SUCCESS STORIES

CPYP Counties

Humboldt

Louisa, now sixteen, entered care for the first time when she was twelve. She experienced nine placements and was in Juvenile Hall when she entered the CPYP project. Her case worker credits the CPYP project and the use of WRAP services (including in-home therapy) for resulting in a recent successful reunification with Louisaís mother. The WRAP worker thought it was important for Louisa to also develop a relationship with her father. According to the primary case worker, without the project, this young lady probably never would have met her fatherís side of the family. Her mother was "extremely resistant to any connection with the paternal family." However, after the connection was made (and the relationship nurtured with WRAP services) the worker reported that "it was a good thing for all of them."

Kern

Randy, a sixteen-year-old boy, entered care when he was eleven and spent the last three years in group homes. His mother, whom he had not seen for two to three years, was not considered a viable placement; his father passed away ten years ago. By contacting the funeral home listed on the fatherís death certificate, the case worker was able to locate Randyís fatherís companionís ex-daughter-in-law, who eventually led the worker to the fatherís companion. It turns out that Randy's father's companion lives only an hour away and Randy has a half brother and half sister he never knew about. He now visits with his half siblings regularly. The case worker also re-connected Randy to his maternal cousins who had moved out of state a couple years ago and had fallen out of contact. As of April 2007 Randy was scheduled to be placed with his maternal relatives at the conclusion of this school year. The case worker stated that Randy has ìcome out of his depression . . . and is now reaching out to friends and the community. (He) has waited a long time to find his family; even family he never knew he had.

Los Angeles Metro North Region

Sammy, a twelve-year-old boy, was originally detained at age two due to maternal neglect. After failed Voluntary Family Maintenance services, he entered foster care where he has remained over the last ten years with no plans for permanence. Visits between Sammy and his family ended abruptly when he was four years old. He had experienced six placements when Family Finding efforts by the county Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and Hollygrove began. After locating his mother, stepfather, and two brothers, Sammy experienced another six placements. He was originally rejecting and hostile toward his mother and brothers. However, through the diligence and collaboration between his social worker, his mentors, his family, and Hollygrove services, Sammy is currently stable in a group home and visiting with his mother.

His mother, who was a teenager at the time of his detention, has pledged to make amends to her son for disappearing from his life and has complied with everything that has been asked of her. She is performing maternal tasks that she has been unable to do over the last eight years - calling him, writing him notes, cleaning his room, doing his laundry, and cooking special meals for him. Although this has not been a smooth, easy process, through the concerted effort of all parties, Sammy has been able to start to develop a relationship with his family and hopefully reunify with his mother. Most recently when his mother was transported to the group home by the Wraparound Parent Partner she found a note written by her son that read, "Dear Mom, can you please make me sloppy joe's? Love, your son."

Two brothers were legally freed several years ago but they were never adopted and they have been living in a group home for several years. The brothers have luckily been placed together, but group home placement was very difficult for them. They had a possible relative placement in Missouri. However, after displaying behavior problems during a visit in Missouri, the relative stated she no longer wished to be considered for placement.

Meanwhile, these two brothers, one of whom is quite a basketball star and getting very good grades, have two older siblings with whom they had lost contact - that is, until a group home employee recognized a woman whom she soon identified as the sister of the two boys placed in her group home. Quickly but mindfully, visits began between the two brothers and their sister, as well as their older brother. The older brother and sister live together along with the sister's young daughter. With the assistance of county services, the social worker is currently in the placement planning stages. The sister has stated, "I always made a promise to them and to myself that I would get them. I knew I would get them. And I finally did." One of the boys is getting rides to and from school by his older brother and it is hoped he will be a positive role model for the youngest child who still demonstrates behavior problems. Still, the older siblings have demonstrated wonderfully predictable and steadfast support of their two younger brothers.

