Transcript Document

A VIEW FROM THE FIELD
Experiences of Older Foster Youth in Colorado:
Youth Perceptions & GALs Perspective
Colorado Office of the Child’s Representative
Linda Weinerman, Executive Director
Children In Foster Care By Age Group
Data Provided by: National KIDS COUNT
Location
Age
group
Data
Type
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Number
480
408
367
321
309
Percent
6%
5%
5%
5%
5%
Number
1,737
1,659
1,444
1,342
1,221
Percent
22%
21%
21%
21%
20%
Number
1,183
1,143
911
910
855
Percent
15%
14%
13%
14%
14%
Number
1,893
1,779
1,576
1,464
1,322
Percent
24%
23%
23%
23%
22%
Number
2,598
2,898
2,641
2,407
2,276
Percent
33%
37%
38%
37%
38%
Number
7,891
7,887
6,939
6,444
5,983
Percent
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
<1
1 to 5
6 to 10
Colorado
11 to 15
16 to 20
Total
Children Entering
Foster Care By
Age Group
Location
National KIDS COUNT
In 2012 Older Youth in
Colorado (ages 16 to
20)
 comprise 38% of all
youth in care
 19% of youth
entering foster care
 4% of youth
adopted out of care
 11% of you awaiting
adoption
 29% of youth
exiting care
(n=1,501 youth)
Age
group
Data
Type
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Number
881
859
759
696
647
Percent
13%
14%
13%
13%
13%
Number
1,647
1,584
1,470
1,433
1,315
Percent
25%
25%
26%
27%
26%
Number
1,086
991
910
882
881
Percent
16%
16%
16%
17%
17%
Number
1,661
1,562
1,443
1,265
1,221
Percent
25%
25%
25%
24%
24%
Number 1,311
1,356
1,170
1,024
978
Percent
20%
21%
20%
19%
19%
Number
6,586
6,352
5,752
5,300
5,042
Percent
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
<1
1 to 5
6 to 10
Colorado
11 to 15
16 to
20
Total
Outcomes for Older Youth
Exiting Foster Care
Obstacles disproportionately faced by youth aging out of
foster care include higher rates of:
 Homelessness
 Joblessness
 Incarceration
 Mental Illness
 Poverty
 Pregnancy
Federal Law Supporting Older Youth
• Independent Living Initiative – 1986 amendments to
SSA to provide limited funding to youth aging out of foster
care
• Chafee Foster Care Independence Act – Adopted in
1999 to identify youth likely to emancipate and establish
services to help with transition to self sufficiency
• Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing
Adoptions Act of 2008 – Allows states to extend
definition of child to 21; states may provide guardianship
assistance payments until 21; requires personalized
transition plans; and ILP services to youth age 16 or older
• Affordable Care Act – Authorizes states to provide
Medicaid coverage to age 26
Resources for Older Youth in Colorado
 Personalized Transition Plans
 Services to build life skills Independent Living Plan
developed with youth
 Free Credit Check
 Vital Health Documents and Records (birth certificates,
social security cards, etc.)
 Extension of Court Jurisdiction until 21
 Medicaid until 26 for youth in care at 18
 ILS until 21 for youth in care at 18
 Education & Training Vouchers for youth adopted
after 16 or who emancipated after 18
Youth
Perceptions
OCR seeks youth
feedback through
various avenues
including paper and online surveys, phone
interviews, and focus
groups.
“We grow up thinking that everyone is
against us – that’s the way we’re treated
as kids; its the way we think of
ourselves.”
 Strong distrust of adults
 The system is holding them
down
A feeling that no one is
fighting for them
 A feeling that no one listens
to them
Youth Perceptions: Relationship Building
“Trust is like an eraser every time you slip up it disappears
until it’s gone”
- 16-year old focus group participant
• It’s really frustrating when you have to tell your story over and over
again with every new caseworker every new GAL you start from
ground zero with each person and redo that relationship.
• How to make a great relationship: keep information private don’t tell
everyone, spend time together, get to know how a person feels
• I don’t trust my legal team, my volunteer or my family because they
don’t keep my information private.
• I’ve told my CASA some things where maybe she would go tell other
people; it’s good to try simple things to see who you can trust. When
you do find that person, make sure you hold on to them.
