosexual homeless youth have been sexually abused

• Around 400,000 homeless youth are gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or transgender, in which 58% have been sexually abused

• 1 in 7 homeless children have moderate to severe heath conditions

• Less than 1 in 4 homeless children will graduate from high school

• Every day 12 kids die on the streets of America

Learn how YOU can make a difference at  http://genwhymovie.com/

Number of Youth Aging out of Foster Care Continues to Rise; Increasing 64 percent since 1999

The Fostering Connections Resource Center serves as a library of child welfare information and resources to help states and tribes in their efforts to implement the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008.

By encouraging states to invest more resources in supporting foster youth’s transition to adulthood, federal lawmakers hope that the new law will help more youth leaving foster care have independent and productive lives.

Roth, M.M., et al (2010). Excerpts from Number of Youth Aging out of Foster Care Continues to Rise; Increasing 64 percent since 1999

• During the past 10 years, the number of children who age out of the foster care system has increased steadily, with a nearly 64 percent increase. 
• Since 1999, approximately 228,000 youth have "aged out" of foster care nationally.
• The percentage of the total foster care caseload over the age of 14 has increased steadily since 1998.
• The percentage of children and youth in foster care who are 14 through 18 has continued to grow while financial resources to serve this population through the Chafee Foster Care Independence Act has remained the same each year.

U.S. Government Sets Goal to End Youth Homelessness in 10 Years

On June 22, 2010, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness released the nation’s first comprehensive strategy to prevent and end homelessness: Opening Doors: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness.

One of the objectives in the plan is to advance health and housing stability for youth exiting foster care and juvenile justice systems. 

The Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs’ Solutions Desk for Helping Youth Transition will continue to publish best practices for homelessness prevention, rapid re-housing, and service provision for homeless youth.

Find Youth Info

Map My Community is a tool designed to assist in locating resources in your community to help you build and strengthen your youth program. It's a great way to brainstorm regarding building new partnerships, identify gaps in your community, and learn about existing resources, in order to avoid duplication of effort.

The Program Directory is a searchable database of evidence-based, federally-funded youth programs. You can search for programs by risk factor, protective factor, or keyword.

College Completion Crisis

The College Board has recently released its College Completion Agenda 2010 Progress Report.

The 2008 report Coming to Our Senses: Education and the American Future by the Commission on Access, Admissions and Success in Higher Education revealed that the number of students who completed college and high school in the United States had dropped dramatically,

In response, a set of 10 recommendations were made, in order to help boost the graduation rate.

Additionally, the State Policy Guide created by the College Board and National Conference of State Legislatures. This resource includes a variety of recommendations, including the College Completion Agenda.

The commission’s goal, to achieve a rate of 55 percent of young adults receiving a postsecondary credential by 2025, will continue to be measured on a regular basis.

Ohio Workforce Coalition's 2010-2012 Public Policy Platform

The Ohio Workforce Coalition has been working over the past year on a public policy platform, with the goal of:

• Reducing barriers for adults pursuing education and training.
• Meeting the workforce needs of Ohio employers.
• Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the state workforce development system.

The Ohio Workforce Coalition's 2010-2012 Public Policy Platform includes the goal of 'Improving the efficiency  and effectiveness of  the state workforce development system' by making these three recommendations:

A. Leadership. Appoint a cabinet-level workforce official to lead Ohio’s workforce development activities across all state agencies, and establish workforce committees in the Ohio legislature.

B. Coordination. Adopt a policy to assure that all available federal workforce education and training funds are fully used, and work with local agencies to establish a baseline level of consistent Workforce Investment Act (WIA) services that will be provided throughout the state.

C. Data. Establish cross-agency performance measures and issue an annual workforce education and training report card with county-level data.

Their 2010-2012 Public Policy Platform makes recommendations regarding coordination of funding streams and calculation financial aid as well...

Regarding funding, they are concerned that, "There are multiple federal funding streams that can be used for workforce training and supportive services for people in training, but Ohio does not have policies in place to assure that these resources are fully accessed and effectively used statewide."

 Therefore, their recommendation is:

1. The Governor’s office should issue state policy to assure that all state agencies, counties, regions, or districts are using available federal workforce education and training funds. Funding streams include Federal Transportation Funds, the SNAP10 Employment and Training Program, and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families.

