Gary Stangler

The holidays are almost upon us, and there is much to be thankful for this year. This fall, Congress passed and President Bush signed the landmark Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008. This piece of legislation represents the most significant reform of the child welfare system in more than 25 years – and it will substantially improve life for older youth in foster care and those aging out of foster care, but we have to keep working so that the states act on the expansions, which are optional. In this issue of the newsletter, you'll learn more details about how this important new law will help older youth.

In this issue, you'll also read about how our Opportunity Passport™ participants are establishing permanent relationships with caring adults in their lives. These findings are based on surveys completed by the Opportunity Passport™ participants to show progress over time. The data strongly support the idea that these permanent relationships make a vast difference in providing better outcomes for youth in care.

You'll also meet some amazing young people in one of our demonstration sites who built a house in Michigan, and one young woman in San Diego who took care of her newborn sister so she wouldn't have to go into foster care.

Please remember the holidays can be a lonely time for young people in foster care. Please take the time to make this season a little brighter for a young person in care.

Sincerely,

• Initiative Sites Offer Help with College Application Hurdles
• New Federal Law Will Significantly Improve Lives of Youth Aging Out
• Connecticut Youth Tout Importance of Educational Stability at Forum
• Having Permanent Relationships with Adults Benefits Youth, New Data Show
• Shannon Brower Becomes Initiative Consultant to Guide Sites in San Diego and Nebraska
• Michigan Youth Opportunities Initiative Youth Build a Habitat Home in Time for Christmas and Gain Mentors
• Once In Care Herself, Busy 22-Year-Old Takes Care – and Custody – of Her Baby Sister
• Des Moines Youth Discuss Ways to Stay Connected to African American Culture
• Apply by January 9 for Capitol Hill Internship for Youth from Foster Care
• Stay Connected
• Upcoming Conferences

Initiative Sites Offer Help with College Application Hurdles

Greg Thompson fills out financial
aid forms

After getting his GED in July, Greg Thompson set his sights on going to college. What he didn't plan on, however, was the onslaught of complicated documents to fill out, important decisions to make and urgent deadlines to meet.

With so much to do, and little support, Thompson – who had been in the foster care system since age 15 – felt a lot like he was "blowing in the wind," he said. Thankfully, Youth Connections – a resource center for youth in foster care in Nashville, Tenn. – had Cristina Dimengo, a community vocational specialist, there to help.

"She just helped me every step along the way," said Thompson, who is now a happy first-semester student at Nashville State Community College. "If I didn't have her, I think I would've probably given up."

Thompson likely speaks for many youth in foster care who have experienced, or are currently going through the challenging college application process.

Efficiently navigating the world of college applications is difficult for young people – and the adults who care for them – even under the best circumstances. Countless hours are spent at the personal computer, poring over Web sites, writing essays and filling out a seemingly never-ending pile of forms. It's an ordeal that severely tests the limits of time-management skills, concentration and commitment.

For those youth without the support of a stable family or home, the task is made even more arduous. That's why many of the sites in the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative offer assistance with the process to older youth in foster care.

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New Federal Law Will Significantly Improve Lives of Youth Aging Out

Several youth testified on Capitol
Hill regarding the Fostering
Connections to Success and
Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008

Advocates for older youth in foster care collectively cheered in October when President George W. Bush signed into law the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008.

The bi-partisan legislation represents the most significant reform of the nation's foster care system in decades. As a result of the new law, more children who have experienced abuse or neglect will be able to leave foster care to join safe, permanent families.

Gary Stangler, executive director of Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, said the legislation was "the most important advance in child welfare at least since 1980," when laws were passed that created the basis for today's child welfare system.

The new legislation has substantial benefits for older youth in care. The most significant advantage: It extends services for youth in foster care to age 21.

Currently, the federal government partially reimburses states for foster care services, including living arrangements for youth, only up to age 18. Some states voluntarily extend payments for additional years but at their own expense. Under the new law, states now have the option to extend services to youth ages 19, 20 and 21, if they choose – and be reimbursed by the federal government.

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Connecticut Youth Tout Importance of Educational Stability at Forum

Dominique Swint (l), Lamond Daniels
(center) and Shakeisha Hamilton (r) share
their thoughts about educational stability

Dominique Swint had a volatile freshman year of high school, transferring schools at least three times, in and out of so many classrooms that she was unable to remember the names of her teachers or her fellow classmates. Shakeisha Hamilton, on the other hand, started at Kolbe Cathedral High School, a private Catholic school in Bridgeport, and stayed there all four years, regardless of changes at home. Because of this continuity, she says, she was able to be elected president of her junior class and inducted into the school's honor society.

