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Two New Reports from Chapin Hall The Center for Children at the University of Chicago has released these two downloadable reports: Issue Brief: Focusing Juvenile Justice on Positive Youth Development Juvenile Justice programs are largely focused on the traditional goals of law enforcement – detection, suppression, supervision, and punishment. This issue brief examines how juvenile justice agencies might draw from the growing body of evidence on positive youth development to improve services for youthful offenders. Behavior Problems and Educational Disruptions Among Children in Out-of-Home Care in Chicago This study explores the intersection of placement in foster care and the emotional disturbance (ED) classification. It suggests that it is critical that both the education and child welfare systems work to identify problems early in a child’s educational career and that interventions must address not just the problematic behaviors, but also the core problems underlying children’s behavioral issues. ++++++++++ Improving Outcomes for Older Youth: What Judges and Attorneys Need to Know This new practitioner’s guide to the special needs of youth aging out of foster care is a joint production of the National Resource Center for Youth Development and the American Bar Association. The guide’s contents include sections on adolescent well-being, youth with disabilities, tribal and ICWA youth, undocumented youth, and teen parents in foster care. With some very useful appendices: checklists for attorneys and judges; questions to ask youth; highlights of the Foster Care Independence Act of 1999; State Chafee plans; State independent living coordinators contact information; Side-by-Side analysis of the ADA, IDEA & Section 504. Altogether a handy document to have around. 150 pages. Pdf file. +++++++++ What I Call Life Jill Wolfson, co-author of Somebody Else’s Children, has written a new book released this month; this one is a fictional tale about a teenage girl in foster care. The book is intended for the ten-to-thirteen-year-old crowd. From an Amazon.com review of What I Call Life: Cal, who prides herself on her independence and is fiercely protective of her mother, insists that she'll be going home any day and that what is happening is not at all part of her real life. Meanwhile, time passes, the girls learn to knit, and the Knitting Lady tells stories about two girls from long ago: one who was abandoned at an orphanage by her own mother, and another who was sent west on an orphan train. Set against these narratives, the present-day story involves shifting alliances, a search for a younger sister who may or may not exist, and a clear-eyed view of life in a group home and/or with fosters (regarding placements, one girl tells Cal, Everything gets decided behind your back).
Jill’s web site is a kick to read. Roam around its pages for instructions on how to knit, take a peek in her dresser drawer, learn about the 19th Century orphan trains, and read about her writing students in juvenile hall as they give her advice on raising her 15-year-old son. ++++++++++ How Do Court Continuances Influence the Time Children Spent in Foster Care? The Washington State Institute for Public Policy asked this question and found, on average: Continuances increase the duration of dependency and termination cases. Continuances in dependency cases increase the time children spent in foster care. Continuances prior to fact-finding add a total of 20.2 days of foster care.
The complete report and an executive summary are available to read or download at the link above. ++++++++++ Foster Care Audit in Michigan
NCJFCJ member and trustee Judge Michael Anderegg responds to an audit critical of Michigan’s foster care program in this Detroit Free Press commentary and criticizes the state’s auditor general in turn for going beyond the evidence he cites to support his report’s conclusions. ++++++++++
Billings Family Drug Treatment Court
Read about the Family Drug Treatment Court in Billings, Montana. The court was established in June 2001 and has since provided intensive, long-term help to 47 adults and 91 children.
++++++++++ Reuniting Families – The Family Finding Movement
Family Finding is a movement that is spreading nationwide and becoming one of the most promising trends in child welfare today. In 36 of 37 cases in which the strategy has been tried in Santa Clara County, Calif., children either were placed with relatives permanently or, developed potential lifelong connections with caring adults. These connections were made with the assistance of a computer and a powerful Internet search engine. The search begins with a hunt for names in case files followed by specially crafted Internet searches. Once family members are located, social workers try to ease them into taking responsibility for children who have been separated from their families.
++++++++++ Adoption/Foster Care Resources
From the National Adoption Information Clearinghouse: The Use of Intensive Family Preservation Services with Post-Adoptive Families
The National Family Preservation Network has released its study on the use of Intensive Family Preservation Services (IFPS) with adoptive families. The study found there is some indication that IFPS may offer better outcomes for post-adopt families than other services that are offered.