Orange

Julie, a seventeen-year-old girl, entered the system when she was twelve. She experienced nine placements. Her mother died in 2005, and according to her case worker, her relationship with her father (prior to the project) was "non-existent." By using funds that her agency had set aside for "CPYP trips," the case worker was able to arrange for Julie to visit her father and stepmother (who live on the east coast) over Thanksgiving and Christmas, 2006. The father/daughter relationship blossomed. According to the worker "(Julie) has gone from not having any relationship with her father and stepmother to . . . speaking to them several times per week on the phone, as well as e-mailing." Approval has been obtained for Julie to live with her father and stepmother.

Sacramento

Beth entered care two years ago when she was ten years old. Reunification efforts with her mother proved unsuccessful. Beth had not talked to her father for seven years and his whereabouts were unknown. By using US Search, her father was located on the east coast and she flew to meet him and her siblings in October 2006. Over the subsequent three months she visited her father and siblings several times and their relationship strengthened. Beth voiced a strong desire to reside with her father and in late 2006 she was placed with her father and her dependency was terminated.

Sonoma

Sara is a ten-year old girl who was discharged from residential treatment in the summer of 2008. When Sara was an infant she was removed from an unsafe environment after being severely abused and neglected. When Sara was two years old, she was adopted. When Sara was six, her adoptive mother unexpectedly died. Sara's adoptive father attempted to care for her for several years, but because of his own grief and depression could not meet Sara's needs. Subsequently, he turned Sara back in to the county.

Not surprisingly, Sara had extreme behavioral and emotional issues, due to grief, loss, and abandonment. Sara was further isolated by having lost all traces of her biological family. No one came to visit her and her behaviors and mood continued to spiral downward. It appeared that Sara would not be a candidate for a foster home and it was also unlikely, given her extreme behaviors. Nevertheless, the Department was determined to find Sara another adoptive home.

Sara was referred to the Lifelong Connections (LLC) program. The social worker dedicated to LLC was able to spend the time to "mine" Sara's large case file. The LLC social worker found information on paternal relatives in the case file, and with the help of LLC clerical support, was able to do computer searching to locate these relatives, almost 20 of them. The LLC social worker initiated contacts with these relatives and was able to obtain a wealth of information for Sara about her biological family.

Most of the relatives had not seen or heard of Sara since she was an infant, but all were committed to maintaining some sort of contact with her, and one aunt, in particular, promised to visit Sara regularly at the treatment center.

After about 12 months of her aunt's participation in her treatment, as well as reconnection with her other paternal family, Sara made immense progress at the treatment center and was recently successfully discharged. Instead of going to a foster home or a group home, Sara has gone home with her aunt, who is committed to adopting Sara. An unexpected bonus of this arrangement is that the aunt had, some time ago, already adopted Sara's half-brother.

StepUp Project

The following stories have been excerpted from Group Home StepUp Project Final Report from Alameda County. These stories illustrate just a few of the many ways that foster youth grow and flourish when more effort is put into forging permanent connections for and with them.

Robert's Story

Monika's Story

Other Stories in Brief

Robert's Story

Robert was removed at birth from substance-abusing parents and subsequently removed from his adoptive mother who, for the first five years of his life, abused him by hitting him with a cane and locking him in a dog cage in the basement.

Between the ages of six and fourteen, Robert was placed in at least two foster homes and four group homes. He finally settled down at his seventh placement, a group home where he’s been for four years. He lives on a ranch and developed a strong passion and talent for horsemanship. Over the past few years, he has gained enough knowledge of management and care of horses that he became a master horseman this past year at the age of seventeen.

Robert was referred to the StepUp project because he was going to emancipate within the year with very few adult connections. While he is definitely one of the motivated teens who will emancipate with specialized skills, he didn’t have the mentorship and familial connection every child needs and deserves.

When StepUp Child Welfare Worker (CWW) Ann first met Robert, he seemed so lonely. During their first meeting, he said "I've got nobody, nobody who's kin to me." He especially wanted to find his birth mother. The project staff found out that she was deceased as of last summer. Robert was sad and also relieved to have an answer about her whereabouts.

In addition to the information about his birth mother, Ann also found his birth father (who has been clean and sober and gainfully employed for many years) along with about 36 other relatives, most of whom expressed a strong interest in getting to know their newfound family member.

