From Novelty to Expectation: Recommendations to Develop a System of Campus Support for Foster Youth

As longtime funders of efforts to promote educational opportunity for current and former foster youth, the Walter S. Johnson Foundation (WSJF) and Stuart Foundation have been in the forefront of efforts to replicate successful models of campus support programs for former foster youth at public institutions of higher education in the Bay Area and Northern California. This paper was commissioned to help the funders determine what additional investments could be made to help additional campuses implement support programs and to move the field toward a "tipping point" where temporary philanthropic support for a relatively small number of demonstration programs begins to be replaced by on-going public support for the widespread replication of CSPs throughout the state's public institutions of higher education. This paper examines the challenges and barriers faced by campuses that seek to replicate campus support programs for foster youth, determine what campuses need for effective replication, and the most useful ways in which support could be delivered. In also includes a potential design for a campus support program initiative and makes recommendations for the type of intermediary needed to manage the initiative

Unlocking care: continuing mental health care for prisoners and their families

Summary People in prison have a higher incidence of mental illness than the general population. The prevalence of mental health issues is higher again for women prisoners. Although evidence suggests that some improvement can be achieved during imprisonment, new research reported in this paper finds that average mental health deteriorates in the year following release. The imprisonment of a close family member also places strains on families, including increased mental distress. The effects on children can be long lasting. While the mental health needs of prisoners have been recognised by federal, state and territory governments, the needs of their families has received less attention. Providing continued care from prison into the community is known as ‘throughcare’. The continuation of health services helps overcome some of the barriers people face re-connecting with services in the community and may contribute to a reversal of the decline in mental health following release. Accessing mental health services will often be one challenge among many, including the reestablishment of relationships with children and partners, finding secure housing, maintaining substance-use programs or counselling and finding a job. Coordinating social services for people returning to society will improve the overall success of transition. Families can also play an important role in supporting this transition – therefore, investing more resources into understanding their needs will have a flow-on benefit for former prisoners and society more generally. The design and delivery of mental health services for adults and children needs greater research and coordinated policy development. Federal leadership has led to the measuring and reporting of prisoner mental health. This program should be extended to include measurements following release and widened to include the families of prisoners. Interest in throughcare a decade ago resulted in a move towards the integration of prison and community health services. A majority of jurisdictions – Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia being the exceptions – now have an integrated health service, providing the foundation for the development of throughcare services. Improved delivery of mental health services potentially reduces the risk of re-imprisonment; providing wider personal, familial and community benefits

Changing Course: Improving Outcomes for African-American Males Involved With Child Welfare Systems

This paper draws attention to African-American boys and young men who are involved with the nation's child welfare systems and identifies policies and practices that can help to improve their experiences and outcomes

40+ Top Fatherhood Resources

Lists online resources for improving outcomes for children through fathers' involvement. Includes research and data; guidance on programming; resources for Latino/Hispanic, African-American, and Native American fathers, and tools, guides, and curricula

Eduployment: Creating Opportunity Policies for America's Youth

Eduployment: The bifurcation of school and work, education and employment, college and career is out of date and meaningless. We need to use a both/and rather than an either/or framework in going forward. We call this eduployment

Family at the Center

To better understand how family engagement supports school readiness in Los Angeles County, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the LA Partnership for Early Childhood Investment convened an advisory group of early childhood leaders and stakeholders to provide advice and explore opportunities to strengthen parent engagement. This report summarizes key insights and recommendations that emerged through these discussions and additional research about parent engagement programs and practices

Identifying Gaps and Setting Priorities for Employment and Training Research

The report summarizes recent workforce and employment related research, to identify current gaps in employment and training research and makes recommendations for future research processes and priorities that could better inform policy makers, practitioners, job seekers and employers. The report reviews workforce and related research funded by several federal agencies, including the US Departments of Labor, Education, Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development, the National Science Foundation and other federal entities, as well as research undertaken by regional, state and local workforce agencies and philanthrophic organizations

Safe Passage

Most young people make the transition from adolescence to adulthood with the support of their families, communities, and schools. However, 5.4 million of our nation's most vulnerable youth -- youth aging out of foster care, teenage parents, out-of-school students and those in danger of dropping out, and youth involved in the juvenile justice system -- lack the services and social supports they need to succeed as productive workers, responsible parents, and engaged citizens. Fortunately, a host of social ills -- from violence and urban decay to persistent poverty and homelessness to lost wages and the high costs of incarceration -- can be prevented by investing in cost-effective community supports that help young people who are, or who are in danger of becoming, disconnected. The strategies outlined in the YTFG publication Safe Passage highlight some of the ways we can make more prudent and effective investments in our young people

The Chafee Educational and Training Voucher Program: Six States' Experiences

This publication examines how the Chafee educational and training vouchers and other state-based supports for higher education have been working for these young adults. The National Foster Care Coalition (NFCC) has worked closely with six states to examine the implementation of the Chafee ETV Program since its inception in 2003: California, Maine, Montana, New York, North Carolina, and Wyoming. These states were selected to provide a diverse view of ETV program implementation, including state- and county-administered child welfare programs, urban and rural programs, and programs serving either very large or very small populations of youth. This publication documents a select number of young people's experiences with the ETV program and also shares recommendations from constituents and other stakeholders on how to improve this unique and important postsecondary education and training program

Managing \u27shades of grey\u27: a focus group study exploring community-dwellers’ views on advance care planning in older people

Background: Community-dwelling consumers of healthcare are increasing, many aging with life-limiting conditions and deteriorating cognition. However, few have had advance care planning discussions or completed documentation to ensure future care preferences are acted upon. This study examines the awareness, attitudes, and experiences of advance care planning amongst older people and unrelated offspring/caregivers of older people residing in the community. Methods: Qualitative descriptive research, which included focus groups with older people (55+ years) and older people’s offspring/caregivers living in an Australian city and surrounding rural region. Data was analysed using an inductive and comparative approach. Sampling was both convenience and purposive. Participants responded to web-based, newsletter or email invitations from an agency, which aims to support healthcare consumers, a dementia support group, or community health centres in areas with high proportions of culturally and linguistically diverse community-dwellers. Results: Eight focus groups were attended by a homogenous sample of 15 older people and 27 offspring/ caregivers, with 43% born overseas. The overarching theme, ‘shades of grey’: struggles in transition, reflects challenges faced by older people and their offspring/caregivers as older people often erratically transition from independence and capacity to dependence and/or incapacity. Offspring/caregivers regularly struggled with older people’s fluctuating autonomy and dependency as older people endeavoured to remain at home, and with conceptualising “best times” to actualise advance care planning with substitute decision maker involvement. Advance care planning was supported and welcomed, x advance care planning literacy was evident. Difficulties planning for hypothetical health events and socio-cultural attitudes thwarting death-related discussions were emphasised. Occasional offspring/caregivers with previous substitute decision maker experience reported distress related to their decisions. Conclusions: Advance care planning programs traditionally assume participants are ‘planning ready’ to legally appoint a substitute decision maker (power of attorney) and record end-of-life treatment preferences in short time frames. This contrasts with how community dwelling older people and offspring/caregivers conceive future care decisions over time. Advance care planning programs need to include provision of information, which supports older people’s advance care planning understanding and management, and also supports offspring/caregivers’ development of strategies for broaching advance care planning with older people, and preparing for potential substitute decision maker roles. Development and integration of strategies to support older people’s decision making when in the ‘grey zone’, with fluctuating cognitive capacities, needs further consideration. Findings support an advance care planning model with conversations occurring at key points across a person’s lifespan