Foster Care Projects of the John Burton Foundation

The John Burton Foundation for Children without Homes is committed to reducing participation in California's foster care system and improving the quality of resources and support for those children and youth in foster care. The Foundation is currently pursuing this mission through its three primary public policy and advocacy projects:

Click here to be directed to the THP-Plus Statewide Implementation Project website

• THP-Plus Statewide Implementation Project
• SSI Transitions Project
• Strengthening the Safety Net for Abused and Neglected Children

1. THP-Plus Statewide Implementation Project

Each year in California, over 4,000 youth exit the foster care system when they turn 18 and are no longer eligible for foster care. These "emancipated foster youth" commonly leave the foster care system without a place to live, a job, a high school diploma or the consistent support of a caring adult. Without assistance during this difficult transition, former foster youth do not fare well, and experience rates of homelessness, unemployment and incarceration far above their peers.

• Project Activities: Project Activities:In June 2006, the Foundation launched the THP-Plus Statewide Implementation Project to help foster youth make a safe, successful transition. The Project seeks to reduce homelessness among former foster youth by expanding access to the Transitional Housing Placement Plus Program (THP-Plus). THP-Plus is administered by the California Department of Social Services, and has been found to help foster youth achieve stable housing, living wage employment and higher education. The Project will expand participation in this important program by providing training and technical assistance to counties and advocating for expanded public funding.

• Project Goals: By October 2008, the Project will increase statewide capacity to house youth through THP-Plus from its current level of 135 youth to 1,000 youth. This is roughly a 700% increase in capacity. At this service level, approximately 1 in 4 youth in need will be able to access the program.

2. SSI Transitions Project

The transition from foster care to independent living is a challenging, particularly for the up to 15% of youth exiting foster care annually with a physical or mental disability. Despite their high level of need, youth with disabilities commonly exit foster care without any additional assistance. Most troubling, the foster care system currently does not ensure that youth with disabilities have applied to receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a public benefit available to individuals with disabilities despite the fact that studies have shown that access to this valuable public assistance significantly improves their transition.

• Project Activities: In March 2006, the Foundation launched the SSI Transitions Project. The Project is an outgrowth of Assembly Bill 1633, which passed in 2005 and established a statewide task force to develop practice guidelines for counties regarding SSI applications for disabled youth exiting the foster care system. In addition to contributing to the development of the practice guidelines, the Project is developing training materials for social workers, outreach materials for youth and identifying barriers that prevent disabled youth from accessing SSI to be addressed through state and federal legislation.

• Project Goals: By December 2006, the SSI workgroup practice guidelines will be developed and disseminated statewide. Following completion of the guidelines, the Project will train 5 counties on the new SSI practice guidelines with the goal of ensuring that 75% of disabled youth in those counties exit foster care with SSI benefits in place.

 

3. Strengthening the Safety Net for Abused and Neglected Children 

Foster care administrators have long lamented the inflexibility of foster care funding, citing it as a barrier to true system reform. Effective January 1, 2007 this barrier will be removed in up to 20 California counties, when a waiver granted by the federal government is implemented. Under California's new, five-year agreement with the federal government, the state's Title- IV foster care funding will be capped, with a 2 percent annual increase. Advocates of capped allocation argue that it will eliminate financial incentives to place children into foster care and open the door for new investment in prevention. Opponents view the demonstration project as movement towards a federal block grant, which may weaken long-term protections for abused and neglected children, place the State at financial risk and reduce accountability across what some regard as a fragmented county-run system.

• Project Activities: The Foundation will conduct a series of activities, including the completion of an analysis of previous social service waiver demonstration projects in California, a policy briefing on the experience of other large states that have implemented waivers, and a policy briefing of foster care financing policies that promote flexibility without threatening the child welfare entitlement. The Foundation is also currently considering holding a half-day policy briefing on the state waiver to discuss its state and federal implications.

• Project Goals: Through this project, the Foundation intends to ensure that the state waiver policy (1) maintains protections for vulnerable children and youth, (2) is understood and discussed by the general public, with particular emphasis on communities impacted by foster care and (3) is subject to an objective and rigorous programmatic and financial evaluation.

 

4. Restore Foster Children to the 2010 Census 

The United States Census Bureau eliminated the “foster child” category from the American Community Survey, which replaced the long-form of the Census. This decision would have stripped us all of the ability to assess where foster children reside, the demographics of foster families, and how best to allocate scare resources. As a result of the Foundation’s advocacy at the state and federal level, the Foster Child category was restored to the American Community Survey and vital information will continue to be collected.