Partnering with Medicaid to Advance and Sustain the Goals of the Child Welfare System

The purpose of this paper is to serve as a practical guide for child welfare directors who are looking to expand or sustain services for the children and families that they serve. This paper focuses on ways to partner with Medicaid to leverage opportunities to provide high quality services for children in child welfare who have behavioral health needs. It also includes information that will provide a foundational understanding of the behavioral health needs of children involved with the child welfare system, with an emphasis on describing child behavior through the lens of child development, adaptive functioning, and trauma; the services that can effectively address those behavioral and trauma related responses that can disrupt a child's skills and abilities; and, examples from states and counties who are providing these services and supports

Training and Preparation for Caregiving of Older Foster Youth: Perspectives of Foster Parents

How to best prepare older youth in foster care for independence remains a child welfare challenge. This article presents findings from a study assessing foster parent perspectives of caregiving and training to care for older youth. Findings suggest gaps in foster parent\u27s knowledge and readiness to prepare young adults for independence. However, their connectedness to foster youth post-placement suggests that foster parents may be an overlooked resource for supporting the transition of older youth