Click here: LEGAL CENTER FOR FOSTER CARE AND EDUCATION

Families and Adolescents for Life
Click here: Training Materials

Click here: FosterCareIssueBrief

Permanency Pack

Washington youth voice handbook : the what, who, why, where, when, and how youth voice happens.

NRCFCPPP: Teleconferences
Use of Psychotropic Medications for Children in the Child Welfare System

Click here: Child Welfare League of America: Conferences and Training: Schedule

Click here: http://www.cwla.org/

Click here: Support for Youth

Click here: NRCFCPPP: Youth Permanency

Click here: NCCP | Challenges and Opportunities in Children’s Mental Health: A View from Families and Youth

Click here: http://fostercarehomeatlast.org/reports/MyVoice.pdf

Click here: CHC: Adolescence and the Transition to Adulthood Conference

Click here: Youth Permanency

Click here: National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy

CHARTING A COURSE Conference Series

NRCFCPPP: Newsletters

NRCFCPPP: Teleconferences

A Family for Every Child:
Strategies to Achieve Permanence
for Older Foster Children and Youth
Click here: http://www.aecf.org/initiatives/familytofamily/tools/family_every_child.pdf

Teleconference on New Permanency Bill

Check out http://www.nyc.gov/html/acs/pdf/immigration_language_guide.pdf

Chapin Hall Discussion Paper

Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth: Outcomes at Age 19 - Executive Summary 2005 Mark E. Courtney,

Amy Dworsky This is the second report from the Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth, a longitudinal study of youth aging out of foster care and transitioning to adulthood in Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois. It is based on survey data collected during follow-up interviews with 603 of the 736 youth from whom baseline data were collected. We compare the outcomes of the 282 young adults who were still in care at age 19 to the outcomes of the 321 who had already been discharged. We also compare our sample of young adults to a nationally representative sample of 19-year-olds from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Our results suggest that youth making the transition from foster care to young adulthood face a number of significant challenges, including educational deficits, mental health problems, economic insecurity, victimization, and early child-bearing. They fare worse than their same-age peers across a variety of domains and are much more likely to have been involved with the criminal justice system. At the same time, many of the young adults continue to have strong ties to family and perceive relatively high levels of social support. Our results also suggest that allowing foster youth to remain in care beyond their 18th birthday may confer some advantages during the transition to adulthood. Those still in care were more likely to have received services to prepare them for independent living, to be continuing their education, and to have access to health and mental health care services. They were also more likely to be working or in school than those no longer in care even after controlling for a variety of factors that might explain this difference. Click here for full report: http://www.chapinhall.org/PDFDownload_new.asp?tk=1197748&ar=1388&L2=61&L3=130


New Resources From CWLA, Toolbox Series on Youth Permanency

Toolbox # 1: Using Visitation to Support Permanency, By Lois Wright

This publication presents the best professional child welfare practice in planning and implementing visitation between children in out-of-home care and their parents, within the context of current federal legislation emphasizing permanency planning. This toolbox contains helpful aids and tools that practitioners can use quickly and easily to guide their thinking and the information necessary to use the tools fully and meaningfully

Toolbox # 2: Expanding the Role Of Foster Parents in Achieving Permanency for Children By Susan Dougherty

Over the last decade, the role of a foster parent has evolved from that of a temporary caregiver to being an essential part of a professional team determining the best long-term plan for a child. This publication focuses on practical ways in which best child welfare practice can be incorporated into the recruitment, training, and support of foster parents and ways that agencies can enhance the role of foster parents in a changing child welfare system.

Toolbox # 3: Facilitating Permanency for Youth, By Gerald P. Mallon

Facilitating permanency for youth in foster care can be challenging. Although the child welfare system has maintained in its policies and practices a clear focus for younger children in need of permanency, it has been less explicit on the logistics of facilitating that goal. This publication focuses on promising practices and approaches shown to promote permanency for youth. Contents include a current literature and research review; highlights of promising strategies, partnerships, and innovative public policies; case review prototypes; strategies for including the adolescent in the service planning process; definitions of outcomes for adolescent permanency; and many other areas. This book will provide practitioners with the vision and the practical guidance needed to facilitate and support permanency for youth and thus improve youth chances for safety, permanency, and well-being
http://www.cwla.org/pubs/pubdetails.asp?PUBID=10048

AmeriCorps* NCCC requires an intense, ten-month, full-time commitment by young people aged 18-24 year-olds. The program is residential, team-based, and modeled after the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s and the U.S. military. Members serve in teams of 10-12 individuals and are assigned to projects throughout the region served by their campus. They are trained in CPR, first aid, and mass care before deploying for their first service project. In addition some members are also certified in chainsaw operation and wildland firefighting. During their service, members receive lodging, meals, uniforms, health benefits, student-loan forbearance and a living allowance of about $4,000. Upon successful completion of their term, members receive an education award of $4,725 to help pay for college or graduate school, or to pay back qualified student loans.
http://www.americorps.org/nccc/index.html

National Resource Center For Foster Care & Permanency Planning is getting a new name: Effective October 1, the Hunter College School of Social Work entered a new agreement with the Children’s Bureau, and the new name is the National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning. (NRCFCPPP) While the Center will still provide technical assistance and support to States and Tribes on foster care issues, the change in name signals a new, expanded focus on the role of the family in providing safety, permanence and well-being for children. The website is in the process of being updated to reflect the new mission. The new “address” will make it easier to remember how to find them on the web; a search engine at the bottom of their home page will make it easier to find what you are looking for on the site; our “About Us” page describes the work the Center will be doing. http://www.nrcfcppp.org

Foster Club introduces the fyi3 Binder: the tool designed for youth transitioning from foster care. It provides a roadmap for youth to become more involved in their foster care plan as they become more informed about opportunities, and can be a valuable tool in their quest to become more independent, successful adults. The fyi3 Binder is sturdy, vinyl covered, and features metal 3 ring construction. Easily customizable to include information regarding your program or state / local resources. Youth can download more pages for FREE at fyi3.com. Tabbed index pages provide quick access to the respective sections. Expandable nature allows for additional documents to be added and updated. http://www.fosterclub.com/fyi3/binder/binderFeatures.cfm

Child Trends Data Youth and Dating. Students in the eighth, tenth, and twelfth grades are less likely than they were in 1991 to ever date. The shift in behavior is more pronounced for twelfth grade students, where the percentage who did not date at all rose from 14 percent in 1991 to 25 percent in 2003. The percentage who went on one or more dates per week declined from 34 percent to 27 percent during that time period. Between 2002 and 2003, the percentage of tenth grade students who never date increased from 34 percent to 37 percent and the percentage of twelfth grade students who never date increased from 23 percent to 25 percent. http://childtrendsdatabank.org/indicators/73Dating.cfm