Independent Living  (return to Issue Areas)

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Leave No Child Behind on the
Road to Independence

FCF develops and supports improved outcomes for older youth.

Aug 05 - Assistance for Recipients of the Road to Independence Funds - After learning of a potential problem affecting young adults aging out of the foster care system, FCF sought advice from Holland & Knight, LLP regarding the taxability of RTI funds. After reviewing the memorandum from Holland & Knight, LLP, and consulting their own experts, the Department of Children and Families agreed that the Road to Independence funds should not be taxable and 1099 forms were issued in error. DCF Secretary Lucy Hadi wrote to every program participant, approximately 1,200 youth formerly in foster care, who may have been affected by the error (see Hadi letter).  The letter recommends that these children contact FCF to receive free tax help from volunteer professionals in their communities. If you are a tax professional and would like to assist children in your community or, if you are a Road to Independence participant and may be affected by this error, please contact FCF at fcf@floridaschildrenfirst.org.  Learn more.

Mar 31, 2005 - Avoiding the Potholes on Florida's Road to Independence - Article and training material from UM Miami Professors, Bernard Perlmutter and Carolyn Salisbury 
Based on concern for older foster youth, Congress passed the federal Independent Living Initiative in 1985 to provide funding to the states to assist foster youth who have attained age 16 in making the transition from foster care to adulthood. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 677. The intent of the Independent Living Initiative was to ensure that states would provide all older foster youth with independent living services and skills training to prevent these children from ending up homeless, on welfare, or institutionalized. Despite the federal Independent Living Initiative, states have not adequately prepared foster children to survive on their own upon reaching adulthood.

Welfare prevention –

·         Former foster youth are becoming one of the biggest subclasses on the welfare rolls and are disproportionally incarcerated and institutionalized as adults.

·        Strengthening life-skills training and encouraging vocational or post-secondary education will save the state millions.  
  

Family preservation –

·         Former foster youth who are teen parents are at risk of losing their own children due to financial instability and lack of skills.

·        Providing targeted independent living services to teen parents will enable them to preserve family unity and prevent second-generation foster children.  
    

Dropout prevention –

·         Multiple placements and traumatic childhoods provide extra barriers to foster children’s educational success.  Some caseworkers are instructing foster children who are struggling academically and who do not meet the grade point requirement to drop out of high school and pursue a GED so they qualify for the scholarship. 

·        Modifications to the scholarship program would encourage foster children to stay in high school and improve their performance.
     

Disability accommodations –

·         Over one-fourth of foster children suffer from severe emotional or behavioral problems.  These children have difficulty qualifying for the scholarship and achieving independence.

·        Foster children with mental health, physical, emotional, or learning disabilities need extra assistance to learn independent living skills and reasonable accommodations to maintain scholarship eligibility.
     

Parental guidance –

·         Many 18-year-old youth still in high school are not ready to live on their own, especially former foster children who have lacked family stability.  Forcing former foster children to survive on their own while they attempt to finish high school only sets them up for additional failure. 

·        Creating an additional road that would provide a foster home and guidance from foster parents for those who need extra support would enable these youth to achieve a smooth transition to independence.   
       

Medical coverage for the vulnerable –

·         Many foster children have mental health or physical disabilities for which they need continued health care coverage. 

·        Extending Medicaid coverage will remove medically-related roadblocks from the youth’s Road to Independence.   

   
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Legislation

   
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 Reports

Click here for Reports

     
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Resources

FOSTER CARE ALUMNI OF AMERICA - FCAA is a national organization with a mission to connect the community of alumni (adults over the age of 18 who spent time in foster care) and to transform policy and practice, ensuring opportunity for people in and from foster care.  FCAA is building the permanent "extended family" of alumni and allies (those who share our mission) through a national campaign and through local chapters.  Young people, foster care professionals, and others who care about youth in transition are invited to join FCAA as we work together to erase the differences and disadvantages that come along with growing up in the system.  Opportunities include the FCAA community art project, Exploring the Culture of Foster Care, national education and advocacy efforts, local community organizing, and many venues for sharing and learning about foster care from the people who know it from the inside.

Fight for Your Rights This guidebook from the National Center for Youth Law was authored by a former foster youth who is also an attorney with the NCYL. Its goal is to inform foster youth, former foster youth, and advocates about the services and issues that are important to youth preparing for the transition from foster care to self-sufficiency. It is recommended that the information be given to youth early - perhaps when they are beginning high school.  This helps youth to use the information in the preparation for their transition, and not just as a tool afterward.

Transition to Adulthood: A Resource for Assisting Young People With Emotional or Behavioral Difficulties (Systems of Care for Children's Mental Health Series) by Hewitt B. Clark

Debunking the Year 18 Myth: Righting the Way for America's Foster Youth The Year 18 Myth is the commonly held belief that when individuals reach their 18th birthday not only are they fully matured adults, but that they are fully capable of living on their own in America. This myth has devastated countless Americans, and its legacy continues. This was published by Kids@Home whose mission is to ensure the safety, permanency, and well being of teens as they transition from foster care to adulthood.  
  

    
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Statutes/Regulations

Federal

Chafee Foster Care Independence Program
(42 U.S.C.A. § 677)

Medicaid Federal Regulations
( 42 C.F.R. § 441.56)

 

State

175-80 DCF Operating Procedure:
Independent Living

175-81 DCF Operating Procedure:
Subsidized Independent Living

  Alternate Care for Children
( FL. ST. ANN. § 409.165)

  Independent Living Transition Services
(FL. ST. ANN. § 409.1451)
  

  
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Trainings

Advocacy for Older Foster Children:  Approximately 35% of the children in foster care are between the ages of thirteen and eighteen.  For these young people, the difficulties of normal adolescence are complicated by the added challenges of living in foster care.  Whether they are prepared or not, at age 18, these young people are expected to be self-sufficient.  The expectation has been categorized as the “Year 18 Myth.”  Without proper preparation and support, the teens are likely to face, homeless, unemployment and insolvency within the first year.  This seminar is intended to provide the child advocate with the information necessary to assist teens and former foster youth as they embark on adulthood.

   
Training Material for CLE Course on:
"Advocacy for Older Foster Children"

  1. Advocacy for Older Foster Children (Cover Page)   (jpg)

  2. Seminar Outline   (doc)

  3. Presenter Biographies   (doc)

  4. Independent Living Programs Through Community Based Care Providers   (doc)

  5. Advocacy for Older Foster Youth   (ppt)

  6. Introduction to the Law  (doc)

  7. Enforcing the Law   (ppt)

  8. Enforcing the Law and Additional Issues for the Foster Youth   (doc)

  9. Addendum Materials   (doc)

    1. Florida Chafee Plan   (pdf)

    2. Rule 8.28 Juvenile Rules of Procedure   (wpd)

    3. DCF 2003 Workgroup Report to the Federal Department of HHS  (doc)

    4. DCF Subsidized IL Operating Procedure   (pdf)

    5. Federal Chafee Act   (doc)

    6. Florida Statute 409.1451   (wpd)

     

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