October 24, 2007
News & Information
Welcome to our blog! This is the place where you can come to read news and information happening within the FKCE / ILP family of programs at Victor Valley College and news that affects families around California.
Please contact our office to put your event (benefitting foster parents, kinship caregivers, and foster youth) on the calendar! (760-245-2471 x2721 or talleyr@vvc.edu )
Please check website www.vvc.edu/fkce for all class info:
Parenting workshops in Spanish:
Goodwill High School; Martes; 5:30 a 7:30 PM
Parenting workshops in English:
12 Powers of Family Business; Tuesday mornings; 8:30-10:30 AM; Sandia Elementary (ends May 19th)
Upcoming Advisory Board Meeting:
May 27 8-10 AM
News & Information:
New Federal Law Provides Support for Relative Caregivers
When Congress passed the Foster Connections to Success & Increasing Adoptions Act in late 2008, it contained several provisions to benefit relative caregivers of children in foster care, including allowing states to use federal foster care money for their relative guardianship programs, providing grants for kinship navigator programs, and requiring notification of a child’s close relatives within 30 days of a child entering foster care. The law also allows states to extend foster care payments for youth up to age 21. For more detailed information on the law, see: http://www.clasp.org/publications/fctsaiaact2008resources.htm
New Proposed Title 22 Foster Care Regulations Scheduled to Be Released
The California Department of Social Services Office of Regulations Development continues to tell us that they will be posting the final version of the new proposed Title 22 foster care regulations on their website any day. Foster parents must comply with all regulations in order to care for any California foster child. Once the regulations are posted, a public comment period will begin. The proposed regulations will be posted at http://www.dss.cahwnet.gov/ord/ .
NATIONAL: Foster Care Systemm Unkind To Black Children
Date: Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Source: NPR
Roughly half a million children throughout the U.S. are in foster care. But a recent findings by the Center for the Study of Social Policy shows that African-American youngsters are more likely to be steered into foster care at disproportionate rates than whites, and are often "negatively characterized and labeled" by child welfare workers.
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CA: Child welfare services protect's county's youth
Date: Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Source: Daily Democrat
A well known, but little understood division of the Yolo County Department of Employment & Social Services is Child Welfare Services. This division confronts the heartbreak, frustration and difficulties that come with protecting the welfare of society's children. To carry out this work, CWS has a legal framework and mandates that govern its action and response to reports of child abuse and neglect.
CWS goes into action when a report is made alleging abuse or neglect of children. Specific tools are utilized at all stages of the investigation which look at factors that effect how quickly CWS responds as well as risk and safety issues, including what steps can be taken to resolve the issues.
Ultimately, referrals take one of three routes: 1) they are evaluated out of the system due to false allegations or allegations which do not meet legal definitions of abuse and neglect; 2) sent through non-profits in cases that do not meet legal definitions of abuse and neglect but still require help; or 3) they are assigned to a social worker for investigation.
There are two types of response times: 1) ten day response, where children are not believed to be at immediate risk; or 2) immediate response, within 24 hours, to deal with critical situations. CWS is required to complete their investigation within 30 days. In situations where it cannot be closed within 30 days, a case plan must be developed with the family. This does not necessarily mean children will be taken from their families. There are a number of steps that can be taken to resolve the issue that brought the family to the attention of CWS.
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CA: STOP-PAYMENTS TO FOSTER FAMILIES RAISES CONCERNS FOR CHILDREN
Date: Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Source: East County Magazine
February 16, 2009 (San Diego) - A letter sent by the County of San Diego last week to foster parents warned that the State of California planned to halt payments to counties for foster parent services immediately. While County officials joined with 23 other counties to file a lawsuit against the state, the prospect of losing funding to care for needy children has sparked concern among local foster parents.
“My wife and I have 12 foster girls under our supervision and the letters from the County were horrible,” Herb Cawthorne, head of community relations for Viejas Enterprises, told East County Magazine. “These children are already without the normal family relationships - fathers gone, mothers in rehab or jail or incapable of good parenting, brother and sisters scattered across the county and, wham, this letter comes saying that they may not be able to stay in the places where they have become accustomed.”
Cawthorne added, “It’s a very sad commentary on the state of the state. These children are caught in the tug of war between ideologies and fiscal responsibility. They don’t understand the big picture. They just know that, once again, society is abandoning them. It breaks your heart.”
Supervisor Dianne Jacob blasted state legislators over the issue during last week’s State of the County address. “Apparently, state legislators see nothing wrong with collecting their paychecks, while aid checks to more than 63,000 `at risk’ San Diego children hang in the balance,’” said Jacob, who revealed that the state plans to delay some $100 million in aid payments to foster families, disadvantaged children and their parents.