2. The Governor’s Workforce Policy Board, in collaboration with local WIB directors and the Department of Job and Family Services, should develop a set of key statewide WIA policies. These policies should assure that workers, job-seekers, and employers have access to a baseline level of consistent WIA services everywhere in the state and that WIA implementation is not subject to more restrictive local policies and practices.

Regarding financial aid, they write that, "Because Ohio’s FY 2010-2011 budget cut the Ohio College Opportunity Grant (OCOG) by over 57%, the Ohio Board of Regents implemented a policy that eliminated access to OCOG for students at community colleges and regional branch campuses—many of whom used this need-based financial aid to cover living expenses while they were in school."

Therefore, the Ohio Workforce Coalition recommends that:

1. The Ohio Board of Regents’ calculation of the cost of attendance at public two-year colleges, which is used to determine OCOG availability, should be modified to include living expenses for the most disadvantaged students.

2. The Ohio Board of Regents should permit OCOG funds to be used at all USO institutions for non-credit and occupational certificate programs that prepare students for strategically targeted, in-demand occupations.

• Adjusting the Ohio College Opportunity Grant formula to include living expenses for students at two-year colleges.
• Improving awareness of and access to programs and resources that can help adult students succeed in postsecondary education and training.

2010 Ohio Medicaid Atlas

The 2010 Ohio Medicaid Atlas contains amazing maps and detailed demographics regarding various populations - but emancipated foster youth are not among them.

Despite the fact that current and former foster successfully advocated to extend Medicaid coverage for foster care youth until age 21, there remain barriers to access regarding these benefits that still need to be overcome.

When Ohio foster care youth between the ages of 18-21 go to their local Medicaid office to apply for benefits, they have run into the following challenges:

• The staff person they speak to is unaware that emancipated foster care youth are eligible for Ohio Medicaid until age 21
• The young person is told that their card is "in the mail," and six months or more go by without the young person ever receiving it
• The young person does initially receive Medicaid, but services are dropped before the young person reaches age 21

As I mentioned in a previous blog post:

"The Fostering Connections Act of 2008 requires States to create and maintain a health oversight and coordination plan for each young person in foster care, in order to ensure that each child receives regular and comprehensive care, access to services beyond his or her 18th birthday, and a medical passport."

My hope is that Ohio foster care youth, alumni and allies can continue to work together towards this goal.

Report Finds That Fewer Than Half of African American Males Graduate On Time

A new report from the Schott Foundation for Public Education reveals that the overall graduation rate for African America males attending U.S. public schools during the 2007-2008 was 47%.

According to the 2010 Schott State Report on Black Males in Public Education, half of the states in the county have graduation rates for African American males below the national average for students.

To find out how your state is doing, please visit the national map of Individual State Report Cards.

In Ohio, for example, African American male youth are:

• Six times more likely to be expelled
• Twice as likely to be diagnosed with mental retardation
• Half as likely to be entered into gifted/talented programs

The overall opportunities to learn provided for African American male youth in Ohio were determined to be 21% that of other students.

This is a percentage that needs to change.

The Report Summary contains a helpful chart on page 9 that maps out the Conditions for Success vs. Conditions for Failure.

2010 Top Fostering Blog

SunshineGirlOnARainyDay was recently awarded the Top Fostering Blog Award by Online Schools. The award winners for this category were announced on August 12, 2010.

This award highlights the very best blogs to learn about foster care and child welfare. 

Recipients are nominated by the internet community. The list of candidates is scored based upon twenty attributes, including content, frequency of updates, length of posts and readability. The top 1% of nominated blogs receive awards.

New HHS Regulations on Title IV-E IL Programs for Youth 18 and Older

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released regulations on how states may extend their Title IV-E foster care programs for foster youth between the ages of 18 and 21.

These regulations provide flexibility to states to serve these youth in virtually any type of placement setting – foster homes, a semi-supervised apartment, host home, college dorms, and other less formal settings.

Furthermore, the regulations state that HHS has “no forthcoming regulations that will prescribe the kinds of living arrangements considered a supervised setting, the parameters of supervision, or any other conditions for youth living independently.”

This is great news for two reasons:

a.) HHS is permitting states to have flexibility to use creative and innovative programs to serve these 18, 19, and 20 year-old youth.

b.) It does not set precedent that would interfere with a state’s ability to draw down IV-E for the placement of teenage foster youth, under age 18, in supervised or semi-supervised apartment settings.

