Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare School of Social Work CW o a comprehensive look at360 a prevalent child welfare issue: Safety Permanency Well-Being Permanency or Aging Out: Adolescents in the Child Welfare System Spring 2009 CW360o spring 2009 | 2 Adolescents in Foster Care FROM THE EDITORS Join Us on April 16th, 2009 Greetings! Welcome to the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare’s second annual issue of CW360°. The focus A half-day conference will serve as a parallel resource of this issue is permanency and aging out of foster care for for each issue of CW360o. The conference will be adolescents. The magazine is jam-packed with information, held in Minneapolis, Minnesota and broadcast using practice approaches and resources to assist those working with interactive television to over 30 sites. The conference adolescents in child welfare. What we knew to be true as we will be available for viewing through webstream and began to create this pub lica tion is that there are many complex will be archived for later viewing. Please visit our issues facing adolescents in foster care, as well as the family website at http://cehd.umn.edu/ssw/cascw/events/ members, community members and professionals working with adolescentsFosterCare/default.asp for dates, times, them. Each circumstance is differ ent and each youth unique. We ITV locations and/or webstreaming connections. were mindful of these ‘truths’ as we invited authors to submit articles. Our entire team is excited to publish this robust and well rounded collection of articles which we believe will benefi t everyone involved in the lives of adolescents in foster care. CW360o Child Welfare 360o (CW360o) is an annual publication CW360° presents overview articles that describe the successes, that provides communities, child welfare professionals, challenges and outcomes for youth from all backgrounds emanci- and other human service professionals comprehensive pating from the child welfare system and in fi nding permanency. information on the latest research, policies and prac- Also included are practice articles, which review current research tices in a key area affecting child well-being today. completed and the special challenges that GLBTQ youth and The publication uses a multidisciplinary approach youth with disabilities face as it becomes time to transition out of for its robust examination of an important issue in care and into independence. Finally, articles detailing the personal child welfare practice and invites articles from key struggles and triumphs from former foster youth, their workers, stakeholders, including families, caregivers, service and the organizations that serve them are included to give us providers, a broad array of child welfare professionals all perspective in this critical area of child welfare practice. We (including educators, legal professionals, medical hope that as readers are introduced to the complexities that are professionals and others), and researchers. Social issues often present when working with adolescents in foster care, they are not one dimensional and cannot be addressed from are also provided with solutions and innovations for improving a single vantage point. We hope that reading CW360o practice. enhances the delivery of child welfare services across the country while working towards safety, permanency As is the case each year, this publication acts as a companion piece to the half day conference hosted by the Center for Advanced and well-being for all children and families being Studies in Child Welfare (CASCW). The conference takes place served. on April 22, 2009 at 9:00 am. We are pleased to have renowned researcher, Mark Courtney, Ph.D., as the keynote speaker for the conference as well as a panel of community practitioners and You May be Wondering Why … service providers who will engage in interactive discussion with o conference participants. Panelists include: Michelle Chalmers, ...you’ve received CW360 . We mail each issue to our Co-Executive Offi cer of Ampersand Families; Claire Hill, regular subscribers plus others whom we think might Consultant, Adolescent Services, MN Department of Human be interested. If you’d like to receive every issue of Services; and Elizabeth Hinz, Liaison for Homeless and Highly CW360oat no charge, call 612-624-4231 or email us at Mobile Students for the Minneapolis School District. The [email protected] give us your name, address, email conference can be attended in person, or via interactive television and phone number, and let us know whether you’d (ITV) sites and through the internet. For more information on like a print copy or e-mail version. CW360o is also attending or viewing the conference over ITV or through web published on the Web at http://cehd.umn.edu/ssw/ streaming technology, visit our website at http://cehd.umn.edu/ cascw. SSW/cascw/events/adolescentsFosterCare/. Traci LaLiberte, Ph.D. Elizabeth Snyder, MSW Director, Center for Advanced Project Coordinator, Center for Studies in Child Welfare Advanced