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CA: Santa Clara County foster youth will have a changed experience in court when new lawyers take over
Date: Thursday, February 19, 2009
Source: Mercury News
Author: Karen de Sá
The court experience for children in Santa Clara County's foster care system will shift dramatically in the coming months, when a team of young lawyers from a scrappy nonprofit agency takes over the cases of abused and neglected kids from the district attorney's office.
In a departure from long-standing local practice, lawyers with Legal Advocates for Children and Youth will meet their clients wherever the vulnerable children end up - in foster care or group homes, with relatives or on the streets. Children who have been removed from home will soon have one lawyer representing them over the life of their case, a person they can grow to trust and confide in over time.
And in an often overwhelming and bewildering system, the children will receive greater encouragement to appear in court beside their attorneys, to speak for themselves when a lawyer's voice just won't do.
Children here have typically not appeared in court, and their district attorneys - juggling as many as 420 cases - have used office investigators for client interviews. That has left judges relying on a secondhand interpretation of the child's position before making life-altering rulings.
The new philosophy for dependency court is that no child is too young to appear, said LACY's directing attorney Jennifer Kelleher. While recently interviewing a 6-year-old girl living in a Gilroy foster home, Kelleher drew a courtroom sketch for her young client,
including all the players who will decide whether she returns home or is separated from her parents forever: Social workers, parents and their lawyers, a deputy and a court clerk, a judge in a robe, and a girl in pigtails at the center of the legal debate.
Kids in court
"This 6-year-old repeatedly said she wanted to see the judge and see who was making the decisions," Kelleher said. "Kids want to be in court - and they're going to be."
A February 2008 Mercury News series, "Broken Families, Broken Courts," documented widespread dysfunction in the California dependency courts, a forgotten legal landscape that in vast swaths of the state leaves children little voice in proceedings that dictate their lives. In Santa Clara County, prosecutors have represented foster youth for more than 20 years, an unusual and widely criticized practice considered contrary to the dependency court goals of seeking family reunification as soon as circumstances improve.
But in a decision this month that marks a first for the county, state and local court officials as part of larger systemic reforms rejected the DA's bid to continue representing children.
As the new contractor come July, LACY - which was formed in 1990 as a branch of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley - will expand its current offerings as a full-service advocacy center. The donor-supported nonprofit center will grant foster youth greater access to its array of legal services - including representation following violent dates, immigration raids and school expulsions. LACY lawyers already serve youth in special education programs, pregnant teens in family court and runaways battling homelessness and public bureaucracies.
As the main dependency court provider, there will be challenges for the new legal team. County prosecutors provided a stable workforce rich in office staff, databases and the inherent stature of the office; the district attorneys are the highest paid children's lawyers in the state.
Lowered case loads
LACY's staff of 13 attorneys - a number that's now set to more than double - currently make a fraction of the prosecutors' $180,000-plus salaries. Appearing in court while simultaneously working the field also will be a challenge, given dependency's high case loads.
But supervising attorney Andrew Cain said the case load LACY is hoping for - a maximum of 175 children per lawyer - is well below the new state standard of 188.
Lowered case loads allow the time children's lawyers say they need to make a personal connection with clients, many of whom are unlikely to tell a complete stranger in a crowded court waiting room about trauma they may have suffered.
In a client interview a reporter observed in late 2007 as part of the "Broken Families, Broken Courts" series, LACY attorney Allison Barnum met with a South Bay teenager who was among the few the office represented in dependency court at the time.
Gaining trust
Barnum's client - whose name is being withheld to protect her identity - had an unusual wish. The South Bay girl wanted to be placed in a foster home, even though social workers disagreed. From age 14, she had been a runaway, bouncing between homeless shelters and the streets before LACY took on her case. The girl, reporting years of beating and alcoholism in her home, wanted to go "anywhere but with my Dad."
Yet it took two years for the now 18-year-old to trust her attorney, and only because Barnum kept reaching out to her. As the pair sat on the teen's bed in a transitional housing program that afternoon, the girl hugged a stuffed doll from her Eeyore collection. Barnum asked if there was anything the court should know and confirmed they would appear at an upcoming hearing together.
"I want to see what the judge said, how she said it, what she looks like when she says it," the girl said. "I don't want to be told, 'Here's what's happening to me.'"
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FROM THP-PLUS NEWS (Spring 2009)
THP-Plus Holds Steady in California Budget
After months of negotiation, Governor Schwarzenegger signed a $130 billion spending plan on Friday, February 20th. The budget package, which addresses a $42 billion shortfall through June 2010, includes $40.8 million for THP-Plus in Fiscal Year 2009-10. At this budget level, nearly 1,400 former foster youth will receive housing and supportive services in 46 counties. Funding is also preserved for payment rates for foster care, Kin-GAP, and wraparound.