Three Research Briefs re: Foster Care & Educational Outcomes

 Opening Doors to Higher Education for Youth in Foster Care
The Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy Policy Brief (March 2010) discusses the difficulty for youth in care in going to college. This brief outlines financial aid reforms that are necessary to help as these youth attempt to get a postsecondary education.

http://www.scaany.org/documents/cpa_policybrief_highereduc2_may2010.pdf

Foster Youth Education Initiative Releases Report on Improving Opportunities for Foster Youth
Foster youth lack parental advocates to monitor their academic progress, attend parent-teacher conferences, enroll them in appropriate classes, and ensure they receive a quality education. As a consequence, they often fail to receive the opportunities necessary to succeed in school.

NCYL’s Foster Youth Education Initiative (http://www.fosteredconnect.org/) has released its long-awaited report on how California is ensuring that foster children receive academic opportunities by creating educational advocacy systems for youth. This report includes overviews of 11 models, and concrete recommendations to improve outcomes.

http://www.youthlaw.org/fileadmin/ncyl/youthlaw/education/CA_Education_Advocacy_Systems_1_.pdf

Addressing the Unmet Educational Needs of Children and Youth in the Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare Systems
This report, published by Georgetown Public Policy Institute’s Center for Juvenile Justice Reform, discusses the poor educational outcomes that many child welfare and juvenile justice involved youth face:

http://cjjr.georgetown.edu/pdfs/ed/edpaper.pdf

Healthcare for Transitional Foster Care Youth

Every year, 26,000 youth emancipate from foster care on their 18th birthday - many of whom immediately lose vital medical coverage as a result.

At this point, only 32 states extend Medicaid coverage to foster care youth beyond age 18.

Even when states do extend Medicaid coverage for foster care youth until age 21, actually being able to access that coverage has been a major challenge for many transitional foster care youth. In Ohio, for example, many transitional foster care youth have waited months to receive their card, only to then have their Medicaid services dropped prematurely.

The National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators has authored an issue brief, Addressing the Health Care Needs of Transitioning Youth, that describes how some States are working to provide health care to youth who are transitioning out of foster care and into independence.

The Fostering Connections Act of 2008 requires States to create and maintain a health oversight and coordination plan for each young person in foster care, in order to ensure that each child receives regular and comprehensive care, access to services beyond his or her 18th birthday, and a medical passport.



InsureKidsNow.gov, a website that offers State-specific information on health insurance coverage for children through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, now offers an online toolkit for professionals.

The National Children's Healthcare Toolkit, designed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services contains a variety of information, materials, tools, and tactics to assist in education and outreach efforts.

Ohio's Budget: Steady Fiscal Control in Turbulent Times

According to OBM Director Pari Sabety's presentation:

• The United States is recovering from the deepest recession in 50 years
• Economic recovery will be slow
• States and local governments continue to need federal assistance and fiscal relief
• Current projections from Moody’s show that key economic indicators will not recover to pre-2007 levels until 2013-2016

One of the main issues in crafting the 2012-2013 budget is how to fill the projected gap from one-time funding sources -which is between 6-8 billion dollars.

Wisconsin invests federal stimulus dollars in Transitional Jobs Project

Kudos to Governor Jim Doyle for investing $34 of million of federal recovery funds in transitional jobs to help thousands of people across the state of Wisconsin gain skills and re-enter the workforce - including emancipated foster care youth.

In his latest state budget, Governor Doyle directed the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to create the Transitional Jobs program. The Transitional Jobs  Project targets Wisconsin residents who are not eligible for working family assistance through the state’s W-2 program, including young adults exiting the foster care system.

It's estimated that this project will help create jobs for 4,000 people across the state.

The Department of Children and Families will work closely with 17 local organizations to carry out the pilot project in 38 counties, with the possibility of future expansion throughout the state:

• Goodwill Industries of Southeastern WI, Inc.
• Policy Studies, Inc. 
• Milwaukee Careers Cooperative  
• UMOS
• Milwaukee Area Workforce Investment Board
• Silver Spring Neighborhood Center
• Step Industries
• Racine County Human Services Department
• Forward Service Corporation
• Workforce Development Board of South Central WI
• Community Action Inc.  
• Workforce Connections, Inc.  
• Workforce Resource, Inc.
• Sheboygan County Health and Human Services
• WOW Workforce Development Board
• Northwest WI Concentrated Employment Program
• Indianhead Community Action Agency

  

Permanent Supportive Housing and Evidence-Based Practice

After many years of development, the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Center for Mental Health Services has finalized and posted a Supportive Housing Toolkit.

