Changes in the foster care system

[NorthernRedneck]

Prior to 2015, I was a social worker working with foster children once they came into care and were placed into foster homes. Aside from my regular case load, I helped spearhead a bunch of changes that brought more funding to children who grew up in the foster care system. Here's the back story...

I was working with a young man in a group home who was disabled and about to turn 18 meaning he was going to be a legal adult and no longer qualified for the same level of funding and support they were receiving. It was basically.....you're 18. Here's a check for $900 a month and have a nice life. No support. No guidance. Nothing. This only creates a vicious cycle where the kids end up on welfare and popping out babies that end up back in the foster care system. So what happened was he was turning 18. I recommended to the outside group home that was caring for the youth to apply to the provincial youth advocate for children in care. They did. Of course I fully expected the child advocate to come after me and the agency I worked for as we weren't providing the proper care and they did. I took this opportunity to turn the tables so to speak and identify a bigger problem with the lack of support and funding for children beyond 18.

That opened a can of worms on a provincial level and now, ten years later, we have transition workers who work with youth transitioning from the foster care system to adulthood. There's special funding and support programs to teach the children. There's funding available for post secondary. There's health and dental benefits until age 25 if they're not covered by any other plan. All these changes started around 2015. The same time I was still working and was in contact with the provincial child advocate about this exact thing. This also includes children who were adopted. That's how we found out about all these new programs and funding available as we adopted.

It's just a good feeling knowing that I had a small part in making big changes that will positively impact these kids and give them the best chance at life. Considering the fact that many have been in the foster care system all their life and bounced from home to home with no stability.

 

[Melensdad]

Great job on getting them help.

Similar but different. We have experience with mentally disabled and, now, foster care.

Many years ago I was approached to hire mentally retarded teens and adults. I was skeptical they could do the jobs but we hired several. Ended up becoming a business advocate for them in a few ways. I doubt any laws were changed, but I worked with a private agency called Lake County Association for the Retarded, it eventually changed its name to Bridges when the word 'retarded' became unfashionable. I also had state case workers that I worked with, a case worker was assigned to each of these employees.

But the kids/young adults didn't seem to get cut off at age 18. Obviously they were wards of their parents until that age. But the state, fortunately, stated with them, providing some sort of supplemental aid beyond 18 and into adulthood, I do recall that I got a call from a state employee about one particular employee, he was probably pushing 30 years old, and I had him employed, with full benefits, when I got the phone call.

The state worker wanted to cut him off from assistance because he had been employed in the same job for (I think) 3+ years. I was pretty much shocked. The worker was a nice guy, did his work, could tie his shoes, but tended to "drift" to other tasks if he was not supervised. He had several other quirks. I believe he moved into a 'group home'. But needed supervision, someone had to check on him to make sure he remained on task. The state worker explained that since he worked for me for this extended period of time then clearly he is capable of self-sufficiency.

Totally shocked I said "NO!" and the state case worker was somewhat shocked. He asked me to explain, and I said while the employee was a good person and did the jobs assigned, he was incapable of being a competitive job world and said he was our "charity" case. We kept him because he did the job well enough, was very reliable, helpful, but we couldn't simply tell him to do something and he could do it.

I am glad that there is a social safety net. I am glad to hear that your state, no longer cuts people off at 18. My state, at least for disabilities, does not. We are involved in foster care. I also know that the foster care system in my state does have a transitioning program for children turning 18 and going into adulthood.

I don't know exactly how it works. We thought we were going to get a teenager when we, instead, got a 2 month old infant. So we learned about the transition, the kids who go off to college/trade school (paid by state funds) would need a "home" to come to for holidays, summer break, spring/fall break, etc. But as we never experienced how it worked. And I don't know how long it continues. I'm sure many fall out of the foster system at 18, but I know there is a way to keep in the system as they transition into adulthood.

Sorry for the long winded reply

 

[NorthernRedneck]

They do cut them off at 18 but if the child is disabled, they have to apply for adult developmental services which could leave a gap in services between the time they apply and are accepted into the system which essentially leaves a disabled person to fend for themselves once they reach the age of 18. Normally the disabled person is still living at home until they enter the system but in the case of foster children there was a gap which I helped identify and now it's comforting to see changes 10 years later. As far as cutoffs go, the age is now 25 for funding. But the system was flawed before. It was basically....you're 18. Here's $900 a month. Good luck.