Overall, the budget includes nearly $15 billion in spending cuts, $12.5 billion in increased revenues, $7.9 billion in federal funding from the economic recovery bill, $5.4 billion in new borrowing, and $957.2 million from the Governor's line-item vetoes. A statewide special election will be held on May 19, 2009 to allow voters to consider several measures that were included in the budget agreement, including authorizing the sale of bonds and making changes to the lottery.
Additional information is available at the California Budget Project's website, www.cbp.org , and at the Department of Finance website at www.dof.ca.gov .
California Pursues Reforms Made Possible by the Federal Fostering Connections to Success Act
On October 7, 2008 then president George W. Bush signed HR 6893, the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 into law. Now, California is crafting legislation to take advantage of the many new options for federal financial participation in the support of foster youth. Introduced on December 1, 2008 by Assemblymember Jim Beall, Jr. (D-San Jose), the California Fostering Connections to Success Act will ensure that California takes advantage of these and other important provisions of the federal legislation. The John Burton Foundation is part of a coalition of child welfare stakeholders and advocates working to craft the specifics of the bill, and will ensure that the community of THP-Plus providers and stakeholders are kept up to date on the design and implementation of the bill, and any impacts it might have on the THP-Plus Program.
On February 13th, the John Burton Foundation launched its new coalition building website to educate California child welfare stakeholders and to support the eventual passage of AB 12, www.cafosteringconnections.org . The website contains links to research contributing to the growing evidence base that supports the provisions of AB 12, as well as numerous means by which Californians can join the coalition and express their support.
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FROM National Resource Center for Foster Care and Permanency Planning - Weekly Update (2/25/09 and 2/18/09)
Creating Inclusive Services for LGBT Youth in Out of Home Care: Training Resources.
The Out of Home Youth Advocacy Council (a project administered jointly by Family Builders by Adoption. Legal Services for Children. National Center for Lesbian Rights) has developed training resources to support the creation of inclusive services for LGBT Youth in Out of Home Care. These resources include: a Know Your Rights Guide, a "Hate Free Zone" poster, CWLA Best Practice Guidelines, Breaking the Silence: LGBTQ Foster Youth Tell their Stories (a DVD containing short digital stories by former foster youth who identify as LGBT), a PowerPoint presentation about creating inclusive systems of care for LGBT youth, and others. Training tips and key messages are outlined in order to support the effective use of these resources. http://www.nclrights.org/site/DocServer/Preface_OHYAC_training_FINAL.pdf?docID=2921
Glossary of Child Welfare Terms
You can find clear, authoritative definitions for common child welfare terms on the Child Welfare Information Gateway website. The Glossary defines acronyms and provides links to information on major Federal legislation and many other child welfare topics. The Glossary is updated regularly as new terminology emerges in the field, as new legislation is enacted, and as child welfare terms take on new meaning.
http://www.childwelfare.gov/admin/glossary
Racial and Ethnic Disparity and Disproportionality in Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice: A Compendium A Chapin Hall paper, "Understanding Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice, " first presented at a symposium cosponsored by Chapin Hall and Georgetown University's Center for Juvenile Justice Reform last spring, is now available in a compendium of the symposium proceedings. The paper offers five intervention strategies, applicable to both child welfare and juvenile justice: (1) increasing transparency, (2) reengineering structure and procedures, (3) changing organizational culture, (4) mobilizing political leadership, and (5) partnering in developing community and family resources.
http://cjjr.georgetown.edu./pdfs/cjjr_ch_final.pdf
Implementing Improvements for Children Raised by Grandparents and Other Relatives
New Help for Children Raised by Grandparents and Other Relatives: Questions and Answers About the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008, provides guidance to ensure complete implementation of the improvements in the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act for children being raised by grandparents and other relatives. The report, developed collaboratively by 18 organizations, is a useful guide to advocates and those implementing these new improvements.
http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/data/FCSIAA-new-help-children-raised-by-grandparents-full-report.pdf
Need to Know Series: Pregnancy and Parenting Issues for Youth in Care.
Youth In Progress. New York State Office of Children and Family Services. Center for Development of Human Services. 2008
http://www.ocfs.state.ny.us/main/publications/Pub5085.pdf
What Gets Measured Gets Done: High Priority Opportunities to Improve Our Nation's Capacity to Monitor Child and Youth Well-Being.
Brown, Brett. Moore, Kristin Anderson.
Annie E. Casey Foundation. Child Trends.
