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Welcome
Lou Gamage, Nevada Community Foundation (NCF) President, welcomed attendees and thanked the Independent Living Committee for their groundbreaking work. Lou described the history and roles of community foundations historically, and referenced the 2003 Community Assessment conducted by NCF and the United Way. One of the many pressing needs that emerged from the assessment was improving the services to foster care youth in southern Nevada.
Grounding Us: Calls to Action
Lou then introduced Judge Gerald Hardcastle and Thom Reilly. Judge Hardcastle provided inspiring opening remarks about the great need he sees for reform in the way the system serves foster youth, and the need for each youth to have a caring adult in their lives to provide them with guidance and support. Thom Reilly reviewed his earlier research on foster care and the data that the county is currently working with as a guide in how to reform the system locally.
Introductions
Following Judge Hardcastle’s and Thom’s remarks, invited guests each introduced themselves, concluding with Christina Sutherland, a consultant for NCF who facilitated the remainder of the morning’s discussion.
Framing the Opportunity
Christina underscored NCF’s role as a community convener building upon the efforts of people across interests, disciplines and services in a community. In reviewing the community assessment, NCF saw a need for the foster care system to better serve youth and better prepare them for the transition to living independently after the age of 18. NCF also knew this was not primarily a grantmaking issue, or one that a single funder could accomplish. Rather, there may be unique niches where a private funder may provide important supplemental funding, but it is primarily a public sector-driven and public sector funded area, where reform, collaboration and blending of funding streams will accomplish change.
Before NCF knew that the Independent Living Committee would also be coming forward with recommendations in the same timeframe, the Foundation invited guests to this convening because it saw the need for shared thinking, coordination and alignment of resources among the public and private sectors; for a fresh approach to the use of existing resources; for some public policy changes; and then, for the infusion of some new resources. NCF also saw an opportunity: with so manageable a number of youth aging out of the system each year, it is possible to change the system, and thus to dramatically change the lives of young people.
Christina turned to Susan Klein-Rothschild to summarize the work of the Independent Living Committee, and to present their recommendations as currently drafted (please see enclosed for a complete list of current recommendations).
Discussion
The group spent the rest of the session engaged in discussion about the Independent Living Committee’s recommendations, and broadly about the needs of foster care youth and issues surrounding reform of the current system.
Among the issues where the group had consensus:
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The support system is a primary issue. Young people need a concerned, caring adult - not just a “system” – in their lives, to provide advice, to guide them, to answer questions. This is also a paradox, because youth have often been through so many adults and caregivers that they are skeptical any one person will remain a constant in their lives, and are reluctant to open up and let someone establish a lasting connection with them. |
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There need to be concerned, caring citizens recruited to act as mentors for foster care youth. Scope of need is about 100 people per year, but the threshold criterion is someone who will maintain a long-term relationship with the youth. The Interfaith Network and Big Brothers/Big Sisters are two avenues through which such mentors could be engaged. It was also noted that individuals with personal experience in the foster care system will in many cases be a more effective and credible mentor in the eyes of a foster youth. |
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Youth need work experience, not only job training, if they are likely to be employed after care. |
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There needs to be consistency in the life skills training provided to youth. Consistent standards for training should be established, training should be comprehensive, and these should be communicated to all providers. |
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Many youth, who cannot live independently when they exit from care, also need a range of specialized services, including MH/MR (mental health/mental retardation) and public guardianship. |
Issues that need to be resolved:
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Participants were startled to learn that, by at least one interpretation, AB 94 funding for direct services cannot be used to fund mentoring for foster care youth (although it appears it is being used for this purpose in Washoe County). Many in the group had been proceeding with plans for mentoring programs on the assumption this was an allowable expenditure. The group agreed that mentoring is a direct service and an essential one with huge benefits. This issue needs to be clarified in the next legislative session. Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley agreed to work on getting a quick opinion from the Legislative Counsel Bureau. |
Areas where it was identified that NCF could help:
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Finding the resources to publish (or fund another entity to publish) a resource manual for youth exiting care (also a resource for the use of the concerned adults in their lives). |
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Pending clarification of the use of AB94 funding for mentoring in the next legislative session, NCF could help with funding or identifying gap funding for mentoring programs in the interim. |
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Identifying funding for one FTE position in the county to conduct a diligent search for a caring family member for every youth who enters the system. This would ideally be funded for a three-year pilot period in order to demonstrate the number of youth who were diverted from the system entirely because of this modest investment. |
Recommendations
As a result of the session, it was generally recommended that:
- Use of AB94 funding for mentoring be considered an urgent issue for resolution at the next legislative session.
- The state mandate it is the responsibility of every foster care provider to ensure that youth exit the system with birth certificates, social security cards, health cards and all other relevant identification. State should develop a mandatory checklist of documents to be secured long before the exit date, and in the event the provider is not acting with dispatch, that the court mandate that it be done by case workers if necessary.
- Passage of the Medicaid legislation needs to be made a priority.
- A concerted effort to pair every foster care youth with a caring adult mentor in their lives is implemented, in addition to a shift to a 20:1 ratio for case management for each youth in care.
- Create a way to assign a caring adult mentor to every foster care youth at least six months before they exit the system. In addition to providing a range of advice, guidance and support, mentors would also be a backstop to ensure that the checklist of all identity documentation is also in order for each youth prior to their eighteenth birthday.
- Contracts with foster care providers clearly articulate expectations regarding provision of services (including identity documents, life skills and other training).
Closing
Lou Gamage thanked the attendees for the remarkable conversation and their wisdom on this issue. It was agreed the group would re-convene in late summer (after Labor Day) to determine what, if any, next steps would be taken.
Additionally, all attendees were invited to attend the meetings of the Independent Living Committee, which are open to the public. |
Notes from April 29, 2004 Foster Care Convening