Non-Traditional Supports and Services for
Older Youth: Presentation to the PCCYFS
Fall Membership Meeting
Jenny Pokempner
Juvenile Law Center
September 27, 2005
Why do we need increased supports and
services for older youth?
When they leave care they are experiencing
high rates of:
 Homelessness
 Unemployment
 Low educational achievement (low rates of HS
completion and GED, pursuit of post-secondary
education)
 Early child-bearing
 Incarceration
 Dependence on public assistance
What do We Know about where
Older Youth Are Placed? (2001)
 24% were in group homes
 31% were in institutional settings
 36% were in kinship or foster homes
 5.4% were in Supervised Independent
Living Placements
 1.3% were runaways
 .4% were in pre-adoptive homes
 1.4% were on trial home visits
What do We Know About How Older
Youth Learn to be Independent?
 Through experience--by doing (and
making mistakes)
 Step-by-step (responsibility and freedom
increased gradually over time)
 When they have the consistent support of
some adult
 When they have stability and safety in
their lives
What Does the Law Require for
Older Youth In Care?
 Reasonable Efforts must be made to
achieve permanency (ASFA, Juvenile Act)
 Youth must be placed in the least
restrictive, most family like placement
(ASFA, Juvenile Act)
 IL services must be provided to youth at
age 16 (ASFA, Juvenile Act)
What Does the Law Require for
Older Youth In Care?
 IL services must be provided to youth who
were in care at 16 until age 21 (Chafee
Act)
 Youth can stay in care until age 21 if they
are in a program of instruction or treatment
(Juvenile Act)
What Does This Mean for
Providers?
Reasonable Efforts
to Achieve Permanency
and Least Restrictive,
Most Family-Like Placement
How Can Providers Enhance the Opportunity for
Permanency (in Traditional and Non-traditional
Ways)?
 Special recruitment of adoptive and foster
homes for older youth
 Creation of specialized support for these
caretakers
 Specialized Support could take the form
of a collaborative of experts from various
providers receiving TA from the IL Project
(University of Pittsburgh) able to train and
respond to the needs of families
 Create a continuum of placement types within
your agency (group, foster, transitional living
placement, supervised independent living
placements) that mirror adolescent development
 Create standards of practice and rules in your
placements that are age-appropriate
 Provider created continuum allows youth to
experience more consistency and establish
more lasting relationships
 Recruitment of mentors who can provide
consistency and support throughout placement
 Creation of an alumni group and/or participation
in YAB that can provide peer counseling
 Successful programs partner with a church or
company that has a stable membership and will
have a stake in continuing with the program
Tools You Can Use
A. SWAN Services
 Child specific recruitment
 Child profile (can help find placement and
mentoring resources)
 Child preparation (can be used to prepare
for APPLA or emancipation/independence)
B. Understanding Reimbursement Structure to
Aid in Creation of Continuum


TLP and SILS are reimburseable by the state
at about the same cost as foster care and are
often less expensive to run
SIL services are also reimburseable by the
state and can be used to complement Chafee
funds which are small
C. Use Existing Programs to Increase Staff
and Adult Support
 Foster Grand Parent Program
State Contact: Mary Strasser
215-597-2806
www.seniorcorps.gov
 Americorp Volunteers:
www.nationalservice.gov
To Achieve Permanency Discharge
Planning Must be Effective
 Discharge, like all dispositions, should
serve the youth's best interest and
promote safety, permanence, and wellbeing
 All discharges should be consistent with
meeting the established permanency goal
A Permanency Plan at Discharge
Should Include
– Stable source of income
– Stable housing
– Education and employment
– Health and mental health care
– Health insurance coverage
– Connection with family and/or caring adults
– Connection with community resources
Tools You Can Use
A. Know resources and systems in the





“Adult World”
mental health
mental retardation
homeless prevention system (for
housing, not shelter)
public benefits (MA, TANF, GA)
public/subsidized housing system
B. Partner with Agencies that can Provide
Concrete Resources for Youth
 Big Brothers/Big Sisters
 Churches/companies
 Local housing authority
 Community or housing development
agencies that are more familiar with
applying for supportive housing funds,
but can use your expertise in case
management
C. Learn About Other Funding Sources