While this kit was developed specifically to assist individuals with mental health needs in attaining supportive housing, my hope is that some of the research and best practices found in this toolkit might be applicable to transitional youth, particularly emancipated foster care youth, as well...

• How to Use the Evidence-Based Practices KITs 
• Getting Started with Evidence-Based Practices
• Building Your Program
• Training Frontline Staff
• Evaluating Your Program
• Using Multimedia to Introduce Your EBP
• Tools for Tenants
• Brochure
• Introductory Powerpoint - available for free download at SAMHSA
• The Evidence

Recession has impacted over half of American adults in the workforce

According to a new Pew Research Center survey, more than half (55%) of all adults in the labor force say they have suffered a spell of unemployment, a cut in pay, a reduction in hours or have become involuntary part-time workers since the Great Recession began 30 months ago.

When Helping You Is Hurting Me

When helping you is hurting me

View more presentations from Lisa Dickson.

Resources available through the Better Care Network

The Better Care Network is a free, online resource that exists to aid social work and child care practitioners and policy makers around the world in planning and providing better care for children— including out of home placement.

This Toolkit contains a selection of practical guides and manuals to support a quality care system and the delivery of alternative care.

Resources are divided into five categories:

1. Developing an Informed National Care Strategy
2. Standards and Policies for Quality Alternative Care
3. Individual Assessments, Care Planning and Family Reunification
4. Supporting Children in Care, Their Families and Alternative Caregivers
5. Protection and Care in Emergencies

2010 Ohio Budget Planning and Management Commission

*Figures 1-3 from Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Ohio will be facing a budget deficit of approximately $6-8 billion dollars in the next biennium.

In order to begin exploring ways to address the shortfall, the Ohio General Assembly has appointed a group of legislators to serve on a Budget Planning and Management Commission.

The work of the commission will be to identify a menu of options to address the big picture structural changes that must occur in the budget in order to achieve long-term sustainability.

The commission met for the first time on Tuesday and began with a presentation from the Ohio Legislative Service Commission (LSC) that provided legislators with a big picture overview of key revenue and expenditure data.

To view the LSC power point, please visit: www.lsc.state.oh.us/research/bpmc062910.pdf

Last month, the Center for Community Solutions released a report entitled, Thinking the Unthinkable, Finding Common Ground for Resolving Ohio’s Fiscal Crisis.

It explores a host of very difficult options in order to address Ohio’s impending budget shortfall, including a model which contains a possible 10%-20% reduction in most human services in the next biennium:

http://www.communitysolutions.com/assets/1/AssetManager/Thinking_the_Unthinkable_Begala_WEB.pdf

Ohio Reach Summit and Voices of Foster Care Youth

Rewriting the scripts in a child's life

What the movie Martian Child teaches about trauma and food hoarding

Boy in a Box: What the movie Martian Child teaches about responding to child trauma

My So-Called Emancipation: From Foster Care to Homelessness for California Youth

Human Rights Watch has released a new report about California youth in foster care with some startling results: At least 20 percent of the 4,000 who are released from foster care each year end up homeless.

Through interviews with 63 young people who became homeless after leaving foster care, it was evident that factors leading to homelessness include "missed opportunities to learn skills, lack of ability to support themselves, a shortage of second chances, and the fact that no one cared what happened to them."

We Can Do Better: Child Abuse and Neglect Deaths in the U.S.

Every Child Matters released a 2009 report titled We Can Do Better: Child Abuse and Neglect Deaths in America which predicted that abuse and neglect deaths of U.S. children would continue to increase unless the federal government made the issue a priority.

U.S. cuts will perpetuate child abuse highlights the growing child abuse epidemic in America:

• The United States has the highest number of child abuse fatalities of the world's richest democracies, with death rates that are three times higher than Canada's, and 11 times higher than Italy's.
• Three million reported cases of child abuse and neglect result in 2,000 deaths in the US annually. 
• Since 2001, 30,000 American children have been killed in their own homes, taken their own lives or been murdered in their own neighbourhoods.
• This does not account for the fact that up to 60% of child abuse goes unreported. 

To sign a petition asking Congress to hold a hearing on child abuse related deaths, please visit Homeland Insecurity: Why new investments in children and youth must be a priority for the Obama Administration and the 111th Congress.

