The Children's Agenda for California
Defining the goals of
The Children's Movement
Goal 10:
Providing children at risk of entering the child welfare system with the supports and services they need to remain safe and stable, and ensuring all children who enter the foster care system find legal permanence and are supported to become thriving adults.
Specific policy components to consider:
- Strengthening and expanding prevention, early intervention, and at-home services for children at risk.
The state should take the lead in promoting child abuse prevention campaigns and implementing a statewide prevention program for children and families at risk. The goals of prevention, early intervention and at-home services are to keep children safe, to support families as they learn to care for their children successfully, and to save children from the trauma of being removed from their homes and families when possible. The state should streamline court practices when children are at risk of removal from their families and allow more coordination between dependency courts and other agencies to ensure families with multiple issues, such as substance abuse and mental health, are receiving coordinated services. - Prioritizing permanency and stability in order to maximize the well-being of children in the child welfare system.
The state should support policies that unite families and encourage successful family reunification. Youth who enter the foster care system have been exposed to abuse or neglect, are traumatized by being removed from their homes and often end up being moved to multiple placements, thus losing the chance to form meaningful connections. Studies have shown that remaining connected to parents and siblings and finding a stable, legally-permanent family environment are crucial to the well-being of children in foster care. Providing the resources and supports necessary to ensure that these vulnerable children can heal and thrive within their communities should be a top priority. The state should prioritize sibling placements and provide family maintenance services after reunification. - Preparing youth aging out of the foster care system to transition successfully.
The state should provide health care, employment and quality education to foster youth. Youth who transition to adulthood from the foster care system often struggle to become self-sufficient without the help and support of a caring adult or the compassionate understanding of their communities. These young people are rarely prepared by caregivers or caseworkers to face the challenges of adulthood and as a result they often struggle to secure stable housing and transportation, to find and maintain employment, to pursue and attain their educational goals, to access health care, and to positively connect with their communities. The state should apply for a federal waiver and enact legislation to allow former foster care youth to receive healthcare benefits until the age of 26 in order to mirror provisions in the federal health care act that allow young adults to stay on their parents’ policies until that age.
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