2009
Child Trends has been asked by the Annie E. Casey Foundation to identify key opportunities that a new Administration might pursue to improve the capacity of the federal statistical system to monitor child and youth well-being. In this paper we discuss a number of areas of opportunity, offering concrete steps that can be taken, generally at a relatively modest cost. (Author abstract)
http://www.childtrends.org/Files//Child_Trends-2009_02_10_FR_WPaperChildWBeing.pdf < http://www.childtrends.org/Files/Child_Trends-2009_02_10_FR_WPaperChildWBeing.pdf >
Treat Them Like Gold: A Best Practice Guide to Partnering With Resource Families.
North Carolina Division of Social Services. Jordan Institute for Families.
2009
This guide seeks to give you tools and strategies you and your agency can use to build, refine, and sustain partnerships with resource families. (Author abstract)
http://www.ncdhhs.gov/dss/publications/
http://www.ncdhhs.gov/dss/publications/docs/Partnering_with_Resource_Families.pdf
A Ten-Year Review of Family Preservation Research: Building the Evidence Base.
Nelson, Kristine. Walters, Barbara. Schweitzer, Don. Blythe, Betty J. Pecora, Peter J.
Casey Family Programs.
Portland State University.
2009
This report reviews the main research findings over the past 30 years for intensive family preservation services with particular focus on the last decade and describes the methodological challenges that have been encountered. We end the report with concrete recommendations as to how future research can advance the design and use of this model. (Author abstract)
http://www.casey.org/Resources/Publications/FamilyPreservationResearch.htm
http://www.casey.org/NR/rdonlyres/18F7CBE5-CD62-41D1-A27A-3CEA123FF5B7/809/FamilyPreservationpaperFINAL2009.pdf
California Youth Connection 2008 Policy Conference Report: Riding the Waves of Change: Policy into Practice. California Youth Connection. 2009
http://www.calyouthconn.org/files/cyc/PDF/CYC_PR_2008_small.pdf
Maximizing Return on Your Training Investment: A Reference Guide for Managers.
Polowy, Michael. Reitz, Andrew. Alwon, Floyd.
Child Welfare League of America. Cornerstones for Kids.
2006
Sponsoring Organization: Annie E. Casey Foundation.
The goal of this reference guide is to help agency managers and administrators implement training programs that produce the maximum impact on worker performance and the best possible outcomes for children and families. The guide is organized around the four primary components of a comprehensive system: design, delivery, transfer, and evaluation. For each component, we will describe the essential elements, suggest strategies for implementing them in agency settings, and provide tools for evaluating how well they are being implemented. Chapter One outlines critical issues to consider in designing and delivering training. Chapter Two focuses on strategies that can help ensure that learned skills are transferred to, used, and improved in the actual work setting. Chapter Three discusses evaluation strategies that provide feedback on the ways training programs affect worker performance and, ultimately, child and family outcomes. Chapter Four addresses whether and how to utilize external professional development consultants and training tools. (Author abstract)
http://www.cwla.org/programs/workforce/caseymanagersguide060206.pdf
Sharing of Information Between Professionals Dealing With Children.
Child Abuse Council of Santa Clara County.
1999
This is a compilation of Local Rules of Court, Standing Orders of the Juvenile Court, Statutes, Interagency Protocols, and Memoranda of Understanding, applicable to Santa Clara County. Also included in the Appendix are California's Confidentiality Statutes and Regulations. The purpose of this binder is to bring together all local pertinent material in order to facilitate interagency information sharing. Local Rules and Standing Orders are located in the section with which the rule or order is primarily concerned. For example: Local Rules of Court regarding Court Designated Child Advocates are found under the Court Designated Advocate section. In the event a Rule/Order or Memorandum of Understanding refers to more than one agency, it is located in the first alphabetized section. For example: Memorandum of Understanding between Family and Children's Services and Public Health Nursing is located in the Family and Children's Services section. Thus, to effectively use this binder always consult the sections relating to all the agencies wishing to exchange information. (Author abstract)
http://www.cacscc.org/resources/binder/index.htm
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Disclaimer: Please be aware that I've gathered resources for this listserv from a variety of online sources, articles forwarded by colleagues, etc. I am not representing Annie E Casey Foundation's opinion, nor do I necessarily endorse these resources. My intent is to provide information that is useful for those working in the child welfare system. This information is intended to provide general discussion on the topic and should not be used as a substitute for professional advice which takes into the application specific circumstances of the situation. If you need child welfare advice, please seek the services of a competent professional. Please contact me if you would like to be removed from this listserv. Thanks.
Yali Lincroft, MBA
Consultant to Family to Family/Annie E Casey Foundation
Email: yalilincroft@yahoo.com , Website: www.f2f.ca.gov
Posted : 10/24/2007 9:59 AM | By : Rebecca Talley