Funding Career Pathways for Out-of-School Youth: A Federal Policy Toolkit for States

The Funding Career Pathways and Career Pathway Bridges Toolkit is designed to help inter-agency state teams identify and facilitate "braiding" of federal resources to design and develop career pathways and bridges into them for adults and out-of-school youth.

Available federal programs that might support this state initiative include:

• The Workforce Investment Act
•  The Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act

Both of these program's eligibility requirements include youth/young adults with a foster care history.

Economic Prospects for Young Adults During the Recession

Findings by the Economic Policy Institute, published in their May 2010 Briefing Paper:

• Since the start of the recession, an additional 1.2 million 16-24-year-olds have become disconnected from both formal schooling and work. 
• The class of 2010 will be entering a labor market with the highest rates of unemployment in at least a generation.
• Unemployment rates for both college graduates and non-graduates younger than 25 are nearly double their pre-recession levels.

The rock is too heavy for Sisyphus (or emancipating foster youth) to carry alone

Quote from a friend of mine who is struggling right now: "I am looking at my life and I realize that it's not what I want it to be... I did not foresee the obstacles I would have to overcome - the struggles it would take just to survive. I never imagined that I would have to start over so many times, in order to get back on track again."

This is an all-too-common experience for young adults who emancipate from foster care and try to navigate the adult world without family support:  "Will I ever get to a point where I am happy with my life?  Where my life is stable and secure? Will I accomplish the dreams and goals I want for myself?  Or is this current chaos the life that I have to accept -- forever???"

I remember feeling that way often between the ages of 16-26 years old. I have at least 35 journals from college and grad school - charting the struggles and days when I thought my life wasn't going anywhere.

A friend of mine from college called days like this: Sisyphus Days. There's a myth that Sisyphus had to roll a rock up a mountain every day, only to have it roll back down, and start all over again.

Message to foster care youth and alumni: The good news is that you are NOT Sisyphus. We all have days when we feel that way - but your actions and accomplishments really ARE adding up to something, even if you can't see that right now.

And also you don't have to roll whatever rock you are currently carrying up that blasted hill all by yourself. Just as you live your life fighting to improve the system for others, please know that other people who know and care about you don't want you to face battles alone. It's not one-man combat, it's an army and we can overcome this struggle TOGETHER.

Transitional Youth and Natural Consequences

The Transition to Independence Process is a strengths-based approach for encouraging youth and young adults (ages 14-29) in their future planning process.

Many of the core elements of TIP model affirm the advocacy work that the Ohio chapter of Foster Care Alumni of America is involved in, and the workshops we currently provide. This includes:

• The cost-benefit analysis of investing in transitional youth 
• Young adult "discovery" vs. adult "recovery
  
• Identifying the supportive connections in their lives
• Encouraging peer support networks and peer mentors
• One-stop shopping for resources whenever possible
• Balancing the roles in decision-making (Taylor Model)

One side-effect of being a child welfare trainer myself is that, when I attend a training, I automatically evaluate what worked, what didn't, and how the format might have worked better.

I believe that an effective way of teaching the Transition to Independence Process (TIP) content would have been via a one-day workshop, with breakout sessions of small groups. Each small group could receive a case-study and figure out how to apply the TIP model. After this hands-on experience with implementation, small groups would report out to the group-at-large.

As it was, I left the training with two important questions left unanswered...

1.) What is the balance between maximizing the likelihood of success for a young person, and allowing youth to face the natural consequences of their choices?

As someone who works with foster care youth and young adults, many times, a young person will come to me in crisis mode.

They had an initial problem, which could have been easily remedied. But they didn't get the help and resources when they needed it, so the problem evolved into a snowball, rolling downhill and getting bigger and bigger. Often, by the time the young person comes to me to ask for help, all the dominoes have fallen and the problem has become a tangled mess.

If my state allowed foster care youth to re-enter foster care between the ages of 18-21, in every county, that would allow for the type of learning experiences that a young adult from an intact, supportive family can often count on from their parents.

But without a cohesive safety net, there is a limit to how far I am willing to allow a young person to fall. Standing back and letting the chips fall can compound the chaos to such a degree that it can be difficult to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

2.) The presenter mentioned "rationale" as an alternative to nagging young people. Telling young people the possible benefit or risk of their actions. However, he offered no concrete examples of what this looks like, in practice...  What does this look like? / sound like?

