Connect for Kids / Child Advocacy 360 / Youth Policy Action Center - Foster Care

CFK Top Article Pick: Telling Stories that Teach, and Heal

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:55:16 -0500

Teenagers in foster care often have stories to tell—but lack the tools to tell them. CFK looks at how the Center for Digital Storytelling has provided those tools to participants in their program, and helped create valuable teaching tools for those who work with teens in care.

Protecting Children and Strengthening Families

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:59:02 -0500

Too many children experience abuse and neglect with negative lifelong consequences. Too few children get the services and supports they need to heal. Yet, proven and promising practices can reduce maltreatment and ameliorate harm.

Chapin Hall Conducts National Review of Policies and Programs for Youth Transitioning Out of Foster Care

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:18:55 -0600

This report provides a comprehensive review of state efforts to support youth transitioning out of foster care. As part of the review, Chapin Hall administered a web-based survey of state independent

Job Corps Residential Program

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:34:01 -0600

The Job Corps serves youth aging out of foster care with a residential program that provides access to earn a high school diploma or GED, training and preparation for a career, housing, meals, basic h

Improving Policies

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:32:18 -0600

The Society for Research in Child Development says we can improve the transition to independent living for foster teens. Measures include revising eligibility requirements so they no longer exclude hi

New Help for Children Raised by Grandparents and Other Relatives: Q and A

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:33:36 -0600

Child welfare experts say the new Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 represents the most significant federal reforms for children in foster care in more than a decade.

Improving Higher Education Outcomes for Students from Foster Care

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:37:57 -0600

Only about 10 percent of students from foster care enroll in higher education -- with less than 2 percent earning bachelor's degrees. This Casey Family Programs resource can assist colleges in improving their support for students coming from foster care.

President Signs Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act into Law

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:10:17 -0600

On October 7, 2008, President Bush signed into law the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-351). It delinks adoption assistance from the old AFDC program, enables federal payments for kinship care guardians, and will allow states to extend foster care services to young people up to age 21.

Seeking Therapeutic Foster Care Parents

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:04:23 -0600

The Maryland-based Kennedy Krieger Institute is actively recruiting foster, respite and adoptive parents. The Institute offers specialized training, emergency coverage, 24-hour assistance, monthly support groups and more.

Reading Into the Hope Meadows Story

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:13:22 -0500

In this October 2008 blog entry, Hershel Sarbin reacts to a recent CFK article on Hope Meadows, an intergenerational community launched in 1993, and how “smartly its founders have adapted to changing conditions over the years.” Therein lies a model for all of us, he says.

“Hope” Grows: an Intergenerational Community, 14 Years On

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 14:59:57 -0600

Fourteen years ago, an abandoned air force base was transformed into a vibrant intergenerational community, Hope Meadows, to help move children from foster care to adoption and turn seniors into active givers of supports and services. Now, as sites across the country replicate their approach, Hope Meadows is adapting to the new challenges that come with long-term success.

Continuing in Foster Care Beyond Age 18: How Courts Can Help

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 19:13:06 -0500

By examining foster youth in Illinois -- one of the few states that extends care up to
age 21 -- this new Chapin Hall study finds that a higher degree of advocacy by juvenile
courts is linked with more services for older foster youth, greater involvement by

Financing Education Supports For Youth Transitioning Out Of Foster Care

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:43:22 -0500

This Finance Project brief presents five financing strategies that can support education success programs and services for youth currently in or transitioning out of the foster care system. For each, the brief highlights relevant funding sources to consider, the range of partners to engage, considerations for implementation and examples of the strategy in practice.

Casey Young Adult Survey

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:39:35 -0500

This annual cohort study examines the impact of foster care services from Casey Family Programs on youth ages 19, 22 and 25. This study also compares these youth to other former foster youth and to their peers who have never experienced foster care.

Foster Care 2008: What We Know, Where We're Going (a Q&A with Experts)

Mon, 19 May 2008 10:23:06 -0500

(2008) May is Foster Care Month, and for the 20th anniversary celebration of the campaign, Connect for Kids spoke with Candice Douglass, communications director with Casey Family Programs, to get the latest on foster care and child well-being, and emerging trends we should all know about. We also got the scoop the Kinship Caregiver Support Act currently in Congress and an innovative approach to permanency for teens in a Q&A with Celeste Bodner, executive director of FosterClub, the national network for young people in foster care. Find out what’s new, what’s working, and how you can make a difference no matter how much time you’ve got to give.