Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act in 2008

A Government Accountability Office report found mixed results in the effort to get states to spend more on the front and back ends of child welfare.

Nearly every state in the union now has some offer of extended foster care for youths who turn 18 in foster care and do not feel ready to “age out” into adulthood.

When Kayla Hubert entered foster care at age 4, she was separated from her older brother and a few years later, from her sister as well. By the time she was 8, visits with her siblings were rare.

In Oklahoma, if a sibling group of three kids is taken into foster care, there is about a one-in-three chance they will be split up. A few years ago, one of the state’s child welfare providers decided to do something about it.

In my 15 years of advocacy experience, nothing has had such urgency as normalcy for children and youth in foster care. The term itself might not be used by participants for a foster youth survey, or in a focus group, but the feeling from youth and alumni is the same.

New Mexico may soon join the majority of states in offering “extended foster care” to youth ages 18 to 21, if a proposed bill makes it to the desk of new Gov.

In the mid-2000s, it had already become clear in the field of child welfare that relatives should be a priority option when it comes to removing youth from their home. But most states lacked a robust option for supporting kin who could, with a little help, be the answer on permanency.

Child welfare is running an evidence deficit. There are too few programs in circulation with credible evidence of their effectiveness in improving the safety, family permanence and well-being of vulnerable children.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) recently announced nearly $18 million in federal grants to states for Kinship Navigator programs, a model for connecting relatives caring for foster youth to benefits, counseling and other forms of assistance.