The Second in a Series of Seven Stories

A .K. was first admitted to Hillsides on 4/05/06 and was discharged on 6/5/07. When A.K. entered Hillsides, he was morbidly obese, weighing more than 148 pounds. When he was discharged a year later, he had dropped to 122 pounds through a combination of diet and intensive exercise supervised by the nursing and recreation departments. While still overweight, his general health had improved dramatically. Upon his re-entry into Hillsides’ residential program in July of this year, after having been removed, he weighed 226 pounds.

At the time of discharge, A.K. was still not stabilized, although he had been doing better. Hillsides’ advocates were opposed to the discharge both for his fragility, and also because his mother had barely been released from jail and had not received services to help her deal with this boy. The Los Angeles County’s Department of Children and Family Services made the decision to move him with no input from Hillsides. It wasn’t until Hillsides’ intervention that the County agreed to a post-discharge Team Decision Making meeting (TDM). (A TDM meeting is an opportunity for all interested parties in the life of the foster care child to convene and address his discharge and treatment plan for a successful replacement.)

At that point, Wraparound Services were initiated and provided by Hillsides’ team. A.K. did not do well at home, and his mother was not effective. (Wraparound is a program where the process of creating safe places for a child includes wrapping support services around the child and the entire family to increase the possibility of successful outcomes). He was readmitted to Hillsides on 7/22/08.

REFLECTION
1. Have a TDM that would include the mother in the planning process
2. Set up a plan that would insure that she was established back into the community with a job that could support A.K. (the mother and son were homeless when he returned to Hillsides).
3. Provide Wraparound services well in advance of his returning home

CONCLUSION
1. Family involvement in the treatment process is a key factor.
2. A plan for discharge agreed by all parties, Hillsides, DCFS, the child and the family is necessary for a successful transition. (A plan is not going to work if the child or the receiving party is saying they are not ready.)
3. We should consider mandatory supportive services in the home.
4. Once a plan has been agreed upon, there should be some benchmarks set to determine the move-in date.
5. As a general rule, the residential treatment agency should provide Wraparound services to the receiving family where ever possible, since they are the ones who know the child and the family. (This would entail an exception to the Service Provider Areas (SPA) specific structure of the Wraparound program, since most residential treatment centers do not have Wraparound programs in all the SPAs.)

Foster Care Legislation Introduced

US Senator Barbara Boxer introduced the Foster Care Continuing Opportunities Act that would provide federal funding to States to continue providing essential foster care services such as food, housing, and legal services to youth over the age of 18.

Boxer is quoted as saying “This legislation would help improve the services for foster care youth so they can better transition from childhood to adulthood. The future for foster youth, once emancipated, is often bleak. In my state of California, about 65 percent of emancipated youth are homeless, less than three percent go to college, and 51 percent are unemployed. We must do more for these youth adults who deserve much better, and there is no better time to do it than during Foster Care Month.”

As someone who has worked in the foster care system for over 45 years, this is a bill that is long overdue. However, it is only the beginning, our system for helping foster youth is sorely lacking. Hillsides recently implemented Youth Moving On, an emancipation program to assist foster youth in the transition from foster homes to independent living. We were shocked on how ill-prepared these foster youth were to make this move. Many of the foster youth entering our program had never worked, had their own bank account, knew how to shop and prepare meals. They were ill-prepared to be living alone.

Even though independent living classes for foster you in California is part of the program that all foster youth 14 years and older take, it does not seem to be doing the job. We need to look again at what we are doing in preparing these youth to leave the foster homes they reside in. We need to make sure that any legislation that extends the states’ rights to access federal funds for foster youth up to age 21 includes services that will give the youth support during this critical time in their lives.