Studies in Child Welfare Executive Editor, CW360o Managing Editor, CW360o From the Editors From 3 | CW360o spring 2009 Adolescents in Foster Care TABLE OF CONTENTS Part I: Overview Adolescents in the Child Welfare System: Improving Permanency and of Contents Table Preparation for Adulthood Outcomes by Madelyn Freundlich, MSW, J.D. .4 Should the State Parent Young Adults? Evidence from the Midwest Study by Mark E. Courtney, MSW, Ph.D . .6 Permanence or Aging Out? A Matter of Choice by Lauren Frey, MSW, LCSW . .8 The Central Role of Permanence in Improving Outcomes for Youth Aging Out of Foster Care by Ben Kerman, Ph.D. and Leah K. Glasheen, MSW. .10 Federal Programs and Policies for Transitioning Foster Youth by Adrienne L. Fernandes, MPP. .12 Adolescents Aging out of Foster Care and Health Care by Moira Szilagyi MD, Ph.D. .14 Youth Aging Out & Kinship Care: What’s Ahead? by Jennifer Ehrle Macomber . .15 At the Intersection of Foster Care and Education: Meeting the Needs of Youth Approaching Adulthood by Cheryl Smithgall, Ph.D . .16 Transitioning to Adulthood Without Homes: Homeless Young People in Minnesota by Michelle Decker Gerrard, M.Ed. .17 Part II: Practice Is McKinney-Vento Enough? The Policy Implications for Homeless and Foster Care Youth by Anita Larson . .18 Physical Safety and Permanency Are Not Enough: Perspectives on the Need for a Focus on Well-Being for Working With Adolescents Aging Out of Foster Care by Justeen Hyde, Ph.D. and Laurel K. Leslie, MD, MPH. .20 Foster Care & School: It Is About Communication by Gayle McGrane, LICSW . .21 Youth with Disabilities in the Foster Care System by Joan Durocher . .22 Permanency for Transgender Youth by Jody Marksamer, J.D. .23 Finding Permanent Homes for Teens in Care: Results of a Federal Demonstration Project by Maggie Skrypek, MSW, MPP, and Michelle Decker Gerrard, M. Ed. .24 Minnesota Law on Transition from Foster Care to Adulthood by Irene Opsahl, J.D. .25 Creating Permanency for Lesbian Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth in Out of Home Care. by Robin McHaelen, MSW. .26 Promoting Permanence for “Legal Orphans” by Sania Metzger, J.D. .27 Part III: Collaborations & Perspectives The Privilege of Family by Misty Stenslie, MSW . .28 Life As I Knew It by Jessica Brandl-Hewitt . .29 Grandparent Kinship Care: A Personal Story by Sharon Olson and Mira Swanson . .30 The Adolescent Population: A Worker’s Perspective by Ryan Skal, MSW . .31 Preparing Minnesota’s Youth in Care for Adulthood: The Minnesota Department of Human Services’ Role by Claire Hill. .32 Permanency for Teens through Youth Directed Recruitment by Diane J. Delafi eld . .33 Finding Permanency for the Older Youth with Disabilities by Patricia Saunders-Madison, Ph.D. .34 California Permanency for Youth Project: An Overview by Bob Friend, MSW, LCSW . .35 First Place for Youth by Claudia Miller. .36 Ampersand Families: Restoring Belonging, Dignity and Hope by Michelle Chalmers, MSW . .37 Part IV: Resources & References Integrated Bibliography . .40 Resources . .43 CW360o spring 2009 | 4 Adolescents in Foster Care Adolescents in the Child Welfare System Improving Permanency and Preparation for Adulthood Outcomes Madelyn Freundlich, MSW, J.D. In 2006, forty percent of the children in postsecondary training and education, for programs have found few impacts on any foster care, more than 190,000 youth, youth who have aged out of foster care or assessed outcomes, leading evaluators to were age 13 or older (US Department who leave the public foster care system to conclude that there is no reason to believe of Health and Human Services, 2008). adoption or guardianship after age 16. that the services have a signifi cant positive Federal law mandates that public child impact on any of the concrete indicators welfare agencies with responsibility for This federal structure that addresses youth of successful transition to adulthood, such these youth ensure their safety and well permanency through one set of federal laws as educational attainment, employment, being and achieve permanency for each and preparation of youth for adulthood earnings, and avoidance of economic youth in care. Since the enactment of the largely through other legislation has hardship (Courtney & Zinn, 2008). Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, permanency Given the absence of sup- has been a goal that child welfare Over the past decade, the number of youth who port ive family relation- agencies are required to achieve age out of foster care has steadily risen. ships for youth who age for children and youth in their out of foster care and the care and custody. The Adoption and Safe resulted in the development of a system of discouraging fi ndings regarding the Families Act of 1997 and, most recently, services for youth in foster care that silos impact of independent living services, it the Fostering Connections to Success and permanency services on the one hand and is not surprising research has found that Increasing Adoption Act of 2008 have “independent living” services on the other.