Minutes from Youth Aging Out of Care Workshop June 5th, 2012 10:00am-11:30am I. II. Last Meeting a.

Issues with working with foster parents and how to instill a loving nature in those parents was discussed The Best Practices/ Most Frequent Problems with Training Foster Parents a. Keeping the parents informed each step of the way i. Although efforts have been made on the part of the team of practitioners, the steps involved in the aging out system have not always been communicated to the parents 1. Foster parents are invited to attend all meetings but are not required to. 2. Some youth feel the need to be independent and do not want their foster parents to be heavily involved. b. Home Finding program i. Similar to the MAPP program that ACS developed ii. Foster parents are trained during this intensive 10 week program to be able to care for their children better through an informative educational as well as empathetic approach 1. Parents is informed of various issues throughout childhood development 2. Parent is also asked to place themselves into issues under which their child may go through(i.e. having to sacrifice things they care about) in order to gain an understanding of what the child may be facing when they deal with issues of loss, attachment, etc. Jobs and Housing for Youth a. Notion of establishing an awards ceremony honoring all accomplishments of the youth i. Normally with adolescents huge accomplishments are recognized, but any other smaller steps and achievements are not. ii. During the ceremony, all accomplishments would be acknowledged, perhaps in the form of empowering categories ( i.e. most improved, most likely to succeed, etc.) that all youth could fit into iii. Additionally, all key players involved in the childs life, such as foster parents, case workers, mentors, community leaders, etc., would be invited to come to the ceremony. Normally, these individuals gather to analyze the situation but now they will be highlighting positive things b. For Staten Island, housing is a major issue due to lack of funding i. This borough has one agency that is underfunded and not receiving adequate help from the city ii. Currently searching for RFPS or any sort of grants to help with funding

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iii. Due to the culture instilled in people living in the borough as well as transportation issues, it is difficult to persuade children to leave their part of the island or to go to another borough for housing. Additionally nycha housing conditions in other boroughs can be dangerous, undesirable, and limited 1. This sometimes results in children not wanting to move into the placement given to them or living on the streets 2. Currently out of the 35 youth being served, 6 are homeless and 4 are in danger of becoming this way iv. Also finding safe spaces for LGBTQ teens is difficult Supportive Housing for young parents is difficult to find i. Nycha is an independent housing situation and these young parents need support 1. difficult to find for mothers with and without mental illness ii. Meeting the criteria is hard considering the qualifications are a history of homelessness, which these youth have not experienced, or a history of mental illness iii. Sometimes the parent is only allowed to bring in one child with them iv. Nycha does not provide housing to parents with criminal record 1. If the father of the child has a criminal record, the youth must somehow prove that he is not living there in that household. Because this is difficult and Nycha often claims that the youth is not qualified to receive housing if they find the identity of the father and are informed of his background information a. Young mothers can be hesitant to give information about the birth father, but the information has been taken off of birth certificates in the past Youth placed outside of the city no longer qualify to receive housing in the five boroughs i. Due to overcrowding, youth are sometimes relocated to places outside of the city (i.e. Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester) and are then no longer considered for housing in the city. ii. Additionally, some youth may attend a college or work outside of new york city which will disqualify them as well Safety Transfers i. Housing placements under Nycha are not always safe. Requests to transfer may be made but they are often not granted ii. Criteria for this includes a list of specific qualifications that are hard to meet but do not mean that the environment is safe. One criterion is a documented order of protection, which is difficult to file if the youth is not sure who has been causing them harm. Steps Taken after Housing is granted i. Many youths dont know where to go from there. There is no bridge between childhood and adulthood for adolescents

ii. Youth often do not know how to ask and receive the support they need so they often return to living in previous homes and conditions. iii. Mentors for youths should establish a bond with them before the three months before they are supposed to leave the system so that way the youth feel comfortable turning to them for help when needed IV. FTCs a. community initiatives are great but not offered to all youth b. Mentors should have a stronger bond and play a heavier role in their lives c. There has been difficulty getting people to come together for these meetings i. Giving people initiative to come (i.e. lunch or dinner, money to travel, gift cards, etc) may increase attendance on part of youth and of important people for the youths development 1. This can help the youth to feel as if they are investing their time into something worthwhile How to Create Change a. Housing policies i. It would be beneficial to have members from Nycha as well as someone from ACS and a practitioner work together to create the policies Nycha has. This way, every perspective can be accounted for. b. Housing forum coming up soon i. Goal is to invite key policy makers, as well as practitioners , and a youth advocate in order to discuss these issues ii. Everyone is invited to speak on behalf of their organization and youth c. Funding i. General budget cuts have caused programs to not be able to offer services, such as a beneficial internship program, to all youths ii. Additionally, staff members have been lost iii. With funding perhaps these programs could extend and more staff could be added, especially someone to be present in the off hours that the youth may need someone. iv. Funding should not be looked at globally but rather specifics should be examined and considered when deciding on this. For example, the number of children in foster care generally has decreased, but the number of adolescents has been steadily increasing and therefore the adolescents should receive more funding (stats were taken from Children Center) Questions and Comments a. Funding opportunities requested to be sent out with the newsletter b. RFPs should become available to look at during the spring c. The FPWA newsletter will be sent out to those who requested it.

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