CCAI’s Foster Youth Internship (FYI) Program is a Congressional Internship for young adults who spent time in the United State’s foster care system. The FYI program began in 2003 as an effort to raise awareness to federal policymakers about the needs and unique perspectives of those who spent time in foster care. As part of the program, CCAI organizes retreats, advocacy trainings and various networking opportunities with experts in the child welfare field. Throughout the summer, the FYI interns spend time researching about policy issues affecting foster children across the country. These experiences allow them to create a policy report that is presented at a Congressional briefing and released to child welfare advocates across the country. Link to Report
Tag Archives: policy
Developmental Neuroscience, Children’s Relationships with Primary Caregivers, and Child Protection Policy Reform
Hastings Law Journal: Part I of this Article address the state’s relationship with children and families, and the law’s recognition of the centrality of children’s primary caregivers typically their parents to children’s well-being.
Part II critiques certain aspects of our legal system’s predominant response to child maltreatment.
Part III reviews recent research on the effects of child maltreatment, with special attention to developmental neurobiological findings.
Part IV addresses some implications of these findings for child protection policy and sets forth recommendations that are consistent with the empirical research and responsive to the critiques set forth in Part II.
The heavy toll exacted by child maltreatment extends far beyond the individuals who are the direct victims of maltreatment. It is borne by the entire society, “reverberating across relationships, generations, and communities.” If policymakers make the right investments, the combined wisdom gleaned from the efforts of multiple scientific disciplines can pave the pathways to the development of effective preventive and intervention strategies that decrease the risks faced by children and promote children’s resilience in coping with those risks that remain. Link to pdf Law Journal Article
Responding to Childhood Trauma: The Promise and Practice of Trauma Informed Care
This paper works to increase appreciation of the relevance of trauma in understanding children and in planning to meet their needs. It discusses the vulnerability of children and the unique needs of traumatized children. Part 1 on the challenge of childhood trauma provides a synopsis of child development and the differential responses to trauma, identifies risk and protective factors related to child maltreatment, explains the magnitude of the problem of trauma and consequences related to child psychiatric disorders, adult psychiatric disorders, juvenile and criminal justice, women who have been traumatized, inappropriate interventions, and the psychological effects of trauma on children. Part 2 on trauma-informed care reviews key components of trauma informed care, strength based approaches and the promotion of resilience, the use of the public health model, and programmatic approaches to trauma informed care. Recommended public policies at the federal, State, and local levels are also discussed, and a list of suggested reading is provided. Link to Brief
YouthThrive
Center for the Study of Social Policy: This multi-year initiative examines ways to support foster youth that advance healthy development and well-being and reduce the impact of negative life experiences.
Youth Thrive has two goals:
- To give child welfare agencies and their partners a way to translate the federal mandate for child well-being into actions that will secure the healthy development of youth in foster care. CSSP has examined the research knowledge-base to identify protective and promotive factors that build healthy development and well-being for youth as they move through adolescence into adulthood. The synthesis of the research and the Youth Thrive Protective and Promotive Factors Framework will be shared with the field, and used to fashion policies, programs and interventions that promote health and well-being. CSSP anticipates creating tools and trainings for practitioners working with at-risk youth, parents, foster parents and relatives caring for youth, group homes and other facilities and child welfare agencies.
- To disseminate this information to parents, caregivers, families and communities so that they will better understand how they – in their respective roles – can prioritize healthy development for young people to grow into successful, productive and caring members of society.
Quality Improvement Center for Early Childhood (QIC-EC) Learning Network Update
The goal of the QIC-EC Learning Network is to engage a broad and diverse group of professionals in dialogue and information exchange on key issues related to the prevention of child maltreatment. Participants have helped in shaping the Learning Network topics and by providing data via survey during the QIC-EC’s early years. Through the Learning Network, the QIC-EC disseminates cutting-edge information on policy, research, and practice, which influences and informs the work of the Learning Network members and their colleagues. Link to Update
Economically Disconnected Families and the Child Welfare System.
January 2012, University of Washington. West Coast Poverty Center: Families in the child welfare system often face barriers meeting their basic needs as well as being able to retain or regain custody of their children. While some of these barriers, such as substance abuse, mental health problems, or limited income, could be addressed through employment or social service receipt, emerging research suggests that a substantial share of child welfare-involved families seems to be grappling with these issues without any connection to employment or some of the major social service programs. With support from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/Administration for Children and Families, researchers from Partners for Our Children and the West Coast Poverty Center examined data from a survey of child welfare-involved parents in Washington State to measure the extent and nature of “economic disconnection” among these families and to explore the relationship between disconnection and engagement in child welfare services.
This brief explores their findings. We begin with a brief overview of what is known about economic disconnection. We then present findings from the Washington State survey about how many child welfare involved families are economically disconnected and how these families’ economic circumstances and their patterns of engagement with the child welfare system compare with those of families who are connected to the labor market or social services. We end with a summary of the reactions of policymakers and practitioners to this research as well as their suggestions for extending the work in the future. Link to Brief