++++++++++ Medical Studies and the Average American Kid
New analysis of childhood risks adds to the controversy on whether federal research protections for children are adequate. Federal regulations say the results the research should be no greater than the ones kids encounter in daily life. The study provides a comprehensive look at the risks in a typical kid’s day and finds them a lot higher than one would think. ++++++++++ Tools for Permanency – Family Group Decision Making
Tool #2 from the National Resource Center for Foster Care & Permanency Planning offers information about this family-focused, culturally sensitive approach to developing safety and permanency plans for families with children who are in foster care or at risk of entering foster care due to parental abuse or neglect. Other tools available: Concurrent Permanency Planning and Child Welfare Mediation.
++++++++++ The Juvenile Justice Professional’s Guide to Human Subjects Protection and the IRB Process
An online guide to the law and regulations that govern research involving human subjects prepared by our research branch, the National Center for Juvenile Justice. This will be particularly valuable to juvenile justice professionals in protecting and rights and ensuring the well-being of youth under the supervision of the juvenile justice system. Those who plan to establish an Institutional Review Board (IRB) will find the guide to be a practical resource as well.
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Performance Measures for Courts: The Next Step in Foster Care Reform This monograph from the National Council for Adoption examines how well juvenile and family courts work with public child welfare agencies to place children in foster care with safe, stable families. Legislative and judicial officials can use the report as they evaluate and improve court performance. The media and the public can educate themselves about the criteria for effective court systems. 12 pages. Downloadable. ++++++++++ Cook County Workers Look Out for an Abandoned Dog From the Child’s Perspective: A Qualitative Analysis of Kinship Care Placements Few studies have addressed the needs of children in kinship care, or gathered in-depth information about their experiences. This study From the National Abandoned Infants Assistance Resource Center attempts to fill that gap. ++++++++++ Restorative Practices in a Foster Care Group Home The Restorative Practices eForum reports on the CSF foster girls’ group home in Quakertown, Penn. CSF (Community Service Foundation) group homes are run according to the tenets of restorative practices. A CSF group home avoids being permissive or punitive. It is rather, a restorative atmosphere – a highly structured, safe environment for people to express and exchange intense emotion. Youth are court-ordered to enter the CSF Residential Program, but are fully informed about how the program works and are given a choice whether to make a commitment to it. ++++++++++ Family Group Conferences for Youth in Group Care Connected and Cared For was a three-year project in the state of Washington in which 81 family group conferences were conducted for 96 children between 11 and 18 years of age who were in group care at the time of the conference. Postconference interviews indicated that the conferences were largely successful in engaging families in planning for the youth and increasing communication among families, social workers, and service planners. ++++++++++ New Pew Commission DVD: Fostering the Future The DVD uses firsthand accounts from children, parents, judges, administrators and others to depict the high-stakes decisions courts make, as well as the obstacles that can prevent children from exiting foster care. The video portrays the causes and consequences of court-based delays and explains how the Commission’s recommendations can improve the ability of courts to move children quickly out of foster care and into safe, permanent homes. Click here for an order form to order the video. ++++++++++ National Curriculum for Caseflow Management in Juvenile Dependency Cases Involving Foster Care This groundbreaking new curriculum is the joint product of nine national organizations, of which NCJFCJ is one. The goal of the National curriculum is to improve the court system’s ability to oversee the movement of foster care cases to shorten the time needed for children to reach permanent placement. It emphasizes the need for state courts and child welfare agencies to work together to improve outcomes for children and is designed to foster collaboration between them. The link above will take you a JERITT web page about the project and links to the curriculum (82 pages, downloadable), a news release, a short overview of the project (4 pages, downloadable), and Improving Outcomes together, an issue brief by Fostering Results and the ABA (29 pages, downloadable). ++++++++++ Education Advocacy Model for Foster Children Project Achieve: A Model Project Providing Education Advocacy for Children in the Child Welfare System is a new report about Project Achieve, a model program developed by Advocates for Children (AFC) of New York. The program has shown promise in ensuring children in, or at risk of, foster care placement, receive appropriate educational services. The program uses three key strategies: Providing individual case assistance and advocacy to all clients of a child welfare agency with unmet education-related needs. Enhancing the ability of agency service staff, caseworkers, and supervisors to identify and solve routine school-related issues. Empowering and educating parents and young people to navigate the New York City Department of Education (DOE) and other agencies providing educational services.
Click on the link above to download.
