Volume X | November 17, 2021

The Good Stuff in Child Welfare
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Welcome to The Good Stuff in Child Welfare!
 
Our team at the Field Center for Children’s Policy, Practice, & Research recognizes that between the all too frequent and grim child welfare stories that make us teary-eyed, clenched-fisted, and faint-hearted, there are inspiring accomplishments and heartening endeavors taking place all over this country at every level of practice. To elevate and promote these encouraging stories, we are pleased to bring you this monthly newsletter emphasizing news stories only about “The Good Stuff” from the broad field of child welfare. This month, the stories we highlight from around the nation show the breadth of what is possible with creativity and innovation, impacting lives for biological parents, foster parents, and children and youth who come into contact with the child welfare system. We hope this read gives you a few moments of hopefulness and a sense of possibility.
 
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New Delaware Law to Pay All College Costs for Ex-Foster Kids a ‘Game Changer’
As the saying goes, “The world is full of players – be a ‘Game Changer’!” The State of Delaware is changing the game and stepping up its efforts to support former foster youth. The Governor of Delaware signed into law HB 123, a bill that requires Delaware’s three public institutions to waive all tuition and fees, including room, board, and books, for eligible foster youth attending school full-time through this initiative. The statute creates a financial pathway toward higher education for former foster youth who want to attend college. The program covers costs not paid by scholarships or financial aid programs even during breaks. Students who spent at least one year in the State's foster care system as a teen are eligible for the program, which begins in Spring 2022. Learn more about the signing of the bill here.

Local Foster Care Service Receives $25,000 Grant 
A foster care organization in Headland, AL recently received a $25,000 grant from State Farm. Selected from over 100 organizations, Fostering Hope was eventually chosen for a grant through a community vote. Executive Director Melissa Whilot said that the grant will support funding monthly events to improve foster care services in the community and help the agency obtain more car seats and clothing for children in foster care. 

Harris County Breaks Ground on a Facility for Youth Aging out of the Foster Care System
The Tejano Center for Community Concerns, a Houston, TX nonprofit, recently collaborated with public and private partners to begin the development of the Sunrise Lofts, a transitional housing complex for foster youth in their late teens and early 20s. The new housing complex made for youth aging out of the foster care system aims to directly address and mitigate rates of unemployment, homelessness, and dropping out of school for youth in foster care. The complex, which broke ground for construction last month, will have 89 units with one to three bedrooms to accommodate tenants with families and provide residents with resources like workforce training, counseling, and educational support.

How This Oklahoma Ranch is Using Nuclear Families to Upend the Foster Care System
Peppers Ranch, an Oklahoma community of foster and adoptive families, is discovering new opportunities to keep foster siblings together by building a cohesive familial model and providing a stable environment. The innovative model allows licensed foster care couples an opportunity to move into the Peppers Ranch community and live in newly built 3000+ square foot homes. In addition to the state foster care stipend, an incentive of the Pepper Ranch program is an additional monthly stipend if the licensed foster care couple is willing to open their home to at least five foster children. The ranch provides numerous resources and supports for the community, including extracurricular activities, different types of holistic therapy, a learning center for children to receive after-school tutoring, and much more. More importantly, Peppers Ranch provides a supportive community filled with children who have gone through similar things and adults who are trying to help them.

The Number of Oregon Children in Foster Care Dropped Steeply During the Pandemic. State Official Says it’s Part of a Long-Term Shift
Since the pandemic began, Oregon child welfare leaders have worked systematically to place fewer children with foster families and in institutions by finding better ways to strengthen and support the families raising them. To achieve this decline in the number of children entering foster care, Oregon’s child welfare system is providing services that can help stabilize families and keep children safe at home, including offering parents coaches who go to the house and monitor safety, rent assistance, and parent mentors who have personally experienced the child welfare system. Oregon lawmakers have approved funding during several legislative sessions to boost services to families aimed at keeping children in their homes or helping families reunite more quickly.

'A Dream House': New Nonprofit to Help Youth in Foster Care System
A Pittsburgh woman who spent time in the child welfare system has made it her mission to help make life easier for children in Pennsylvania's foster care system. TyAsia Pitts lived in over 10 group homes as a teen after losing her mother at a young age. By the time she was 18, she was without housing. This led TyAsia to create “A Dream House”, a nonprofit organization with the goal of raising the funds necessary to purchase a building in Pittsburgh that formerly served as a group home that TyAsia once lived in. She wants to afford youth in the system the chance to have “A Dream House Where This House Becomes Your Home”. A plethora of services focused on providing youth with “structure, love, direction, leadership, intellect and ultimately a family” will be provided. 

Caring Adults Helped Me Turn My Life Around. Here’s What I Owe the Next Generation of Struggling Students.
Diamond Howard of Chicago, IL, credits the caring adults in her life with helping her find her calling as a social worker. Writing about her tumultuous childhood with years spent in foster care, Howard says “I wanted to help children struggling as I had struggled.” With the support of key adults in her life, including her father and her middle school homeroom teacher, she transitioned from a disconnected student to high school valedictorian. She now serves as a counselor and coach with the nonprofit Communities In Schools where she works with students to empower them to advocate for themselves, ensuring that they feel supported, cared for, and capable. Not all young people are naturally able to connect with the caring adults in their lives. Some may need a little help. Learn more about an intervention intentionally designed to do this for young people aging out of foster care developed by Dr. Johanna Greeson, Managing Faculty Director of the Field Center for Children’s Policy, Practice & Research: Click here.

Newport Business Aims to Give a ‘Fair Shake’ to Parents Involved in the Child Welfare System
“Safe and supported contact between parents and children is critical to the process of successful reunification,” says Maine DHHS spokesperson Jackie Farwell. Family Law Attorneys Wayne Doane and Wendy Hatch understand this, and earlier this month opened Fair Shake, a family visitation center. They aim to provide a place for parents whose children are in the custody of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services to have more and better opportunities for supervised visits with their children during the reunification process. They hope to fundamentally change how supervised visits are conducted between parents and their children, including virtual visits.

The Field Center team would like to thank the staff and students who brought this newsletter together. Specifically, we recognize our Fall 2021 student Richard Wren for his contributions in providing readers with this uplifting content. Many thanks to our Program Manager Sarah Wasch for editing and our Administrative Coordinator Felicia Saunders for handling design and distribution. Special thanks to our Managing Faculty Director, Dr. Johanna Greeson for her idea to curate the “good news stories” happening in child welfare!