When I queried the speaker, asking both questions above, I didn't get a straight answer. So I'm left to puzzle this out by myself. Possibly a teachable moment might ensue, during which I could guide the young person toward self-evaluation of the impact of their decisions...

I'd really like to think about this further. Lately, my brain has been gnawing on two videos I posted recently:

• How Sitcoms (and Foster Care) Don't Teach Patient Problem-Solving
• The Marshmellow Test: How the Ability to Delay Gratification Impacts Long-Term Life Outcomes

I'm going to delve into a website that he mentioned during the workshop, and see if I can track down some more concrete information.

Jails and Prisons Have Become America's New Mental Hospitals

It's time to de-criminalize mental illness.

National research by the Treatment Advocacy Center and the National Sheriffs' Association shows that  Americans with serious mental illnesses are three times more likely to end up in jail or prison, rather than a mental hospital.

The rate is even worse in Ohio, where it's four times more likely they'll be incarcerated. Between 2004-2005, Ohio had 10,260 inmates with a serious mental illness, compared with 2,536 people hospitalized. 

Patient Problem Solving - Sitcoms Don't Teach It (Foster Care Doesn't Either)

The Marshmellow Test - and Young Adult Outcomes

Oh, The Temptation from Steve V on Vimeo.

After the initial study, by Professor Walter Mischl, researchers continued to track these children throughout their school careers and into early adult life. The results were dramatic:

"Those who had deferred eating the marshmallow for 15-20 minutes in order to get the bigger prize just a few minutes later were more socially competent, personally effective, self-assertive and better able to cope with the frustrations of life.


"They were less likely to go to pieces, freeze, regress under stress or become rattled and disorganized when pressured. They embraced challenges, and pursued them instead of giving up even in the face of difficulties; they were more self-reliant and confident, trustworthy and dependable; they took initiative and plunged into projects. This group even scored on average 210 points higher on their SAT."

Ohio's Young Adults Face Narrowing Path to Middle Class

With appreciation to PCSAO for sharing this update:

Policy Matters Ohio and Dēmos hosted an event yesterday in Cleveland to examine findings from their recent report, Building Ohio’s Middle Class: Addressing the Challenges Facing Young Adults.

This report shows opportunity has expanded in some important areas (college enrollment, women’s income), but at the same time there are some overall trends that are troubling:

Postsecondary Education

• Just over half (55 percent) of Ohio students at four-year institutions graduate within six years, and only a quarter of two-year students graduate within three years. Many students who leave college without a degree have student loan debt.

• Young adults from high-income families in Ohio are three times more likely to enroll in college than low-income young people, and there is a 14 percentage point gap between enrollment rates for young whites and young African Americans.

• Disparities in graduation rates by income and race are even higher.

Employment and Earnings

• Earnings of full-time workers under age 35 in Ohio are substantially lower today than a generation ago, except in the case of women with a college degree.

•  Among workers under age 35, the unionization rate in Ohio declined from 21 to 10 percent over the last 25 years.

Debt and Assets

• Two thirds of Ohio college graduates carry student loan debt. Of those, their average debt, just from public sources, is $23,854.

• Although housing prices are more affordable in Ohio than in some other regions, adults ages 25 to 34 spent a third of their incomes (34 percent) on rent in 2007.

Raising a Family

• The average annual price of full-time center-based child care for two preschool-age children (an infant and a four-year-old) in Ohio is $16,724.

• Nearly half (46 percent) of children under age 6 in Ohio are growing up in a low- income family, with income of $44,000 or less.

For Additional Information:
Please visit www.demos.org or www.policymattersohio.org

America's Runaway and Homeless Youth

Quote from Chapin Hall's (freely available for listening) webinair:

"Many runaways become homeless because family reunification is not an option. Other young people end up on the street or in a shelter because they are abandoned by their parents, are forced to leave home, age out of foster care, or are released from the juvenile justice system."

Does Keeping Youth in Foster Care Beyond Age 18 Help to Prevent Homelessness?

According to recent research, allowing young people to remain in foster care until their 21st birthday may not prevent but may delay their entry into homelessness:

New Findings from Midwest Study: Outcomes of Foster Care Alumni at Ages 23-24

The Midwest Study provides a comprehensive picture of how foster youth are faring during this transition since the Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 became law.

Young people who age out of foster care continue to face major challenges in their early twenties, often unable to complete their educations and find housing and jobs.

These new findings look at the outcomes at ages 23 and 24.