Transcript Ensuring Successful Transitions for Youth Aging out of

Ensuring Successful Transitions for Youth
Aging out of Foster Care
A Co-Investment Site of the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative
National Overview
Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative
• Created to improve outcomes for young people who leave foster
care.
• The Initiative’s vision is for all young people leaving foster care
to make successful transitions into adulthood.
• Mission is to bring together the people, systems and resources
necessary to assist youth leaving foster care in making successful
transitions to adulthood.
Initiative Sites
Delaware is a partnership with the Delaware Center for Justice, Eckerd Family Foundation, and the Department of Services for
Children, Youth and Their Families
National Data
THE TOTAL NUMBER IN FOSTER CARE HAS
DECREASED EVERY YEAR SINCE 1999
THE NUMBER OF YOUTH AGING OUT OF
FOSTER CARE HAS INCREASED EVERY YEAR
SINCE 2001
30,000
580,000
570,000
560,000
550,000
20,000
540,000
530,000
520,000
510,000
500,000
10,000
98
99 00
01 02 03
04 05
06
98
99
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
Source: Kids are Waiting and the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative (2007); Time for Reform: Aging Out and On Their Own. Philadelphia, PA:
Pew Charitable Trust
Delaware Data
Theory of Change
Young people have access to an array
of opportunities that support them
Young people are decision makers
and advocates for themselves
Partners in public and private systems
provide necessary resources and support
Public will is galvanized by the need to improve
outcomes and policy is focused on the reforms
necessary to improve outcomes
Stakeholders use data to drive decision making,
communications, and the documentation of results
All five strategies working together lead to improved outcomes and systems for youth leaving foster care.
Policy Improvements In other Sites
Policy Influence
System Improvements
Advocacy and influence generated by youth, community partnerships and data
Medicaid expanded to age 21 in states:
Permanency efforts imbedded in
Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa,
legislation and policy:
and Michigan
Connecticut, Iowa, Maine,
Tuition waivers and expanded supports 18-21: Michigan, and Rhode Island
Florida, Iowa, and Maine
Sibling rights visitation:
Court improvements:
Iowa and Maine
Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, and
Rhode Island
The Adolescent Brain
• Cutting-edge research done by the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities
Initiative on brain development in the adolescent years.
• Research shows that brains are not fully mature until at least 25, and even
later for some individuals.
• Trauma, physical or psychological, can disrupt and delay brain
development.
• Children typically enter foster care with complex histories and family
relationships that can lead to chronic mental health problems, factors that
are likely to impact their emotional, social and behavioral maturity.
However, because of its neuroplasticity, the adolescent brain can be
“rewired” and gain resiliency.
• recommendations for significantly changing the treatment of
older youth and young adults in foster care:
– Provide “interdependent,” not independent, living services that
connect young people with caring adults who can help them build
essential social capital, skills and confidence.
– Provide for positive youth development, which is a neurological
necessity.
– Ensure that child welfare employees understand how youth’s past
experience with trauma and loss affects their brain development.
– Extend foster care to age 21.
Delaware’s Involvement
• Delaware became a Jim Casey site in January 2011.
• The Delaware Center for Justice received funding in 2011 and 2012 for this initiative by
the Eckerd Family Foundation. In 2013 the Longwood and Welfare Foundations will
fund the Initiative.
– DCJ will serve as the lead organization for implementation and has partnered with
DSCYF in the effort.
• Several DSCYF, DCJ staff members, and independent living providers attended a
“convening” in November 2010 in Clearwater, Florida for all current Casey sites. The
meeting provided framework models and strategies for moving forward as a co-investment
state.
• A full-time coordinator and a part-time youth advisor were hired to oversee
implementation of the project in January 2011. The youth advisor will become full-time
in 2013.
Delaware’s Environmental Scan
• The Delaware Initiative completed an Environmental Scan in June 2011.
• The Scan is a comprehensive look at the services provided and other
needed services for foster care youth throughout the state.
• The University of Delaware’s Institute of Public Administration and
Delaware State University collected much of the needed data, and the
Institute of Public Administration edited and produced the final document.
• A full version of the scan can be read here:
http://www.ipa.udel.edu/publications/PhaseIIEnvScan.pdf.
Some Results from
the Delaware
Environmental Scan
Delaware’s Enhancements
• MOU between all state agencies outlining the supportive services
that will be made available to transitioning youth.
• Extended Court Jurisdiction (SB 113) that expands the role of the
court for youth 18-21 who are experiencing difficulties in accessing
independent living services.