Youth Perceptions: Case Planning
“..I feel like I’m doing all the work because they aren’t calling me, I have
to set up meetings and take the time out of my day to do stuff to get my
case in order. I have to make sure I’m taking the right classes and get
everything ready for my case, and I’m doing everything for my case and
then they baby me.”
• “You walk into a room and they say tell me what you want and then no
one listens”
• Listening – need voices heard, don’t argue about facts of someone’s
life; actually care, we understand its your job but our lives continue
outside of work hours
• Quick to jump to placements and treatments without thinking about
what the individual needs – we’re all still kids we need love and
affection and attention and somebody to help us grow up.
• Strategies from youth to youth: “You have to make sure it’s something
you need before you talk to them about it – it’s helpful to prioritize what
you want and what you need – I might want to have my driver’s license
while I’m in foster care, but there’s other things I need to take care of
first.”
Youth Perception: Exiting the System
“I don’t know what else to say about it other than that I
made it and you’ll make it too.”
I’ve been out of foster care since April and the only reason I got
out is because I went to live with my grandparents, I had just
turned 16. They just closed my case, I was pretty much on my
own they just closed my case – I wanted my case closed and I
thought it would be different, it was just a court hearing and you
left and that was it.
For all the years I’d been in foster care I felt like it didn’t even
matter that I had succeed and I got out of foster care. I feel like
[the decision to place in] foster care is really quick, if your
parents have done this and that to you and they say you can’t go
to relatives than that’s it. My CASA told me I would be there for
a few days and I was there for almost a year.
GAL Experiences
Surveying GALS
• What, if any, tangible supports (ETVs, services
 Vary by county
 Within a county it




varies by caseworker
Assistance tends to be
very short term
Lack of support for
youth with JD cases
Lack of support for
youth with significant
mental health issues
Youth need a safe
place to keep vital
documents
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
through Chafee, or Independent Living Stipends for
example) are available to youth in your county?
What are the strengths and limitations of these
supports?
Does the department routinely seek case closure
when a youth turns 18?
Will the court exercise continuing jurisdiction to the
juvenile’s 21st birthday?
For youth 16 and older are independent living plans
tailored to meet the child’s strengths and needs?
Are youth routinely included in the development of his
or her independent living plan?
Are youth receiving a their free credit report? Are
issues with identify theft being addressed?
Are Emancipation Transition Plans sufficiently
addressing options for housing, health insurance,
education, mentors, after-care support, and
employment services?
Are youth receiving their vital health documents and
other required records?
Rural Experiences
Successes
 Department almost never seeks
to close case when youth turns
18. Always willing to keep case
open until youth turns 21.
 Court is quite willing to exercise
jurisdiction until youth turns 21.
 Independent living stipends are
offered to all youth.
 Youth do receive free credit
report and vital documents – but
may not be able to hold on to
them because of homelessness
or incarceration.
 Youth are always included in
development of their
independent living plans.
Challenges
“In one particular egregious case, a kiddo was
emancipated and living in a voluntary housing
program. He decided to leave that residence
and his probation officer violated him for
‘running from placement’, although the
placement was neither court-ordered
nor state-paid.”
 Chafee services need improvement –
aid usually takes the form of rent
assistance or useful items purchased
by the Department
 Emancipation plans are not always
sufficiently addressing housing, health
insurance, etc.
 Opportunities to practice independent
living skills are scarce.
Metro Area Experiences: Exiting the
System
“If the Department would help send the message that we
are all here for you as long as you need us, up to 21, and
let youth know that they will get increasing independence
and freedom, I think we could have been more successful.
Instead, CW further entrenches the youth’s belief that the
system is holding her down” – Metro GAL
Department assumes case will close at 18 and often
promises youth they will be able to get out of the system
then.
Youth carelessly sent to community college without
school readiness and end up with unnecessary debt
Metro Experiences: Independent Living
Services
• ETV, Chaffee, FUP, and Independent Living Stipends are
available in theory. In practice youth have access to
Chaffee classes and a meeting with the Chaffee worker.
• The department makes extensive efforts to close the case
before the youth’s 18th birthday.
• Definition of job and housing insufficient:
• For example there is a reliance on Job Corp for employment, but
the case must close for youth to be eligible; youth return in one
month with zero resources
• The department advocated that a youth had sufficient economic
resources who had held a job 2 days/week at minimum wage for
two weeks
• FUP vouchers only available to youth with closed cases