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. March is National Social Work Month – the perfect time to reflect on the contributions of social workers, and other professionals and advocates, who creatively work to support the needs of children and families. We hope this read gives you a few moments of hopefulness and a sense of possibility.
If there's something you'd like to see here, shoot us an email. Know someone who could use a little Good Stuff in Child Welfare? Send them a copy! We hope you love it as much as we do.
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Keys to Independence Awards 1,000th Driver’s License to Youth in Foster Care |
Keys to Independence, also known as K2I, is an innovative program that helps reimburse youth in foster care and their caregivers for the costs associated with driver’s education, driver’s licenses, motor vehicle insurance, and more. K2I is funded by the Florida Department of Children and Families and managed by Embrace Families, a private child welfare provider. When the program launched in 2014, fewer than 20 youth in foster care in Florida had a driver’s license or learner’s permit, but now Embrace Families has hit the impressive milestone of assisting over 1,000 youth with obtaining a license. Additionally, 1,880 learner’s permits have been obtained. Glen Casel, president and CEO of Embrace Families, says “Learning to drive is more than a rite of passage – it’s a major part of the transition to adulthood.”
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“I wanted to give back”: FSU Grad Grew from Foster Care to Business Owner, Mentor |
Prince Pickney, a 28-year-old Fayetteville State University graduate, is now mentoring other children at the same group home that housed him when he was in foster care as a child. Pickney resided in the Falcon Children’s Home from the time he was 14 to 20. In 2018, Pickney graduated from FSU and that same year, launched his online clothing store, J Heir Designs, highlighting Black culture and nostalgia. With his educational and entrepreneurial experience, Pickney provides inspiration to the older teens in the Falcon Children’s Home transitional living program. “I came back to Falcon as a house parent and I've been working here ever since,” he said. “I wanted to give back and help some of the kids here.”
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New Affordable Apartment Complex Will be Home for Students Aging Out of Foster Care |
Rescue Ministries of Mid-Michigan, a housing and employment services non-profit, is developing a new apartment complex for students aging out of foster care. Following the receipt of a $50,000 grant from the Charles J. Strosacker Foundation, the newly-named Labadie Lofts will be available for leasing in summer 2022. The complex, owned by Rescue Ministries, will assist young adults who are aging out of foster care and pursuing full-time education or vocational training by providing them with clean, safe, supportive and affordable housing.
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Visalia’s Dream Center Provides a “One-Stop Shop” for Foster and Homeless Youth |
The Dream Center, a Visalia, CA program serving youth experiencing foster care or homelessness, is expanding since opening its doors in 2019. Run by a partnership between various government and county agencies serving both populations, the Center provides educational, housing, career, and life skills resources, including showers and laundry facilities, to youth up to age 25. The Dream Center is planning to introduce more services this spring, including tutoring services, kindergarten readiness programming, parent education workshops, a food pantry, and a clothing closet. Beth Wilshire, the Foster Youth Services Coordinator at the Tulare County Office of Education and co-founder of the Dream Center, says “What we are is kind of like a one-stop shop for foster and homeless youth... If we don’t have the service here, we can figure out how to get you referred to it.”
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West Virginia House Passes Bipartisan Foster Care System Bill |
The House of Representatives in West Virginia just passed House Bill 4344, focused on improving the delivery of foster care services, with broad bi-partisan support in a 99-1 vote. HB 4344 requires the state Department of Health and Human Resources to develop a program with child placement agencies to ensure that kinship families are assigned to the agencies that can provide support services to the family. The bill also increases the pay for direct service workers by 15% and requires the Division of Personnel to increase the salary ranges for those job classifications by 20%. The legislation is now headed to the state Senate for further consideration.