• Enhancements for Independent Living Providers
• 30 Family Unification Vouchers were provided to youth 1821 who have exited care, to provide rental subsidies to youth
based on their income.
• Two youth are attending Delaware State University without
cost that includes year round housing and designated
supportive services to assist their acclimation to university
life.
• Youth may now apply for DSHA Section 8 program
beginning at age 16, instead of age 18.
• The ONLY compliant state in Region III for the National
Youth in Transition Database.
Areas of Needed
Improvement
Progress Since the
Environmental Scan
Youth Advisory Council (YAC)
• YAC, composed of current and former foster
care youth, provides a safe and respectful
forum for youth to share ideas, opinions,
concerns and to develop leadership skills by
planning and facilitating activities.
• The youths’ voices are valued and listened to
in YAC. No voice goes unheard.
• Created Policy Agenda for DYOI that was
shared with Delaware General Assembly.
Community Partnership Board
• The purpose of the Community Partnership Board is to discuss areas
that impact the lives of youth aging out of foster care and progress of
the Initiative.
• The Board will be divided into working groups to discuss many of
the areas the environmental scan has identified as gaps in services,
ranging from education to health care, etc.
• In other sites, the Community Partnership Board has been utilized to
push important policies through state legislatures, providing dooropeners to those who have transitioned out of foster care, and to
evaluate the outcomes of the Initiative.
Goals of the Initiative
• Education
– Young people acquire education and training that enable them to obtain and
retain steady employment.
• Physical and Mental Health
– Young people have health insurance for both physical and mental health.
• Housing
– Young people have safe, stable, and affordable housing.
• Employment and Transportation
– Young people support themselves by obtaining and retaining steady
employment and have access to transportation for work and school.
Goals of the Initiative
• Policy
– Young people, as advocates, help to create the agenda and approach for
improving public policies and systems
• Permanency
– Every young person has an adult to rely on for a lifetime and a supportive
family network.
• Financial Literacy and Capability
– Create an array of financial opportunities and help young people gain entry to
them, through the Opportunity PassportTM Program.
• Transitions
– Young people have supportive relationships in the community that help them
achieve their personal goals.
Improvements from Working Groups
• The Policy Working Group successfully wrote HJR 18, sponsored by Rep.
Mike Barbieri, to create a report researching extending foster care to 21 in
Delaware.
• The Lt. Gov. is personally collecting resumes from current and former
foster youth to help match them with employers. He is also working to
establish a relationship with an auto insurance provider to ease the costs
for current and former foster youth.
• The Transitions Working Group, through Kind to Kids, successfully
completed a pilot life skills course for 14 and 15 year olds to help with the
transition to adulthood. In 2013, this program will be expanded.
• The Employment Working Group is currently creating a
mentorship/internship program with employers from around the state and
has successfully matched one youth with Dover Downs so far. It will
officially kick off in 2013. In addition, the group is working to create an
employment resource page geared to youth and service providers, housed
on DYOI’s website (www.dyoi.org).
• The Financial Literacy and Capability Working Group is establishing
Opportunity PassportTM in Delaware, starting in 2013. This program’s
goal is to give youth the tools they need to manage finances and capitalize
on the banking system by providing access to personal debit accounts,
matched savings accounts, and other “door openers” that support
educational, training, and vocational opportunities.
Opportunity
TM
Passport
• Designed to organize resources and create opportunities for young people
leaving foster care. The Opportunity Passport program is a tool with three
related components:
– Personal debit account to be used to pay for short-term expenses.
– Matched savings account, also known as an Individual Development Account
(IDA), to be used for specific assets, such as education expenses, insurance and
housing down payments/deposits.
– Door Openers, a host of opportunities to be developed on a local basis. Examples
in other sites have included pre-approval for registration for community college
courses or reduced insurance rates or accessible transportation options.
• The Opportunity Passport program helps participants learn financial
management; obtain experience with the banking system; save money for
education, insurance, health care, and other specified expenses; and gain
streamlined access to educational, training, and vocational opportunities.
How Can You Help?
• Through research, creating healthy relationships with adults
during a foster youth’s adolescent years will help the youth cope
with bad things that have occurred in their lives, i.e. mentorship,
positive role models, etc.
• Join one of the Community Partnership Board Working Groups.
• Sign up to receive DYOI’s email newsletter.
• Continued support of upcoming legislation that affects youth
transitioning from child welfare.
For More Information Contact:
Julie Miller
Coordinator
302-658-7174 ext. 16
[email protected]
Amanda Brennan
Youth Advisor
302-658-7174 ext 35
[email protected]
Or visit our website at www.dyoi.org