The two young women, both of whom have been in state care, shared their contrasting experiences with school stability with an audience of policymakers, advocates, and the commissioner of Connecticut's Department of Children and Families at a recent forum, "Educational Stability for Children and Youth in Connecticut: An Idea Whose Time has Come!" The forum was co-hosted by Casey Family Services, through the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and the nonprofit advocacy organization Connecticut Voices for Children at The Lyceum in Hartford, CT.

The panel, which featured the two youth, was intended to drive home the importance of educational stability – which is a key component of the newly-enacted Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008. The new law requires states to keep a youth who is in care in the school in which he or she has been attending, even if the child moves to another home. If the state absolutely has to move the young person, the records immediately follow the student.

Swint, who was eventually placed at Kolbe Cathedral – where she thrived – is now in her freshman year at the University of Hartford, and is on a pre-med study track. But getting there was a real struggle, she said, noting the frustration of not having stable schooling.

Hamilton, who is in her junior year at Kolbe Cathedral, agreed: "When you continue to go to a school grade after grade, you develop and bond with the teachers and students. You feel confident."

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Having Permanent Relationships with Adults Benefits Youth, New Data Show

The holidays are a time that most people share with those closest to them, such as their families and good friends.

Having such a permanent relationship with a caring adult is of paramount importance for youth transitioning from foster care. And new data from the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative shows such a relationship can make a tremendous impact on whether a young person succeeds.

Young parents who have transitioned from foster care face an even harder time finding people on whom they can count for emotional support. Only 67 percent of them said they had enough people to count on for emotional support or job/school advice or guidance. Addtionally, they report a slightly greater decrease over time in having enough people to count on – indicating that they are also becoming increasingly disconnected.

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Shannon Brower Becomes Initiative Consultant to Guide Sites in San Diego and Nebraska

Shannon Brower

As site coordinator for the Michigan Department of Human Services, Shannon Brower got to lead the implementation of the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative's vision for youth in foster care from its inception.

Over the last seven years, Brower learned so much from leading the Michigan site that she now has joined the Initiative as a consultant. In that role, she will take her know-how and use it to assist sites in San Diego and Omaha.

"The national Initiative and the local sites have been so important in helping youth in foster care find their voices and also in helping communities recognize their responsibilities to these young people as they transition into adulthood," Brower said. "I'm excited to be able to work with the Initiative to help sites implement their programs in a way that remains true to the Initiative model, and at the same time helps keep the model focused on the different realities faced by the sites."

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Michigan Youth Opportunities Initiative Youth Build a Habitat Home in Time for Christmas and Gain Mentors

Shawn Semelsberger.
Photo courtesy of Tyler Stipe,
Traverse City Record-Eagle

The rain was coming so the helpers on the roof had to work fast.

But these were not professional builders, effortlessly laying shingles. These were volunteers – about a half dozen or so from the Michigan Youth Opportunities Initiative – giving their time to Habitat for Humanity to help build a home for a woman who needed one.

And so it was a bit of a happy miracle that, moments after the final shingles were placed that afternoon, the skies opened up, and it poured.

"We were very lucky to have the roofing done in time," said Linda Forward, a mentor coordinator from AmeriCorps working with MYOI. "And it was just in time."

Nature's kindness wasn't all that Forward, the seven Opportunity Passport™ participants, mentors and supporters had to cheer about.

At the end of that long August day, everyone involved felt happier and more connected, knowing that they had given back to the community.

"I have no construction experience, so I don't know how much I really contributed," said Shawn Semelsberger, 23, an Opportunity Passport™ participant and former intern at MYOI, who helped place siding and install a shower. "But I was there, and I helped. Anything that you can do for your community is rewarding."

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Once In Care Herself, Busy 22-Year-Old Takes Care — and Custody — of Her Baby Sister

Trasvina, with baby sister Marlene

When Maritza Trasvina's mother had to give her and her siblings up ten years ago to deal with an addiction problem, Trasvina did everything in her power to stay out of foster homes.

She persevered in group homes instead, eventually aging out of state care into a busy adulthood that includes two jobs and community college classes.

But when the 22-year-old youth advocate with ACCESS, Inc.'s YES Transition Network heard recently that her newborn baby sister was going to be taken from her mother and put in foster care, Trasvina put her own busy life on the back burner and vowed to take care of the infant herself. ACCESS, Inc. is the Jim Casey grantee in San Diego.

"I know there are some good foster homes out there, but from my experience and what I've seen and heard, I just didn't want my little sister going to a foster home," said Trasvina, who also is an Opportunity Passport™ participant. "I was in a situation where I could take care of my sister even though I knew it was going to be a lot of work for me."

