Bay Area Homes for Kids

By Nicole
I have sort of a fairy tale foster care experience. While it hasn’t been easy, I have had a permanent home and am in a guardianship situation. Recently, though, I was talking with other former foster youth and got to thinking about how permanency for foster youth really is complicated. In a sense, foster […]

By Lynn Yaney, Public Information Officer, Employment and Human Services
One of the girls drifts through the kitchen and calls out hopefully, “Are you gonna use these chocolate chips for pancakes?” “No,” replies Delphia Lawson, “They’re for frosting on the cake I just made.”
Either way, it sounded to me like there was some very kid-happy meal […]

Parent Engagement in Alameda County
In February 2005, Alameda County began an effort to engage birth parents in new and exciting ways.  It all started with a focus group of parents who had successfully reunified with their children recruited from a parent support group offered through Alameda County’s Family Preservation Program.  From that effort, a Parent […]

I recently attended a conference with staff from several counties focusing on our implementation of Differential Response.  For those of you who may not be aware, this program has been developed as part of our child welfare redesign.  When families are referred for services and assessed, and it is determined that formal child welfare is […]

By: Jessica Macready, ILSP Community Outreach Consultant
My introduction to the Independent Living Skills Program (ILSP) began when Don Graves, then the Outreach Specialist, came to my foster home in Clayton to discuss the program in detail.  I was 16 years old and felt that I was already very independent and could handle living on my own […]

Question: My foster child has been in my home for three years and she has had four social workers.  How can I help her adjust to one more social worker when she seems to losing trust with each change-over?
Change. Transition. Transformation. Alteration. Adjustment. I have heard all these points as I have been moving into […]

Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative has started a program called Opportunity Passport, which helps emanicipated foster youth buy their own homes and other large assets like cars.
Here’s a great success story about a young woman in Atlanta.
The story once again highlights the continuing struggles faced by youth in our foster system after they […]

On Their Own, a new book about life after foster care wins award. From Jim Casey Youth Initiatives site:
“On Their Own: What Happens to Kids When They Age Out of the Foster Care System” is a winner of the Pro Humanitate Literary Award, North America’s premier literary award for the field of child welfare. The […]

Write your Senators, urging them to REJECT the budget reconciliation bill. Already passed in the House, the bill would ultimately cut $23.6 Million in funding to California’s foster system. Most of that money would end financial support to relatives caring for foster children who would otherwise be placed with strangers. Many of […]

this book about a boy entering foster care helps kids adjust to their new foster home. I think the Maine writer is looking to introduce the book in other Child Welfare progams across the country. Contact info on her website linked above.