Foster & Kinship Care Education Program

What is the Independent Living Skills Program?

Many of California’s foster children never return home. An estimated 20,000 young people leave foster care at ages 18 or 19 each year with no formal connection to family.  They are sorely in need of quality services and supports to assist with their education, health, and mental health, employment, housing, and personal support needs. They “age out” of the foster care system and the state severs its parental role - leaving them to fend for themselves. All too often, they become “social orphans” without biological families who are able or willing to assist them. Without support systems, their special problems can create insurmountable barriers to success - and even survival.

The expectation of independent living at age 18 is not a reasonable one for many young people living in stable homes. It is totally unreasonable for foster children. Because of their traumatic backgrounds and fostering dependency on the child welfare system, they are not prepared to be on their own, and often re-live old feelings of abandonment. Many former foster youth, unable to find jobs and housing, become a part of the grim statistics on drug and alcohol abuse and go on to follow their parents example by abusing and/or neglecting their own children. Estimates indicate that one-third of prison inmates and 40 to 46% of the homeless were once in the foster care system. This is a tremendous burden on society - and it is a preventable one.

The ability of foster youth to successfully make the transition to adulthood depends largely on the support and training they receive when they are in foster care. Foster youth need to be equipped with specialized training, opportunities to put information into practice with a safety net under them, enhanced support services, financial assistance such as scholarships and transitional housing opportunities, leadership training to help give them a voice in policies that affect their lives, pregnancy prevention information, parenting skills training, and support groups that help them develop their basic social interaction skills.

Realizing that these efforts require a strong service delivery system with well-trained instructors, supportive and knowledgeable foster care providers, The California Community Colleges Foundation (http://www.cccf.org/) worked with the California Department of Social Services (http://www.dss.cahwnet.gov/text/default.htm) to develop the Independent Living Program. College programs work closely with county departments of social service to identify training needs, distribute workshop information, and encourage participation. Every Program has an advisory board to help assess local needs and provide input on program services.

ILP provides training for foster youth, foster parents, kinship care providers, and group home staff to more effectively prepare foster youth for independent living. Training includes:

• Budgeting and banking
• Career Planning
• Securing and Maintaining housing
• College Preparation
• Obtaining health care & MediCal
• Financial aid
• Health and Hygiene
• Problem solving
• Meal Planning and Preparation
• Self Esteem
• Insurance needs
• Critical thinking
• Accessing Community Resources
• Leadership development
• Computer/Internet Skills
• Parenting skills
• Pregnancy Prevention
• Employment Resources
• STD's & AIDS

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released the following reports and correspondence:

African American Children in Foster Care: Additional HHS Assistance Needed to Help States Reduce the Proportion in Care. 

http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-816