Maria is a 17-year-old Latina who has been in foster care since age 8 and has experienced multiple school and home changes. She has a history of abuse and receives special education services for a learning disability and PTSD. While attending high school, she is behind academically and unsure of her future. Youth with disabilities in foster care often face greater challenges including lower academic achievement, higher rates of behavioral and emotional issues, and less stability. Coordination is needed between education, child welfare, and other systems to help these youth successfully transition to adulthood.
3. Maria Maria is a 17 year-old Latina, who resides in a residential group home with seven other adolescents in foster care. She has been in foster care since she was eight years old and has lived in six different foster homes, attending four different schools. She has had no contact with her biological mother or father in the past three years, but does see her younger brother and sister occasionally (both are also in foster care). She ran away from her last foster home, with little explanation Maria has a history of physical and sexual abuse and has received some counseling to assist with her post-traumatic stress disorder. She also has an information processing learning disability and receives special education services (mostly extended time accommodations and tutoring services) at her high school. She has some difficulty getting along with others, either responding aggressively or withdrawing, when she is stressed. She attends high school, but she is behind academically and isn’t prepared to graduate with other students her age. Maria doesn’t know “what she would like to be when she grows up”, however she has been receiving independent living training from child welfare as she will be expected to live on her own next year. She will receive some ongoing services from the Independent Living Provider and thinks that she might need to get her GED and possibly attend community college. However, she also knows that she’ll need a job to pay the bills.
12. Youth in foster care often are placed in overly restrictive group homes, due a lack of therapeutic foster home placements
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18. Systems perspective School and special education system Child welfare system & foster care system Dependency court system Health systems Mental health system most likely Juvenile Justice System?
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20. Coordination between public education and public child welfare is crucial for ensuring that youth with disabilities who are also in foster care receive the assistance and services they need for successful transition.
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22. Transition Activities May . . . Decreasing hopelessness Reducing health-risk behaviors Enhancing relationships with parental figures Increasing school commitment
29. Role of the rehabilitation counselor? We know that youth who experience a caring relationship with an adult are better equipped with the skills necessary to: combat the risk factors in their environment, and achieve at levels higher than expected levels.
32. Having a talent or hobby that is valued by their elders or peers
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35. youth up to age 23 are eligible so long as they are enrolled in a postsecondary education or training program on their 21st birthday.
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37. Resources for Alumni of foster Care Foster Club www.fosterclub.org Foster Care Alumni of America www.fostercarealumni.org The National Council on Independent Living www.ncil.org The National Youth Leadership www.nyln.org
Editor's Notes
“Make sure I am in Special Ed for a reason…other than just because I am in foster care. Not all of us are behind or slow – and if we are, try offering us tutoring rather than putting us in special classes”. Youth Focus Group Participant. “Despite recognizing the prevalence of children in child welfare systems, we don’t know who they are, where they live, or what their experiences are. Studies widely report children with disabilities are over represented in the child welfare system. Estimates range from 14% to 64% depending on methodology and definitions, but the data is hard to interpret.” …. In 1999, Washington reported no children in foster care had disabilities and Flordia reported 21 of 34,254; that same year, North Dakota reported 46.7% of children in foster care had disabilities.” Retrieved July 8, 2010, from the web site of the Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota – http://ici.umn.edu
“Despite recognizing the prevalence of children in child welfare systems, we don’t know who they are, where they live, or what their experiences are. Studies widely report children with disabilities are over represented in the child welfare system. Estimates range from 14% to 64% depending on methodology and definitions, but the data is hard to interpret.” …. In 1999, Washington reported no children in foster care had disabilities and Florida reported 21 of 34,254; that same year, North Dakota reported 46.7% of children in foster care had disabilities.” Retrieved July 8, 2010, from the web site of the Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota – http://ici.umn.eduOver representation of children with disabilities in child welfare systemEstimates range from 40-75%
Types of disabilities encountered in child welfare. “Disabilities can be identified within nine categories; sensory, communication, mobility, intellectual, social, psychiatric, medical, orthopedic, and respiratory.” Retrieved July 8, 2010, from the web site of the Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota – http://ici.umn.edu IDEA disabilities: autism; deaf-blindness; emotional disturbance; hearing impairment (including deafness); mental retardation; multiple disabilities; orthopedic impairment; other health impairment; specific learning disability; speech or language impairment; traumatic brain injury; visual impairment (including blindness).OVRS functional indicators: communications; interpersonal skills; mobility; self care; self direction; work skills; and work tolerance.
Talk about McKinney-Vento ActThe McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (P.L. 100-77) is the primary federal law focused on the education of homeless youth, who include “children awaiting foster care placement.”[193] The law requires states to have a plan for addressing issues around the enrollment, attendance, and success of homeless youth in school. It allows for these youth to remain in their schools of origin regardless of where they are living (when feasible) and provides for the funding of transportation services in order to support this allowance.[194] Hence, the McKinney-Vento Act addresses some of the negative effects of high mobility that many homeless and foster youth experience.
“A further challenge for foster youth in particular is the fact that so many have lived through periods of great instability, with frequent changes in living arrangements and schools. These youth have also experienced multiple social workers and case managers, as well as varying levels of quality in the services they have received”
National Council on Disability, Improving Educational Outcomes for Students with Disabilities (May 14, 2004), available at http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2004/educationoutcomes.htm
National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth, Negotiating the Curves Toward Employment: A Guide About Youth Involved in the Foster Care System, at 21–22 (2007).What about VR Services??“Foster care alumna Samantha Jo Broderick asserts that it is also important to provide not only “access to” or “information about” life skills, as alluded to in the list above, but also hands-on skills development opportunities.[271] She states that the problem with many life skills classes is that they will teach young people the facts, but “the real-life follow-up is nonexistent.” Her examples include “actually cooking something, learning to shop at a grocery store with a budget, and riding mass transit,” all of which she learned about but never actually attempted to do until she was on her own, at which time she was fearful of trying them.[272] Broderick identifies the Ansell-Casey Life Skills Assessment[273] and its connected tool as “a free, but seriously underutilized exemplary resource that typically is not used to its full potential” by agencies and programs that teach life skills.[274]”