Needs Based Budget process (Luzerne and
York)
McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Funds
County Housing Trust funds
TANF (for mother/baby placements)
Runaway and Homeless Youth Act funds
Foundations (recent interest in this age
group—Jim Casey Youth Opportunity Initiative,
Youth Transition Funders Group, Andrus
Family Fund)
D. Use Your Board Members

Use expertise of board members, particularly in the
area of housing development, low-income tax credits
E. Use The Child Advocate

If there is not an appropriate discharge plan, the child
advocate should make an issue of this in court.
Appropriate services or a discharge planning meeting
can be ordered by the court.
II.
Provision of Independent
Living Services
 Must be provided with Independent Living
Services at least at age 16 and recorded
at each permanency review (Adoption and
Safe Families Act, Juvenile Act)
 Independent Living Services must be
provided to youth who were in care until
age 21 (Chafee)
The Foster Care Independence Act
(FCIA or Chafee Act)
42 U.S.C.A. § 677 (1999)
 Provides more funding for IL services and
expanded the types of services that must
be provided
 Each county must submit a FCIA plan
 Youth must be included in the planning
process
 The county’s FCIA plan is public
information. You can a request a copy
from the IL coordinator or from DPW
FCIA Requires States To
 Provide IL services to youth up until age
21, even after discharged from care
 Provide IL services to youth with
disabilities to address their special needs
 Involve youth in the development of IL
services and planning
 Allocate funds to train foster parents and
caregivers on working with older youth
FCIA Allows States To
 Use up to 30% of their FCIA funds to
provide room and board for youth who
have aged out of care
 Extend Medicaid coverage to youth
who’ve aged out of care until age 21
– BUT Pennsylvania has not done this yet
Education and Training Grant
 In 2002, FCIA was amended to provide
vouchers for post-secondary education
and training for IL youth.
 Youth may be eligible for up to $5000 in
grants to cover costs not covered by
existing grants
 Applications are available on
www.indepdendentlivingpa.org
Tools You Can Use
A. Participate in county IL planning process
B Be aware of IL services/curriculum offered so it
can be reinforced within the placement
setting—enlist the IL workers and/or the IL
Project/CBT to help with this
C. Get involved in your county’s needsbased
budget planning process—IL services are
reimburseable by the state (Chafee funds rarely
the demand)
D. Utilize and Collaborate with All Agencies and
Programs that Provide IL Services to Eligible Youth
 Transition services for special ed. students in the
school system
 Vocational services through OVR
 Instruction and support through the office of MH
and MR (and advocacy agencies like ARC)
 Student support at community colleges
III. Continuation of the Court’s
Jurisdiction
The Court may continue its jurisdiction of a youth
past age 18 if the youth was:
Adjudicated dependent before reaching the age
of 18 years and who, while engaged in a course
of instruction or treatment, requests the court to
retain jurisdiction until the course has been
completed
42 Pa. C.S.A. § 6302.
Who Decides?
 The right to stay in care (and make the
request) belongs to the youth
 The children and youth agency can take a
position on whether the youth is extended
 Ultimately, whether the youth stays in care
is up to the judge
What is a “Course of Treatment
or Instruction”
A course of treatment or instruction should
be defined broadly to help the youth meet:
 The permanency goal (including a viable
discharge plan)
 The individual youth's special needs
 The goals of the child welfare statutes
(Juvenile Act, ASFA, Chafee)
It Could Include . . .
Post-secondary education or training
Mental health or substance abuse treatment
needed to stabilize the youth's situation
Life skills instruction
Vocational support services
Supportive services to complete high school
followed by enrollment in a community college
Training in how to find and maintain housing and
obtain needed services
The Plenary Power
of the Juvenile Court
Juvenile Court Judges have broad
discretion under the Juvenile Act
Juvenile Court Judges can order that any
services that are required to meet a
youth’s needs are provided
In re Tameka M., 580 A.2d 750, 755 (Pa.
1990); 55 Pa. Code 3130.38 (a)
Tools for You to Use
A. Use of courts and child advocate—
whether a youth stays in care is ultimately
the court’s decision and is appealable
B. Get your Juvenile Court to know your
program and your youth
C. Educate your youth so they can make the
request to stay in care or present their
discharge plan
Contact Information
Jenny Pokempner
Juvenile Law Center
1315 Walnut Street, 4th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19107
215-625-0551
jpokempner@jlc.org
www.jlc.org