Introduction Foster care is government-subsidized and -regulated temporary care for children who have been removed from their families for reasons of abuse and neglect. Children can be placed either in family or residential care. While family foster care includes arrangements … Read More
Foster Youth
Instability in Foster Care: How Transitions Into and Out of Foster Care Relate to School Discipline
The goal of the foster care system is to protect children from maltreatment, neglect, and abuse by removing them from unsafe home environments to temporarily place them in family-like settings until a safe, permanent home is found (U.S. Department of … Read More
Your Case, Your Rights: Your Guide To Exercising Self-Advocacy
Your Case, Your Rights: Companion Guide Step 1: Believing in Your Rights Practicing Self-Empowerment Activities When we were talking with current and former foster youth about creating this guide, a common theme we heard was foster youth needed to believe … Read More
On the Threshold of Change
About the On the Threshold of Change Report As youth grapple with so many new crises in our current world, how may we harness strategic foresight to create better and more hopeful outcomes for young adults exiting foster care so they can … Read More
Streamlining the New SNAP Time Limit Exemption for Young People With Experience in Foster Care
By providing benefits to purchase food, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is vital to supporting the nutrition, health, and well-being of young adults who are exiting foster care. Even so, too many of these eligible young adults miss out … Read More
Parenting Foster Kids with Challenging Behaviors
Often, foster kids have come into care specifically because they have experienced loss, abuse, or neglect. Those experiences and other kinds of trauma that may have occurred in their home, including being removed from their birth family, can and often … Read More
White House Announces Slate of Actions on Child Welfare
The Biden administration announced a mix of final and proposed rules on child welfare policy today that cover the placement of foster youth with relatives, legal representation for parents and children involved with the system, and the placement of LGBTQI+ … Read More
Aged Out How We’re Failing Youth Transitioning Out of Foster Care
Introduction Think of Us has been focused since its founding on improving the life outcomes of transition-age youth and youth who age out of foster care. In 2019, Think of Us formed a research team to investigate: Why do poor … Read More
Four Ways That Courts Can Actively Engage Children and Youth Involved in Child Welfare Proceedings
Four Ways That Courts Can Actively Engage Children and Youth Involved in Child Welfare Proceedings, authored by the NCJFJC in partnership with the Quality Improvement Center on Engaging Youth in Permanency, outlines how judges and other court professionals can engage … Read More
Four Ways to Better Support Young Adults Transitioning out of Foster Care
Congress established the John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood, known as Chafee, in 1999. That means the program, which provides support to assist young adults transitioning out of the foster care system, is now 23, … Read More