This document provides information about resources and relationships to help youth who are transitioning out of foster care to succeed. It discusses the history and development of the foster care alumni movement. It also outlines the federal legislation requiring transition plans be developed with youth input 90 days before aging out of care. Key elements of effective transition plans and documents needed are identified. The document then discusses ensuring a support system through permanency pacts and addressing potential challenges with reconnecting to people from one's past.

1. Resources and
Relationships to
Help Youth
Succeed
Lisa Dickson
Foster Care Alumni of
America Ohio chapter

2. Today’s workshop

3. Introductory Skit

4. Culture of Foster Care

5. • Civil rights movement
• Women’s suffrage
• Disability rights
• Faith movements
• GLBTQ
Consumer and Social
Movements

6. 1. Canada
2. California
3. State Youth Boards
4. Foster Care Alumni of
America
5. International movement
Foster Care Youth and
Alumni Movement

7. Where was YOUR
voice?
• Design
• Delivery
• Evaluation

8. Life’s Transitions
Do Not Happen Overnight
Recommended
Reading:
Congressional
Coalition on
Adoption
Institute’s
2012 Foster Youth
Internship Report

9. Empowering Youth to Plan
for THEIR Future

10. What’s an Exit Plan?
*a.k.a.
• “Discharge/Case-Closing Plan”
• “Self-Sufficiency/Emancipation
Plan”
• “Transition Plan”
• “Personalized Transition Plan”

11. Federal Legislation
Fostering Connections to Success and
Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008
Title II, Section 202
• Mandates that 90 days prior to
emancipation from foster care, “a
caseworker on the staff of the State agency,
and, as appropriate, other representatives of
the child provide the child with assistance and
support in developing a transition plan that is
personalized at the direction of the child,
includes specific options on housing, health
insurance, education, local opportunities for
mentors and continuing support services, and
work force supports and employment
services, and is as detailed as the child may
elect.”

12. • Ninety days prior to the youth’s
emancipation from the agency’s custody,
the PCSA or PCPA shall work with the
youth to develop a final transition plan.
• The plan shall be youth-driven and as
detailed as the youth chooses.
Ohio Administrative Code

13. Involving Youth Voice
in Plans
for Their Future

14. Advocating Effectively

16. Essential Elements:
• Post-Emancipation Services (if available)
• Healthcare; insurance, power of attorney
• Higher Ed; secondary, post-secondary
• Housing; obtaining, paying for
• Budgeting; credit report
• Selective Services (males must register)
• Existing Court Fees (preexisting)
• Existing Benefits; i.e. Social Security

17. Vital Documents:
Prior to the youth’s emancipation from the
agency’s custody, the PCSA or PCPA shall
coordinate with the following agencies, to obtain
necessary documents:
• an original birth certificate
• an original social security card
• a current state identification card
*OAC 5101:2-42-19: “Requirements for the provision of
independent living services to youth in custody”

19. Name That Logo

20. The domino effect

22. What happens if you have
a frayed safety net?

23. Copyright
Lisa Dickson

24. Permanency Pact

25. What exactly
can I rely on you for?
It is critical to the youth’s success to identify those
adults who will continue to provide various
supports through and beyond the transition from
care.
Clarifying exactly what the various supports will
include can help to avoid gaps in the youth’s safety
net and misunderstandings between the youth and
the supportive adult(s).
• A home for the holidays
• A place to do laundry
• An emergency place to stay
• Care packages while in college
• Storage
• Someone to discuss problems with
• A phone or computer to use

26. Boundaries

27. Putting together
the puzzle pieces
from our past…

28. Whose definition
matters most?

33. 1. “Some people are addicted to chaos &
recreate it wherever they go.”
2. I can make decisions for other people.
3. I can and should rescue other people
from the consequences of their decisions.
4. If someone gets mad at me for not
helping them, this is my fault.
True or False?

35. • Who is addicted to drugs or alcohol
• Who steals from you
• Who tries to manipulate you
• Who refuses to change their
behavior
• Who won’t admit that something
they did in the past was wrong
It can be hard to help
someone:

36. When the person you try
to help
lashes out at you

37. Why forgive?

38. • Forgiveness and reconciliation
are two different things.
• Forgiveness only takes one
person
• Reconciliation takes two
• It’s still okay to keep yourself
Forgiveness vs.
Reconciliation

39. “That never happened”

40. Cognitive Dissonance of
the Abuser/Enabler
Cognitive dissonance:
“I want to believe I am a good
person. But I did this / let this
happen.”
Choices:
• Denial: “What I did wasn’t wrong.”
• Excuses: “The other person
deserved it.”
• Truth: Confess and take
responsibility

41. Cognitive Dissonance of
the Person Who Was
Abused
Cognitive dissonance:
“This is my parent. I love my parent.
How could someone I love do this to
me?”
Choices:
• Denial: “What they did wasn’t
wrong.”
• Excuses: “I must have deserved it.”
• Truth: “They should have protected
me. I was and am worth being
protected.”

42. Reconnecting with
People from the Past
• Am I emotionally ready for this?
• Will this be helpful or cause me
harm?
• Am I taking baby steps? (email
before phone calls; calls before visit
in person)
• When visiting, do I have a back-up
plan, in case I need to leave early?
• Have I planned time with supportive
friends afterwards?

43. Keeping YOUR boat afloat

44. Ripple Effect