foster youth
San Francisco Examiner reports on need for youth in foster care to have option of extended care
‘It kind of threw me off for the first month,’ Evans said, recalling the sudden responsibility of having to pay his own bills and shop for his own groceries. Evans, now 20, lives by himself in a Daly City apartment. He is taking general studies courses at City College of San Francisco and hopes to become an auto mechanic.
But while he said he was thriving on his own, he was happy to hear about a new law that will let current foster children stay in the system until they turn 21…”
Source: Amy Crawford, San Francisco Examiner, January 8, 2012
L.A. Times showcases state-wide extension of foster care starting 2012
To ensure that the funds behind the new law are leveraged to their full potential, more needs to be done to figure out what types of assistance work best for which types of youth…”
Read full article here.
Y.O.U.T.H. Training Project now accepting current and former foster youth applicants for state-wide youth consultants
The Y.O.U.T.H. Training Project is a youth development program, which works with current and former foster youth ages 16-24. The Project trains youth in facilitation skills and curriculum development, preparing them to develop and deliver trainings to child welfare professionals and the greater community…
Source: Y.O.U.T.H. Training Project, January 3, 2011
After 18 campaign to spread word about extended foster care now available to youth
Starting 2012, youth are allowed to remain in care after 18. That includes assistance for education and employment training, as well as developing and maintaining important relationships with caring adults…
Source: After 18 California, January 2, 2011
KALW Crosscurrents interviews Bay Area former foster youth about California investing in their education
Jetaine Hart, a former foster youth and current educational mentor in Alameda County, argues that’s where we should be putting resources to help foster kids – kids who often shuffle from school to school and have unstable home lives…”Source: Holly Kernan, KALW Crosscurrents, November 29, 2011
Experts: Half of foster kids quit high school
“I just started to not really care about high school because I figured I’m just going to move anyway — why does it matter?” said Sommer, who was told it would take an extra year and a half to graduate to make up for credits he lost changing schools…
Source: Kelli Kennedy, Associated Press, October 30, 2011
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) ammends No Child Left Behind to accommodate needs of students in foster care
The amendment, which was offered by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), requires school districts to assist foster children in staying in their home school despite being placed in foster families outside that district when it is in their best interest…”
Source: Andrea Poe, Washington Times, October 25, 2011
Opinion piece in San Jose Mercury News links homelessness with need to support youth transitioning out of foster care
The data is horrific — 40 percent of persons living in homeless shelters are former foster children; 14 percent of youth reported being homeless at least once since leaving foster care; and 65 percent exit foster care without a place to live…
Source: Andre V. Chapman, San Jose Mercury News, October 18, 2011
NPR interviews executive director of Jim Casey Youth Opportunities on new research on adolescent brain development and implications for transitional age foster youth
“Child advocate Gary Stangler is the executive director of the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative. He’s hoping to use research about the incomplete brain development of e18-year olds to extend services for foster children up to age 21…
Source: NPR, October 11, 2011
San Francisco Chronicle highlights SFUSD’s new online education tool for foster youth
“The San Francisco Unified School District is the latest in California to participate in Foster Focus, a Web-based service that allows school officials and social workers to track and share crucial records that often fail to follow foster children as they transfer to new schools…”
Source: Katie J.M. Baker, San Francisco Chronicle, September 7, 2011
