Video

In the last entry in our series on the policy recommendations of California foster youth, we hear from California Youth Connection (CYC) advocates Trinity Lott and Bailey Villarreal about the need to find ways to help social workers be more responsive to the needs of foster youth.

Across the state, foster parent recruitment has been a hot topic. As California pursues an ambitious slate of congregate-care reforms, many counties are looking for ways to increase the number and quality of foster homes.

In 2010, California passed Assembly Bill 12 (Fostering Connections to Success Act), which extended foster-care benefits from age 18 to 21. California was one of the first states in the country to pass legislation that made it possible for transition-age youth to receive federal funds as long as they met work or school requirements.

A Brief Note from the Author (6/12/16): I was very much looking forward to publishing my first story on The Imprint and happy to share this story with those who were involved.

Last week, during a reception at a sleek house off of Washington D.C.’s Embassy Row, I found myself in the kitchen talking with Winnie Wechsler. Wechsler, who runs the Pritzker Foster Care Initiative, which funds a slew of child welfare related non-profits including the one I run, was amped up.

Every holiday season, 17-year-old Jordain Rodriguez sends a note to two families she barely knows with a simple wish: She’d like to see her nieces and nephews. Around the holidays and on each of the children’s birthdays, she writes emails to the two families who adopted her family members, asking for pictures, any recent updates and a chance to talk to them.

The multimedia series “Drugging Our Kids,” published by the San Jose Mercury News, won the Edward R. Murrow Award for an online news video documentary by a large online organization last week.

As part of a series of public service announcements intended to encourage foster youth to sign up for the Affordable Care Act, California Youth Connection (CYC) released a video focused specifically on mental health.