The Ritter Charitable Trust

Child Welfare Network

Task Force Report

Child Welfare Consortia

Notes From Meetings

Notes from August 31, 2005 Foster Care Convening

Attendees

The following individuals attended the foster care convening on August 31st, 2005 at the Las Vegas Country Club:

Jennifer Bevacqua, Olive Crest
Bret Bicoy, Nevada Community Foundation
Kathleen Boutin, Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth
Jessica Bretzlaff, Nevada Community Foundation
Chris Brooks, Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth
Britta Carlson, Junior League
Cedric Cole, Juvenile Justice
Mike Fletcher, SAFY
Stephanie Holland, Child Focus
Gard Jameson, Children’s Advocacy Alliance
Susan Klein-Rothschild, Clark County Department of Family services
Sandy Kreml, Juvenile Justice
Lisa Mannino, Purdue Marion & Associates
Darryl Martin, Clark County Social Services
Patricia Merrifield, State of Nevada Division of Child & Family Services
Thom Reilly, Clark County
Hilarie Robison, Nevada Public Education Foundation
Elaine Roesener, Nevada Community Foundation
Chris Sutherland, Consultant to Philanthropy – Meeting Facilitator
Tom Waite, Girls & Boys Town
Stacey Wedding, Nevada Community Foundation
Hilary Westrom, Ritter Charitable Trust
Sheila White, Olive Crest

Welcome

On August 31st, Bret Bicoy, Nevada Community Foundation (Foundation) President, welcomed attendees and thanked them for all of their work and progress around foster care issues, specifically those aging out of the foster care system.

Background & Updates

During the foster care convenings held in April and September of 2004, the group identified several opportunities for the Nevada Community Foundation and other funders to assist. Significant progress has been made in each area, as outlined below.

Opportunity 1

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).

Update: Thanks to the Ritter Charitable Trust (www.rittertrust.org), Southern Nevada now has the first-ever comprehensive resource manual for young adults aging out of the foster care system. More than 1,000 copies of “Into the World: A Life Book” – a life skills handbook – are being distributed to youth leaving the foster care system in Clark County. Written by experts and designed in part by the foster youth themselves, this publication has been enthusiastically received by both the young people and foster families. Since its publication, it has quickly become a model for communities and other community foundations across the nation. The Ritter Charitable Trust has committed to update and reproduce this handbook annually, with a focus on making it available on-line and interactive.

Opportunity 2

Pending clarification of the use of AB94 funding for mentoring in the next legislative session, the Foundation could help with funding or identifying gap funding for mentoring programs in the interim.

Update: The group discussed the importance of having concerned, caring citizens as mentors for foster care youth who will maintain a long-term relationship with the youth, beginning a couple of years before they exit care. The Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Child Focus and the Las Vegas Chamber are just a few of the local organizations that are addressing the need for mentors. Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth provided an overview of their new Mentor Match Program, which pairs a qualified mentor with a foster youth prior to their emancipation. The mentor will assist the youth in obtaining educational needs, parenting skills (if necessary), financial income and training, knowledge of available existing community resources, employment and/or related skill sets, medical assistance and training, establishment and maintenance of harmonious and productive relationships, as well as any other needs that may arise. Training and support will be available to both the youth and the mentor.

The Ritter Charitable Trust and several other donors are providing funding for the Mentor Match Program. The Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth agreed to convene all organizations offering mentoring services to coordinate efforts and avoid duplication of services.

Opportunity 3

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.

Update: The Ritter Charitable Trust provided funding for one FTE position and one PTE position in the County to focus on diligent search before a child enters the foster care system. Additionally, the state provided funding for a PTE position in the County to focus on diligent search as well. Susan Klein-Rothschild reported that outcome data is being provided quarterly to the Ritter Charitable Trust and Nevada Community Foundation, and by the time this group meets again, she should have some more information about the impact and placements made as a result of these additional funding streams. To date, Susan said she has noticed a significantly higher permanent placement rate resulting from these new positions.

Other Discussion Items

In addition to all of the updates provided, the group also discussed a variety of issues currently facing foster youth and foster families. These included:

»	The need to strengthen families and help them stay together (if they want to be together).
»	Examining why children are entering foster care in the first place (i.e., drugs, etc.) and providing tools to prevent them from entering the system.
»	The need for more family foster homes – one attendee noted the trend of more infants in foster care and the lack of foster families available. Another attendee said they have received a 50% increase in applications to be a foster parent but often these individuals do not go through or complete the rigorous training or requirements to become a foster parent.
»	The need for general training of potential foster parents as well as specialized training for foster parents caring for children with special behavioral or other needs. It was noted that the County has a FTE who provides foster training for parents, but often those who are looking for more advanced training for a child with special needs, have nowhere to go.
»	Providing respite care for foster families and informing them of where to go for respite care.
»	Healthcare & mental health issues – While Medicaid has been extended to foster youth up to the age of 21, Medicaid is collapsing various mental health chapters (with varying degrees of service and care) for adults and children into one home, versus four treatment homes. Under this new system, the treatment home can provide treatment and family foster care. To avoid separation of siblings, children that no longer need mental health care can still remain in the foster home. This is a major shift which will be implemented on a fast track, but some difficulties in implementation can be reasonably expected.
»	One attendee reminded the group that Assemblywoman Buckley helped produce and pass legislation that requires healthcare providers to provide pro bono medical services to at-risk youth, including foster youth. Children should be put in touch with the Clark County Medical Society to utilize some of these pro bono services.
»	Nonprofit providers losing staff to the public sector – this impacts the stability and consistency needed in the lives of foster youth and families.
»	Employment training for foster youth – Clark County Juvenile Justice Services received a sizeable grant to provide employment training for foster youth. Their program includes workshops, trainings and career outreach as well as various incentives (stipends and so forth) for youth who meet certain milestones (good grades, graduation from high school, etc.).
»	Separation of siblings.
»	Criminalization of foster youth – a few attendees recommended developing a resource for youth being criminalized.
»	How referral can be made to a nonprofit or faith-based group rather than through the state or county (since people are afraid their child will be taken away if they go to the public sector) – need to build capacity of nonprofits to do this.

Topics for Next Meeting (to take place around March 2006):

»	Convene a “mentoring coalition” roundtable for the many different organizations doing various types of mentoring throughout Southern Nevada
»	Report on the outcomes from the emphasis on Diligent Search at the County (too soon for data at the August meeting)
»	Address the very sensitive issue of the nonprofit providers losing staff to the public sector agencies (State and County)

Funding Needs

»	Respite care for foster care providers
»	Foster parent general training
»	Specialized training for foster parents caring for children with special behavioral or other needs
»	Community resource binders for providers
»	Perhaps additional funding for a recruitment campaign to find additional foster parents (still unclear)

Closing

Bret Bicoy thanked the attendees for the remarkable conversation and their hard work to improve outcomes for foster care youth. It was agreed that the Nevada Community Foundation will invite the following individuals/organizations to the next convening to be held in the spring (possibly March) of 2006: the chair of the Citizens Advisory Committee for Children’s Mental Health; the chair of the Mental Health Consortium; the chair of the Southern Nevada Workforce Youth Council; and the state’s youth parole. There was general consensus that the convenings are an effective use of everyone’s time and provide opportunities for collaboration to improve the outcomes for foster youth.