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Resources

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Resources

Resources for Child Welfare Service Providers

Family to Family is a national child welfare and foster care reform initiative, sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. A website, hosted by the California Department of Social Services, include information on immigration and child welfare, many created by California child welfare agencies including: MOUs with child welfare agencies and the Mexican consulates, training manuals for social workers, and other tools. For more information, go to http://www.f2f.ca.gov/Immigrants.htm.

Annie E. Casey Foundation - Lincroft, Y., Resner, J. (2006). Undercounted, Underserved: Immigrants and Refugee Families in the Child Welfare System. http://www.aecf.org/upload/pdffiles/familytofamily/immigration.pdf (PDF, 2.4MB)

Children's Voices Magazine (July/August 2007 Issue), Child Welfare and the Challenge of New Americans by Sonia Velasquez, Ilze Earner, and Yali Lincroft http://www.cwla.org/voice/0707newamericans.htm

Bridging Refugee Youths and Children's Services (BRYCS) is a national technical assistance project funded by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ACF/DHHS). BRYCS provides one-on-one consultations, training and conference presentations, and is the only Web site and Clearinghouse focused specifically on migration and child welfare. BRYCS is a project of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The searchable on-line Clearinghouse has over 2,000 resources and serves a number of audiences: practitioners, researchers/ policymakers, educators, program managers/ administrators, and refugees/ immigrants. BRYCS has produced 35 publications, collected 60 "promising practices", and written dozens of Spotlight articles, all on migration and child welfare topics and available for free download at www.brycs.org.

Raising Children in a New Country: An Illustrated Handbook (2007)
This booklet created by BRYCS was developed as a tool for immigrant serving agencies, as they help newcomer parents adjust to the different laws, norms and practices around raising children in the United States.
http://www.brycs.org/documents/RaisingChildren-Handbook.pdf (PDF, 1.4MB)

Immigrant Legal Resource Center is a national resource center that provides training, materials and advocacy to advance immigrant rights. As a legal services organization, ILRC has trained lawyers, paralegals, social workers, and advocates throughout the country on ever-changing and complex immigration law. ILRC's expertise and services include an "attorney of the day phone, email & fax TA services," on-site TA and case review, training and seminars, listserv and website for practitioners. Some useful publications available on their website include:

...Living in the United States: A Guide for Immigrant Youth - This helpful 28-page resource guide is designated to help both documented and undocumented immigrant youth know their rights. Topics covered include "Do You Know Your Immigration Status," "9 Things Every Undocumented Youth Should Know," "11 Things Every Youth with A Green Card Should Know," and "Immigrants and the US Military."
http://www.ilrc.org/resources/sijs/Youth%20Handbook.pdf (PDF, 2MB)

...Fact Sheet: Immigration Options for Undocumented Children
http://www.ilrc.org/resources/sijs/Fact%20sheets%20immigrant%20children.pdf (PDF, 118KB)

ASISTA is a collaborative between four nationally recognized legal experts who work to provide technical assistance on the intersection between immigration and domestic violence law. ASISTA maintains an online clearinghouse of resources, samples, and best practices located physically in Des Moines, Iowa. Their website includes the latest information on Viiolence Against Women Act (VAWA) and other immigration relief options for victims of domestic violence. For more information, go to http://asistaonline.org/

CalSWEC (California Social Work Education Center), University of California, Berkeley – School of Social Work, has just developed a new training resource, "Legal Residency for Juveniles within the Child Welfare System: Special Immigrant Juvenile Status & the Violence Against Women Act." This brief training resource, developed for supervisors and managers, is designed to inform child welfare staff on SIJS and VAWA and the applicability of these laws to undocumented immigrant youth who are in the child welfare system. There is also a separate curriculum resource for child welfare workers and includes the following components: learning objectives, Title IV-E competencies, lesson plan, training activities, and supplemental handouts.
http://calswec.berkeley.edu/CalSWEC/OtherTraining.html

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Policy Reports

American Humane Association and Loyola University Chicago Graduate School of Social Work (2006). Migration: A critical issue for child welfare: Transnational Research and Policy Forum Report.
http://www.americanhumane.org/site/PageServer?pagename=pc_initiatives_migration

Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugges (2006). Investing in Our Comunities: Strategies for Immigrant Integration: A Toolkit for Grantmakers.
http://www.aecf.org/KnowledgeCenter/Publications.aspx?pubguid={064159E5-692E-48EA-8B2C-40CEECAC98B0

Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugee - Martinez, T.E. and Wang, T. (2007). Supporting English Language Acquisition: Opportunities for Foundations to Strengthen the Social and Economic Well-Being of Immigrant Families.
http://www.gcir.org/publications/gcirpubs/acquisition

National Conference of State Legislators - Hegen, D. (2007). 2007 Enacted State Legislation Related to Immigrants and Immigration.
http://www.ncsl.org/programs/immig/2007ImmigrationUpdate.htm

Urban Institute (2007). Paying the Price: The Impact of the Immigration Raids on America's Children
http://www.urban.org/publications/411566.html

Urban Institute (2007). Identifying Immigrant Families Involved with Child Welfare Systems (Briefs no. 1, 2, 3)
http://www.urban.org/children/immigrant_child_welfare.cfm

Urban Institute (2005). Undocumented Immigrants: Myths and Reality.
http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=900898

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Research and Best Practice Literature

Recent

Selected Permanency References (March 2006) (PDF, 162KB). This reference list was compiled by the Casey Center for Effective Child Welfare Practice of Case Family Services. The references are organized by the following categories: permanency practice; kinship care; practice tools; trauma, brain development, and child well-being; and permanency and "aging out" of foster care. The list includes references to the literature as well as to web sites.

Foster Care Guide for Partnership Development (Draft 2005) (PDF, 256KB). This guide identifies the services and supports that are available under different foster care laws and related legislation and programs. It was developed by the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth (NCWD/Youth) and is designed to promote collaboration among foster care support systems. The guide also ties various provisions in authorizing legislation to specific activities within the NCWD/Youth's enhanced Guideposts for Success framework, which focuses on facilitating a successful transition for youth in foster care. (For more on the Guideposts, visit the NCWD/Youth web site.)

Supporting Foster Youth to Achieve Employment and Economic Self-Sufficiency (Draft 2005) (PDF, 172KB). This research paper highlights the unique characteristics of the young people who "age out" of the foster care system each year. This information is intended especially for professionals supporting youth education, employment, and workforce development. It was prepared by the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth (NCWD/Youth) and provides background on the Foster Care Guide for Partnership Development (noted above).

Archive

Adding it Up: Taking Stock of Efforts to Improve State-Level Youth Policies (November 2001) (PDF, 170KB)
Provides state and local legislatures with useful frameworks for mapping and tracking state efforts to improve supports for young people and their families.

AFCARS Report: Current Estimates (January 1999—August 2002) (PDF, 82KB)
Reports provide recent adoption and foster care statistics.

California Child and Family Services Review Statewide Assessment (July 2002) (PDF, 815KB)
California Department of Social Services conducted a statewide performance assessment which outlines the success of the case review and quality assurance information management systems implemented.

California Youth Connection: Foster Youth Share Their Ideas for Change (1999)
The third in a series of youth work resources published by the California Youth Connection and the Child Welfare League of America which contains personal remarks of current and former foster youth regarding recommendations for legislatures working on welfare issues.

Families on the Edge: Homeless Young Parents and Their Welfare Experiences (2002) (PDF, 86KB)
A survey of homeless youth and service providers by Bob Reeg, Christine Grisham, and Annie Shepard. Despite being almost universally eligible for welfare, many homeless young parents are not receiving needed services, and many aren't even aware that the welfare program exists, according to this new report released by the Center for Law and Social Policy and the National Network for Youth.

The Foster Youth Transitions to Adulthood Study: Outcomes 12 to 18 Months After Leaving Out-of-Home Care (August 1998)
This longitudinal study, conducted by Dr. Mark Courtney and Dr. Irving Piliavin of the University of Wisconsin Madison School of Social Work, follows youths transitioning out of the foster care system. The study indicates that these youth are vulnerable to physical and sexual victimization, unemployment, homelessness, and incarceration.

