Foster Care Independent Living
Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Ways and Means. Subcommittee on Human Resources
Publisher:
Published: 2000
Total Pages: 68
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Ways and Means. Subcommittee on Human Resources
Publisher:
Published: 2000
Total Pages: 68
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Ways and Means. Subcommittee on Public Assistance and Unemployment Compensation
Publisher:
Published: 1989
Total Pages: 98
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Author: Adrienne L. Fernandes
Publisher:
Published: 2008
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13: 9781606920695
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Nearly half of states have laws that explicitly permit the state child welfare system to continue providing foster care for children beyond the age of majority (usually no later than 19). However, the number of states that actually facilitate youth remaining in care beyond their 18th or 19th birthdays is significantly smaller. Over 20,000 young people have been emancipated from foster care annually from FY2002 through FY2006. While most young people have access to emotional and financial support systems throughout their early adult years, older youth in care and those who age out of care often face obstacles to developing independent living skills and building supports that ease the transition to adulthood. Older foster youth who return to their parents or guardians may continue to experience poor family dynamics or a lack of emotional and financial supports, and studies have shown that recently emancipated foster youth fare poorly relative to their counterparts in the general population on several outcome measures. Recognising the difficulties faced by older youth in care and youth emancipating from foster care, Congress created a new Independent Living initiative (P.L. 99-272)in 1986 to assist certain older foster youth as they enter adulthood. The legislation authorised mandatory funding to states under a new Section 477 of the Social Security Act. In 1999, the John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Act (P.L. 106-169) replaced the Independent Living Program with the Chafee Foster Care Independence Program (CFCIP) and doubled the total annual funds available to states from $70 million to $140 million. The law also expanded the population of youth eligible to receive independent living services - with no lower age limit - and gave states greater flexibility in designing independent living programs. Independent living services can refer to assistance in obtaining a high school diploma, training in daily living skills, and training in financial management, among other services. Amendments to the CFCIP in FY2002 (P.L. 107-133) authorised discretionary funding for states to provide education and training vouchers to eligible youth. Along with the CFCIP, federal child welfare law and other federal programs are intended to help older current youth in care and foster care alumni make the transition to adulthood. The federal foster care program has protections in place to ensure that older youth in care have a written case plan that addresses the programs and services that will assist in this transition, among other supports. Further, federal law authorises funding for states to provide workforce assistance and housing to older foster youth. Despite these efforts and the resilience displayed by current and former foster youth, policymakers and child welfare practitioners have suggested that at a minimum, young people need better support to build stronger connections with caring adults before leaving foster care and should have the option to remain in care upon reaching their 18th or 19th birthdays.
Author: Benjamin Kerman
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2009-05-18
Total Pages: 416
ISBN-13: 0231146884
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Through a novel integration of child welfare data, policy analysis, and evidence-informed youth permanency practice, the essays in this volume show how to achieve and sustain family permanence for older children and youth in foster care. Researchers examine what is known about permanency outcomes for youth in foster care, how the existing knowledge base can be applied to improve these outcomes, and the directions that future research should take to strengthen youth permanence practice and policy. Part 1 examines child welfare data concerning reunification, adoption, and relative custody and guardianship and the implications for practice and policy. Part 2 addresses law, regulation, court reform, and resource allocation as vital components in achieving and sustaining family permanence. Contributors examine the impact of policy change created by court reform and propose new federal and state policy directions. Part 3 outlines a range of practices designed to achieve family permanence for youth in foster care: preserving families through community-based services, reunification, adoption, and custody and guardianship arrangements with relatives. As growing numbers of youth continue to "age out" of foster care without permanent families, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers have increasingly focused on developing evidence-informed policies, practices, services and supports to improve outcomes for youth. Edited by leading professionals in the field, this text recommends the most relevant and effective methods for improving family permanency outcomes for older youth in foster care.
Author: Martha Shirk
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: 2006-08-08
Total Pages: 338
ISBN-13: 0786722029
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Each year, as many as 25,000 teenagers "age out" of foster care, usually when they turn eighteen. For years, a government agency had made every important decision for them. Suddenly, they are on their own, with no one to count on. What does it mean to be eighteen and on your own, without the family support and personal connections that most young people rely on? For many youth raised in foster care, it means largely unhappy endings, including sudden homelessness, unemployment, dead-end jobs, loneliness, and despair. On Their Own tells the compelling stories of ten young people whose lives are full of promise, but who face economic and social barriers stemming from the disruptions of foster care. This book calls for action to provide youth in foster care the same opportunities on the road to adulthood that most of our youth take for granted-access to higher education, vocational training, medical care, housing, and relationships within their communities. On Their Own is meant to serve as a clarion call not only to policymakers, but to all Americans who care about the futures of our young people.
Author: Brittney Lynn Boyer
Publisher:
Published: 2010
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Homelessness is often linked to the commission of crimes of survival (i.e. property and violent crimes) and 'quality of life' offenses (seen in city ordinances). One population with particularly high rates of homelessness is youths exiting state-provided foster care systems. Studies show that youths who are emancipated from these systems lack sufficient life skills, which results in approximately one in four experiencing periods of homelessness in the years following emancipation. Independent Living Programs strive to prepare older foster youth for the transition out of care to self-sufficiency. This author reviewed The Inn Home's Independent Living Program in Portland, Oregon. Based on this review and subsequent reviews of literature, recommendations for programming to reduce the rates of homelessness and the related commission of survivalist crimes are presented; these include, increased focus on job readiness skills training as well as transitional housing resources.
Author: Edmund V. Mech
Publisher: C W L A Press
Published: 2003
Total Pages: 360
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Discusses the plight of youth who have aged out of the system. It provides meaningful, practical solutions for teaching youth to support themselves before they are forced out of care, and details programs that assist youth in becoming self-supporting once they do leave the foster care system.