More than half a million children and youth are in foster care in the United States. Some live with foster parents, some with relatives, and others in group homes and other settings. These young people are a substantial — and an especially vulnerable — part of all the major "systems" affecting children and families: education, training, juvenile justice, health care, housing, welfare and mental health, as well as the child welfare system.
Recognizing the need to discuss how these many systems across all levels of government affect youth as they transition out of care and into adulthood, the IEL Policy Exchange held a July 1999 seminar on The Federal Role in Helping Young People Transition from Foster Care. This publication is a transcript of that seminar.
Given participants' positive response to the seminar (they rated the event 8.6 out of a possible 10) we are confident that the seminar was both moving and informative. And when asked what is the most significant or important thing you will take away from this seminar?, participants' responses included:
- The children and youth who make up the foster care population . . . have needs that stretch across the board.
- Independent living is a myth. Interdependence is what needs to be addressed.
- Public education through the mass media and churches may well be more essential then anything governments can do. Governments can help but their work will always fall short without the participation of people who care.
A primary audience of the IEL Policy Exchange is federal policy makers, both in Congress and in the Executive Branch, with responsibility for programs and policies affecting children and families. We are pleased that Senators Jeffords and Rockefeller issued a "Dear Colleague" letter encouraging other senators to send their staff to the seminar.
The Policy Exchange does not routinely publish transcripts of its seminars, but we decided to publish this transcript because it was both compelling and enlightening to hear, in their own words, the powerful "stories" of those involved in the foster care system and the many other systems affecting children in care.
The seminar began with an introduction and overview of federal foster care policy. Next, seminar participants viewed a short documentary video, Searching for Family (which shows the lives of three youths in Seattle in foster care).
Following the film, a 16-member panel shared their diverse perspectives about what would help Jamil, a 14 year-old boy in foster care in the film, become a successful adult. Next, the panel responded to questions from the audience. After this open discussion, Senator John D. Rockefeller IV (via video) outlined his views on the federal role in helping young people transition from foster care.
Also contained in this publication are the seminar agenda; a list of panelists, speakers and participants; a summary of pre-seminar feedback from participants about their views on foster care transition; a brief on foster care facts and data; an overview of federal child welfare programs; and a summary of the newly enacted Foster Care Independence Act of 1999.
Armed with this information, seminar participants worked in small groups to answer the question: What one thing would you change to make the systems work more effectively for Jamil and other children in foster care as they move from adolescence to adulthood? The transcript ends with final remarks from the panelists.
This seminar aired on the cable television network C-SPAN
For ordering information, please see our Publications page.
Click here to get the full text of Federal Role in Helping Young
People Transition from Foster Care: The Independent Living Program
and More in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). (Note: the pagination and format in PDF may differ from the published version.)
Click here to download the PDF file reader (free).