On his father's side of the family, he has so far met all five older siblings including a brother who recently was in the Bay Area on military leave from his station in Iraq. His older sister and her children have driven down from Reno on several occasions to visit.

Most of his maternal relatives live in the south. Robert sent some pictures of himself with his siblings to a couple of aunts. He received a letter in response from his maternal Aunt Shellie from Mississippi with details about his birth mother and several maternal relatives who are currently living in the south. Aunt Shellie wrote "I know the family would love to get together and meet all of you ... It's okay we are strangers now but we can start now trying to make up for lost time." Robert is now making plans to go to the south with his older sister Natasha to meet his mother's relatives and get to know his four younger brothers and sisters there.

His father's family has given him a photo album with several photos. He now has photos of himself together with his biological family. According to group home staff, Robert "walks on clouds these days." One of them told Ann that seeing the change in Robert is like "watching a miracle unfold."

Monika's Story

Monika was 17 years old and four months pregnant when she was referred to the StepUp project. She was in a group home that specializes in emancipating youth and doing well there, however, she would be unable to stay after her baby was born. She was referred to the StepUp project in an effort to prevent Monika from moving to another group home. Additionally, she needed assistance in developing a support system to rely on after the birth of her child.

Monika had been visiting an older sister and her young niece on the weekends. The primary CWW wanted the StepUp staff to assess the sister as a source of support and possible placement. When the StepUp CWW visited the home, she quickly recognized that Monika had already discussed placement with her sister.

Neither Monika nor her older sister had approached the primary CWW about placement because nothing seemed to ever work out for Monika. She didn’t believe that moving out of a group home setting, especially now that she was pregnant, would be possible. Like so many teenagers who have been disappointed by countless adults in their lives, she had a hard time accepting assistance from project staff who wanted to facilitate a relative placement. In fact, when a staff member arrived at the scheduled time to pick up Monika and take her to her sister’s house after the home was approved, she hadn't packed any of her clothing because she didn't believe that she was really moving!

Monika has now been placed with her older sister and young niece for four months. Her baby was born one month premature. However, the baby seems to be in good health now. Monika's sister helps her with parenting and encourages her to continue her high school education. Her sister is currently a student at Chabot College and they take BART together in the morning so that Monika can attend the Burke Academy for parenting teens. She plans to graduate in 2006 and has an open invitation to stay with her sister.

Other Stories in Brief

• A lesbian adolescent, inveterately running away from placements, with more than casual drug use and truancy, has found in her new relationship with her biological father, whose whereabouts had been unknown for years, a sense of belonging. The security and hope that came with connection enabled her to get back into school and resulted in cessation of the cutting behavior that previously characterized her most difficult feelings. This young woman has shown signs of hope and a sense of future orientation for the first time.
  
  
• A silent, depressed teen, was found to have been secretly visiting with her father and step-mother, often when suspended from school. She was able to reunify with her father who was found to be living a stable life with a new wife and home. He presumed he could not bring his daughter home because of a near-decade old petition for neglect.
  
  
• A young adolescent, in group home care and day treatment for years, longed to be returned to his previous foster parents with whom he continued to spend most holidays. When we found that this foster family's circumstances had changed, and when a family search found only an alleged father living in Florida, we pursued placement with a staff member at his high quality group home. The staff member was licensed through San Francisco County and our client was placed with her and her family, after a successful trial visit.
  
  
• A 16 year-old youth with a placement history that showed him moving to more and more restrictive residential treatment programs that prescribed several psychotropic medications to address his angry behaviors and emotional lability, was placed closer to an adult sister to facilitate family contact. Within weeks, relatives heard of his re-entry into the family circle and came forward to be a part of his life. An uncle who had provided respite care for our client as a toddler proved to share a strong connection with the youth. Our client is now placed with the uncle, his wife and 3 cousins. His medication needs have all but disappeared and it seems incredible that he is the same person who appeared to be moving towards an RCL 14 treatment facility just 6 months ago.

For more success stories, read the Group Home StepUp Project Final Report.