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ALAMEDA
COUNTY Alameda County continues its progress working to address the ongoing need for permanent connections for all youth in care. We are currently working with youth ages 11 and older. Our county continues to carry on efforts from our original 18-month work plan to increase awareness and provide education to staff and caregivers regarding the urgent need for permanence for every youth in foster care. We have developed written information materials on youth permanency including a tri-fold brochure on youth permanence and have expanded our adoption/permanency assessment tool. We produced a Guide to Permanency Options for Youth, which includes detailed charts comparing legal, financial and psychosocial factors when considering different permanency options. The Youth Law Center collaborated by ensuring that the legal citations were accurate. We have also translated the text of the guide into Spanish. The county continues to provide training for staff, including monthly trainings in the form of a Brown Bag Lunch Series open to both staff and the community members. The series began in January 2005. The first five presentations were made by the Y.O.U.T.H. Training Project and was partially funded by AB 2129 community college training funds. We are also expanding our permanency vision by implementing new strategies and technologies to increase family connections. We have two active partnership projects focused on youth permanency. In January 2005 we began a pilot project "StepUp", in collaboration with Casey Family Programs, focusing on 57 youth in group home care where there was no identified Permanency connection. Using Internet search technology, CPYP Technical Assistance, and dedicated staff, relatives were located and many of these children were able to leave group home care and be placed with family members. Because of the pilot's success, Alameda County has created a Family Preservation Group Homes unit that is dedicated to helping youth in congregate care establish or find permanency. Our collaborative project with Family Builders by Adoption, Dumisha Jamaa, was expanded, from 9 initial youth to serve 30 youth. The Dumisha Project uses strategies that include child specific recruitment and case mining to identify permanent connections for youth between the ages of 12 - 17. In October 2005, this project was awarded a five year Federal Discretionary Grant, in the category of "Developing Adoption Services and Support for Youth Who Wish to Retain Contact with Family Members in Order to Improve Permanency Outcomes". This project will serve over 200 youth over the next five years. Alameda County is trying to engage congregate care systems (group homes, foster family agencies) in permanency. If the placement agency does not want to work on permanency, then the County may not be able to use their respective facilities or families. Our county is also the lead agency for the Bay Area Heart Gallery, which has involved the collaboration of 22 public and private agencies. The purpose of the heart Gallery is to showcase professional photographs of children looking for a family and families who have made a permanency commitment to some of the children. Our primary goal continues to be to ensure that no child exits the foster care system without a permanent connection to a caring and committed adult.
Contact: 11-03-06 |
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