All young people need opportunities to achieve economic success - Critical Documents

Initiative Policy Goal

Mandate that all youth leaving care, age 14 up to 21, receive necessary documents upon exiting including, at a minimum, their Social Security card, a certified birth certificate or green card, and a government-issued photo ID.

Issue Definition

Critical personal documents are needed for anyone to successfully live independently. This is especially true in a political environment in which societal expectations about security, privacy, monitoring and documentation are ever more demanding of its citizenry.  Enrolling in school, applying for a job or financial aid for college, obtaining health insurance, getting a driver’s license, securing an apartment and opening a bank account are just a few important responsibilities that require personal records. These records include:

• a certified copy of birth certificate;
• state picture I.D. card or driver’s license;
• social security card;
• medical records/immunization records;
• educational transcripts;
• green card, if applicable;
• voter registration card, bank account information, if applicable; and
• work permit, if needed.

Young people who have transitioned from foster care often are not provided with their essential documents and have difficulty accessing them.  Vital records can be misplaced during multiple foster placements and the transfer of young person’s case among multiple caseworkers; or when a young person’s case is managed by a private agency whose staff cannot get these documents for their clients. Yet without these critical documents, a young person who is trying to begin their life as a self-sufficient adult can be stalled or thwarted entirely.

At a minimum, states should review the need for and status of critical documents as they begin transition planning with young people in foster care. Upon exiting care young people should have in their possession, at a minimum, their Social Security card, a certified copy of their birth certificate or green card, and a government-issued photo ID. 

Status

Some states, including seven Initiative partner sites (Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Florida, Maine, Michigan, and Rhode Island) mandate that all young people leaving care must receive their vital documents prior to their exit. This is an important policy; however it is critically important that the practice model and system of quality assurance support the policy to ensure that the desired result of young people leaving care with essential documents is actually achieved.  And, ideally, the department that has had custody of the young person pays fees associated with obtaining documents to eliminate payment and/or payment process as a barrier to obtaining records.  This is currently done in Connecticut, Iowa, Georgia, Rhode Island and Maine, among other states, though it is often a practice and not established by policy.  

Some states established policy requiring that team meetings or court hearings to develop or review case plans and transition issues must explicitly address what steps need to occur to ensure the young person timely receives critical documents.  This information from the meeting or hearing is recorded on an agency form or in the state automated child welfare information system (SACWIS or official data base). For example, in Connecticut, policy states that both the Case Conference and the Administrative Case Review must address the independent living passport and essential documents. These conferences are documented using the “Adolescent Planning Conference Form”, which includes a checklist of 15 essential documents.  The case worker must record whether each document is possessed by Department of Children and Families, the young person, or “needs to be located. ”

Recording information about critical documents in SACWIS is helpful with tracking the various documents and promotes accountability. Georgia’s SACWIS contains a check-box indicating whether the young person’s documents are in their case file, however, this does not indicate whether the documents were given to the young person.

A promising practiced in Iowa requires the Department of human Services to provide all young people exiting care at age 18 with a certified copy of their birth certificate and if needed, facilitate securing a federal social security card. Fees associated with securing these documents are waived. Iowa’s SACWIS includes a check-box field indicating whether a young person has his/her birth certificate. In addition, caseworkers are required to provide young people who age out of care after age 18 with free copies of their health and education records.

Related Resource

Fostering Connections Resource Center. FosterClub's Transition Toolkit: A tool for developing a youth-driven transition plan using a team approach. The FosterClub Transition Toolkit includes an overview of the skills, knowledge and resources needed for young people leaving foster care to prepare for life on their own as young adults. FosterClub’s Transition Plan provides a space to write down and keep track of all the resources that are available. www.fosteringconnections.org