++++++++++ New Technical Assistance Briefs from PPCD The Permanency Planning for Children Department announces the availability of these new technical assistance briefs: Asking the Right Questions - A Judicial Checklist to Ensure That The Educational Needs of Children and Youth in Foster Care are Being addressed Mediation in Child Protection Cases: An Evaluation of the Washington, D.C. Family court Child Protection Mediation Program.
Click on the link above to download copies of these documents or to order hard copies. (Hint: to download, click on the name of the publication.) ++++++++++ Georgia’s Responsibility Toward Children in Foster Care: A Reference Manual
Emory University’s Barton Child Law and Policy Clinic compiled and has distributed a new reference manual on Georgia’s responsibilities toward children in foster care. The manual is the first unified source of information for everyone who makes decisions about children in the state’s foster care system. The manual is available as a 125 page pdf and an Executive Summary is available for download as well. ++++++++++ Teen Plans Lessons for Teachers on Teen Homelessness and Foster Care Ashley Keiran of Portland, Maine entered foster care at 14 and kept it quiet except for a few supportive teachers and people she trusted. Now, as a parting gift to her school and with money from a youth leadership development grant, she is preparing to design and lead two training sessions for Portland High teachers on the educational challenges faced by teens who are homeless or in foster care. Her intent is to sensitive teachers to the sheer logistical burdens faced by homeless teens or teens in unstable foster care situations. ++++++++++ Youth Who Outgrow Foster Care Struggle A new study released by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago examines the effects of “aging out” of the foster care system at age 18. Nationally, some 20,000 youths who were once removed from their homes because of abuse or neglect leave their second home – the child welfare system – because they get too old for it. (Any parent of an 18 year old can tell you that typical 18 year olds are far from adulthood and that adulthood occurs slowly over time.) Often today young people live with their parents well into their twenties. The study says aging out can have devastating consequences. It looked at more than 600 young people, mostly 19 years old in Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin who recently left foster care or will soon leave.
From the study: More than a third of those coming from foster care had no high school diploma or GED, compared to 10% of people their age. They were also far more likely to be pregnant, unemployed, unable to pay the rent, or getting counseling. Those who left foster are at 18 were 50% more likely to be unemployed and out of school than those who stayed in. About 14% of those who left care reported finding themselves homeless at some point.
11.5% reported sometimes or often not having enough to eat. Those who were allowed to stay in the foster care system beyond their 18th birthdays seemed to fare better than those who were independent at 18.
Click here to read the Executive Summary of the Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth: Outcomes at Age 19 and/or to download the full report. ++++++++++ Aging Out What happens when you’ve grown up in foster care and suddenly you’re on your own? This new film follows young people as they become parents, battle drug addiction, face homelessness, and end up in jail. It forces us to consider the strengths and weaknesses of the public systems that serve foster youth, and the role that private citizens and organizations can play. Aging Out will be broadcast on PBS Thursday, May 26, 2005. Check your local listings to confirm time and date. ++++++++++ It’s My Life: Employment A Casey Family Programs publication on career and employment success for young people from foster care, this handbook is intended for child welfare professionals and others responsible for helping young people prepare for transition to adulthood and the workplace. 80 page downloadable pdf file. ++++++++++ Boy Scout Program Behind Bars Scoutreach, a Boy Scout program for boys whose mothers are at the Washington Corrections Center for Women is run by the Chief Seattle Boy Scout Council. It is the first such program for boys in the country. The program participants meet at the prison once a month. The program is intended to help over come the isolation and loss children of incarcerated parents feel. ++++++++++ AIDS Drugs Tested on Foster Children A review by Associated Press has found that government-funded researchers tested AIDS drugs on hundreds of children over the past two decades, often without providing them with a basic protection afforded in federal law and required by some states. The research was conducted in at least seven states – Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Colorado and Texas – and involved more than four dozen studies. The children ranged in age from infants to those in their late teens. More details at the Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report for May 5, 2005 ++++++++++ May is National Foster Care Month See related articles below: CWLA's web site offers a variety of activities, ideas, information about foster care and a foster care tool kit.
Foster Care Adoption in the United States - The Urban Institute presents this brief report on barriers and promising approaches to the adoption of children from foster care.
The Children's Bureau Express web site offers a variety of articles on foster care, including foster care runaways, the well-being of children in foster care, and co-occurring domestic violence and child maltreatment. All are available from the link above. ++++++++++ Foster Care Adoption in the United States - The Urban Institute presents this brief report on barriers and promising approaches to the adoption of children from foster care. |
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