Improving the Economic and Life Outcomes of At-Risk Youth: Recommendations to the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation on a Grant-Making Strategy (June 2002)
A grant-making strategy for the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation that focuses on at-risk youth between the ages of 16 and 24. The paper and recommends strategies to leverage youth-serving institutions and existing funding streams to develop programs to address youth-related challenges.

Individual Development Accounts for Youth: Lessons from an Emerging Field
This 2001 report by the Corporation for Enterprise Development examines IDA programs as a tool for promoting long-term savings and investment behavior among youth. Email CFED at cfed@cfed.org to purchase a copy of this report.

NCSL State Legislative Report: 2001 State Child Welfare Legislation (February 2002)
This report outlines major legislation from 2001 affecting child welfare in the fifty states.

National Conference of State Legislatures: Independent Living for Foster Youth (February 2002)
NCSL takes a look at IL programs and the youth they serve, and examines new opportunities available under the Federal Foster Care Independence Act and highlights state efforts to provide health care, education and housing assistance to independent and former foster youth.

Office of the Family and Children's Ombudsman's Appreciative Interview Report: Foster Care. What Young People in the System Say is Working (January 2001) (PDF, 232KB)
This report from Washington State contains open-ended questions, interviews, and stories from foster care children about their positive experiences in the system.

Policy Counts: Setting and Measuring Benchmarks for State Policies (September 2002)
This project of the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) seeks to offer coherent, comprehensive information regarding the strength and adequacy of state policies affecting children, families, and communities.

Public Opinion About Youth Transitioning from Foster Care to Adulthood (PDF, 80KB)
A study initiated by the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative to explore public knowledge of and perceptions about the challenges facing young people leaving foster care.

Promising Practices: School to Career and Postsecondary Education for Foster Care Youth (March 2000) (PDF, 162KB)
This guide for policymakers and practitioners identifies best practices and programs in preparing foster care youth for career opportunities and economic self-sufficiency.

Reversing the Failure of the Foster Care System (Spring 2004) (PDF, 126KB)
In this article from the Harvard Women's Law Journal (volume 27), the co-founders of the Youth Advocacy Center in New York City assess the state of the foster care system, describe experiences providing social and legal services to teenagers leaving foster care, and propose approaches for increasing the likelihood of success among teens once they leave foster care and are on their own.

Stuart Foundation, National Convening on Youth Permanence, April 10-11, 2003 (DOC, 439KB)

The WAY to Work: An Independent Living/Aftercare Program for High-Risk Youth By: Amy Baker, Carolyn Mincer, David Olson (2000)
The Work Appreciation for Youth (WAY) program is a long-term aftercare program for youth leaving the foster care system and encompasses youth development, dropout intervention, and independent living skills.

U.S. Department of Labor, Education and Training's Youth Council Toolkit (2002)
This website offers instructional templates for youth organizations on operation principles, responsibility delegation, implementation, membership development, training, and public relations.

What Keeps Children in Foster Care From Succeeding in School (PDF, 662KB)

Youth Emancipating From Foster Care in California: Findings Using Linked Administrative Data (PDF, 599KB)
This study by the Child Welfare Research Center tracked nearly 12,000 youths emancipated from the California foster care system between 1992 and 1997.

Youth Exiting Foster Care: Efficacy of Independent Living Services in the State of Idaho, (PDF, 143KB) by Brian L. Christenson, LSW, Eastern Washington University.

Youth in the Margins: A Report on the Unmet Needs of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Adolescents in Foster Care. Including a Survey of Fourteen States and Proposals for Reform. Colleen Sullivan, Susan Sommer, and Jason Moff. (Summer 2001) (PDF, 3.1MB)
This report by the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund addresses the problem of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adolescents in out-of-home care.

Youth Involvement in Evaluation and Research (February 2002) (PDF, 142KB)
This briefing discusses the merits of involving youth in research project as a means to engage older youth. The brief also outlines successful methods and practices for youth research.

Youth Engagement by Karen Pittman (November 1999)
This article discusses the need to involve and engage youth in community change.

Youth Policy in the U.S.: Some Observations and Options by Karen Pittman, Merita Irby, Thaddeus Ferber (June 2001) (PDF, 419KB)
This discussion paper provides some insights and questions about youth policies in the United States.

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Useful Links

National Organizations/Agencies

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Youth-Run/Youth-Audience Organizations

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