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Give BIG Green Bay: Foster the Village Provides Essentials for Children in Foster Care |
They say it takes a village to raise a child - and that saying rings especially true for foster parents. That is why a Green Bay non-profit aims to support foster families by providing them with basic essentials to help ease children’s transition into foster care. Foster the Village, a Michigan foster care non-profit organization, provides free basic needs items to foster parents such as clothing, shoes, baby gear, seasonal boots/coats, diapers, bedding, and more oversized items such as car seats, beds, and high-chairs. “We use Foster the Village all the time to get the basic needs for all the kids that we have and all the kids that we have love it too because they’re actually able to come down here and actually pick out the stuff themselves,” foster parent Vickie Schiefelbein said.
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Vanguard Youth Society Helps LGBTQ Houstonians Foster and Adopt Children |
Vanguard Youth Society is a new licensed foster care agency in Houston, TX that opened its doors just last year. In a climate where many religious-based child placement agencies will not work with LGBTQ families and couples, founder and executive director T. Nicole Eldridge aims to help the more than 30,000 children in Texas waiting for foster parents or permanent adoption by opening its doors to all qualified families. Their foster care program encourages the achievement of every child’s full potential by providing a stable and nurturing alternative family environment. It can be challenging for same-sex couples to foster or adopt children in Texas, where state-licensed child welfare agencies can refuse to place and provide services to LGBTQ children and families if doing so conflicts with their religious beliefs. The rewards of fostering children can be immense, Eldridge says. “If you are looking to help a child, we are the right agency to connect you with these children who need a safe space.”
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This Support Group Helps Grandparents Who Have Stepped Up to Keep Kids out of Texas Foster Care |
Mercedes Bristol began an innovative program in Texas after adopting her five grandchildren to prevent their placement in foster care. In 2016, she launched “Texas Grandparents Raising Grandchildren” – a statewide support group for grandparents who are currently in a parental role and need the type of help and resources that she couldn’t find when she first started parenting her own grandchildren. There are now 17 support groups throughout the state. Through her group, she met Gloria Adams, another grandparent who understands the mental and emotional hardships that result from raising children without parents in the picture. “Having the support groups and having the help of other grandparents to be able to talk these issues through, for me, is very comforting. To know that there's someplace I can go,” Adams said.
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Kitchens for Good Opens Pacific Beach Store Offering ‘Pre-Loved’ Dining and Cookware |
Kitchens for Good, a San Diego nonprofit that provides career development to apprentices who are overcoming the impacts of incarceration, homelessness, and foster care and also fights food waste by preparing meals for vulnerable populations with excess food, is starting a new initiative to sustain its programming. They recently opened a store in San Diego, CA that sells donated “pre-loved” culinary equipment and dinnerware at discount prices, from slightly used pots and pans to fine Italian China. Proceeds from the sales of the kitchen and dining ware will fund the apprenticeship program that has experienced a financial setback during the pandemic. This new business will bring in much-needed revenue to ensure that Kitchens for Good can keep serving the community.
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**BONUS ARTICLE**
Wales is Piloting $2,100-Per-Month Guaranteed Income for Former Foster Youth
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While we usually try to promote inspirational stories from the U.S., a new guaranteed-income pilot program in the U.K. is too exciting not to share! This year, Wales is instituting monthly payments of 1,600 pounds (about $2,180) for two years to youth who age out of the foster care system. Called “care leavers” in the U.K., these youth often have insufficient finances to navigate housing, healthcare, employment and more. The monthly payments are predicted to reach 500 young people and will provide a living wage, just above the Wales poverty threshold of 18,480 pounds. The Welsh program is the largest guaranteed income program anywhere in the world, and it provides a blueprint for other countries or child welfare systems to follow. Though evaluation of the pilot is needed to determine whether it provides enough assistance, Scott Ruddock, executive director for children’s services at TACT, the U.K.’s largest dedicated fostering charity, says “We feel proud that Wales is the first country in the world to pilot this type of financial support for care-experienced young people.”
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The Field Center team would like to thank the staff and students who brought this newsletter together. We are grateful to MSW 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! |
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