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Des Moines Youth Discuss Ways to Stay Connected to African American Culture

Lorisha Martin (left), Initiative Chief
Operating Officer Leonard D. Burton
(center), and Jewel Barner (right)
at the 7th Annual DMC Resource
Center & Minority Youth & Families
Initiative conference in Iowa.

In and out of foster care for most of her life, Lorisha Martin had one major complaint: The families who took her in – most of whom were white – had no clue how to style or care for her African American hair.

Similarly, over the years, Jewel Barner said she didn't feel connected to her own African American culture until her early teenage years, because she spent 12 foster care placements out of 14 with white families.

These, and other cultural and racial concerns, were the topics at a panel discussion during the 7th Annual DMC Resource Center & Minority Youth & Families Initiative conference in Iowa this month.

At the panel, both Martin and Barner spoke about the challenges they faced growing up African American in predominantly white foster homes. DMC stands for 'disproportionate minority contact.'

The anecdotes shared by the two Opportunity Passport™ participants from the Initiative's demonstration site in Des Moines were intended to help advocates, leaders and caregivers understand the importance of building and maintaining cultural ties, particularly since there is a documented overrepresentation of minority youth in the child welfare system, experts said.

"Helping youth in care connect to their culture — whether or not they're in a family that is in the same race or ethnicity that they are — both Lorisha and Jewel spoke to ways that that is possible," said Erin Davison, program manager at Youth Policy Institute of Iowa, the Initiative's grantee.

More >>

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Apply by January 9 for Capitol Hill Internship for Youth from Foster Care

Next summer, 16 youth formerly in foster care will get the chance to work on Capitol Hill as part of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute's (CCAI) 2009 Foster Youth Internship Program (FYI). For eight weeks, these college students will intern in congressional offices, attending hearings, researching important legislative issues, and addressing constituents' affairs. Participants also have a unique opportunity during their internships to raise awareness about the thousands of children in foster care.

Since 2003, the FYI program has brought to Washington, D.C., academically successful young adults who have either aged out or who were adopted from foster care after they turned 14. Undergraduates receive valuable job skills and training in a political setting, helping to prepare them for careers and life after college. Students in the program live together at a local university and receive a stipend to help with daily expenses. The program pays for housing and transportation. Each year, CCAI also sponsors a retreat for the entire group. Prospective interns must have completed four semesters at a four-year college and mail their application by January 9. For more information about applying, please contact Chelsea Cathcart, associate director of programs, at (202) 544-8500 or Chelsea@ccainstitute.org.

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Want to know when we've added something new to the "What's New" section of our Web site? Just visit http://www.jimcaseyyouth.org and click the orange button (universal RSS icon) in the "What's New" section, which will automatically subscribe to the Initiative feed through your preferred RSS reader.

When our site is updated — generally two to three times a month — you'll automatically be updated, too, with the newly posted items! For more specific information on what RSS is, please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(file_format).

January 26-30. Chadwick Center for Children and Families hosts the 23rd Annual San Diego International Conference on Child and Family Maltreatment in San Diego. For more information, visit http://www.chadwickcenter.org/conference.htm

February 23-25. The Child Welfare League of America is hosting its 2009 National Conference in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit http://www.cwla.org/conferences/ShowConference.asp ?CONF=NATIONAL&YEAR=2009

March 8-10. The Black Administrators in Child Welfare host the BACW 2009 Annual Conference in Long Beach, Calif. For more information, visit http://www.blackadministrators.org/

April 19-22. The National Indian Child Welfare Association will host its 27th annual Protecting Our Children National American Indian Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect conference in Reno, Nevada. For more information, visit http://www.nicwa.org/conference/

May 6-8. The Daniel Memorial Institute will sponsor its 16th Annual National Foster Care Conference in Daytona Beach, Fl. For more information, visit http://www.danielkids.org/Sites/web/content.cfm?id=275

May 3-9. The National Foster Parent Association will host its 39th Annual Education Conference in Reno. For more information, visit http://www.nfpainc.org/content/?page=CONFERENCEINFO

June 3-5. The National Resource Center "Pathways" will host its Pathways to Adulthood 2009 conference in San Diego, California. For more information, visit http://www.nrcys.ou.edu/conferences.shtml

June 3-5. The Field Center for Children's Policy, Practice, & Research will host its 3rd Biennal Conference: One Child, Many Hands: A Multidisciplinary Conference on Child Welfare in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.sp2.upenn.edu/fieldctr/conferences/index.html

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