Extended Foster Care Hot Topics Susan Zimny Program and Policy Analyst, Transition Age Youth Policy Unit California Department of Social Services July 11, 2017 1
Infant Supplement for parenting NMDs • Infant supplement more than doubled to $900 in last year’s budget process. • Concerns regarding how parenting NMDs are using this money and their ability to adjust to a large drop in their income when they leave foster care. 2
New policy for NMDs placed in any setting other than a SILP: • ACL will address the use of the infant supplement in these placement settings. • Currently the infant supplement is a pass-through – i.e. the entire amount is supposed to be passed through to the NMD so they can meet the needs of their child(ren). • New policy will allow counties to negotiate with caregivers and housing providers to allow caregivers/providers the ability to retain up to a certain percentage of the infant supplement to be used by the caregiver/provider to provide for the care and supervision of the child(ren) of the NMDs in their care. 3
• Caregivers/providers will then meet with the NMD to determine the exact amount to be retained and what it will be used for through the use of a shared agreement process . • NMD will be allowed to have at least one support person present during this meeting. • Amount retained must be spent on allowable costs as designated by the federal government, including food, clothing, shelter and supervision needs of the child(ren). Cannot be used for staffing or other administrative costs. 4
• The amount retained must be used in the month in which it was retained. • Separate from the amount retained by the provider for care and supervision needs of the NMD’s child, an additional amount can be placed in savings for the NMD on a monthly basis. This amount can accrue until the NMD leaves the placement. 5
Housing Options for NMDs • Resource Family Home – 16% • Transitional Housing Plus Foster Care (THP+FC) – 19.4% • Supervised Independent Living Placement (SILP) – 38.1% • Group home/Short-term Residential Treatment Program (STRTP) – under certain conditions – 6.3% • Regional Center homes • Other – mental health residential homes, small family homes • Specialized county-developed programs approved by the CDSS 6
SILP Placement Options • Living alone or with a roommate(s) • College dormitory in an apartment, condo, single • Job Corps, AmeriCorps, California family residence. Conservation Corps • Renting a room • Adult Residential Treatment • Single Room Occupancies (SROs) Facilities • Tribal SILP • Sober Living Arrangement/Home • Supportive SILP • Other residential programs 7
Barriers to finding/maintaining housing • High cost of housing in California • Delay between housing approval and receipt of first foster care payment (for SILPs) • Mental health/substance use disorders/other behavioral issues • Domestic violence • Inadequate preparation for obtaining/maintaining housing 8
Ideas for addressing housing challenges • Providing tax breaks to landlords who rent to NMDs (requires legislation) • Create fund to cover move-in costs or use ILP funds • Community outreach to promote need for citizens to rent rooms to NMDs 9
Partner with housing programs such as HUD Section 8 (FUP vouchers) and county housing authorities County engagement with landlords to increase landlord comfort with renting to foster youth Develop MOUs/MOAs between counties and rental agencies to support youth in getting into SILP housing while they are waiting to receive their payments. 10
• Reach out to retired foster parents and senior citizens to see if they are interested in renting a room to NMDs. • Educating NMDs on tenant rights and responsibilities. • Partner with community agencies to provide information on, and resources for, domestic violence concerns. 11
• Place youth in mental health and substance use disorder treatment facilities (as SILPs) to stabilize them and then put comprehensive services in place when they return to another placement type. • Engage WRAP services to deal with behavioral issues that threaten housing stability. • Utilize CFTs to brainstorm and develop housing solutions. 12
Specific issues for Probation NMDs • Two types of NMDs who are/were in the delinquency system: • Wards • Transition Dependents • Who supervises transition dependents? Advantages/disadvantages of each: • Probation – familiarity with youth, understand criminogenic behaviors and know how to deal with. • Child Welfare – new start, more access to housing options and services 13
Criminogenic behaviors/histories make it more difficult to find • housing – including relative homes, foster homes, THP+FC and SILPs. Mental health and substance use disorder issues often • precipitate their crimes but don’t always get adequately addressed. Some courts are terminating NMD wards as unsuccessful in • meeting their terms of their probation. This causes difficulty as can only re-enter as a transition dependent which requires having met their rehabilitative goals. 14
Re-Entry from Adoption or Guardianship • Certain populations of former foster youth (FFY) who achieved permanency through guardianship or adoption can re-enter foster care between the ages of 18-21 if their adoptive parent or guardian died or is no longer providing ongoing support for them and the payments to the adoptive parent/guardian have been terminated. • Confusion over who is eligible (matrix) • Difficulty in stopping Adoption Assistance payments. 15
Best practice = when a FFY claims they are no longer being • supported, social worker does an investigation (talks with both youth and adoptive parent/guardian) to see if the youth is truly not being supported and to try to reconcile the parties if possible. Difficult situations arise when youth and adoptive • parent/guardian have different perspectives and different desires about maintaining the relationship (Jesse S case) 16
NMDs Living Out of State • NMDs have the right to live out of state. • They can remain in an out-of-state placement when they turn 18, move out of state as a NMD or re-enter foster care from out-of-state. • Out-of-state placements can offer NMDs: • The option to live with or near family or other permanent connections • Employment and/or educational opportunities • Lower cost of living 17
Serving out-of-state NMDs • Request ICPC with state where NMD is residing. • Usually not accepted if the other state does not have an EFC program. • If state does have a EFC program, still will often only accept if youth was already living in the state prior to turning 18 and remaining in the same placement. 18
If ICPC not accepted, county agency can try to contract • with the local child welfare agency or another organization serving foster youth such as a FFA. If contracting with a FFA, county social worker must still see NMD face-to-face at least once every six months, preferably in their residence. • Otherwise, the county must send a social worker to do the monthly face-to-face visit. Can arrange for NMD to come to California for at least some of the visits. 19
• CDSS’ ICPC unit is contacting all the other states to find out what services they will offer a NMD from California. They will release the results upon completion. • TAY unit has asked that the ICPC unit ask if our NMDs can participate in their states’ programs (if they have an EFC program and space is available). Would need to meet all California requirements. 20
CONTACT Susan Zimny Program and Policy Analyst Transition Age Youth Policy Unit California Department of Social Services 744 P St. Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 653-1063 Susan.Zimny@dss.ca.gov 21
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