10. Understanding the Foster Care System: Lead Agencies, Aging Out and a History Lesson

The Foster Care System is complex and nuanced, loaded with stories of terrible struggle and unsung heroes. This episode aims to unpack the system as a whole, starting from the national stage and slowly zooming into Central Florida. Learn about our state’s lead agency system, take a deep dive into what it means to “age out” of the system, and specific areas along the foster care experience to focus on moving forward.

Guests:

• Peter Amico, Former Board Chairman of Embrace Families
• Phil Scarpelli, President and CEO of Family Partnerships of Central Florida
• Raquel Bell, Executive Director, Foundation for Foster Children
• Michelle Chira, Co-Founder and Board Member, Foundation for Foster Children

From Central Florida Foundation:

• Sandi Vidal, VP of Community Strategies and Initiatives

Visit the First You Talk website.

Visit the First You Talk Podcast on Instagram.

Visit Central Florida Foundation's Instagram.

As our region’s community foundation, Central Florida Foundation serves as a launchpad for high-impact philanthropy. Championing the collective power of head, heart and dollar, we coordinate the commitment and investment of philanthropists, nonprofits, and community partners to target today’s most critical challenges and those on the horizon to truly transform our community. The Foundation also offers expert giving advice, a personalized approach to managing charitable funds, and the capacity to convene collaboration across sectors. Learn more at cffound.org.

Transcript

00:00:05 Laurie Crocker

Welcome to Central Florida Foundation's First You Talk podcast. Here you'll gain a better understanding of society's toughest issues. At the end of each episode, we'll summarize the main points and offer deeper dive options if something piqued your interest. So ready to demystify a complex issue and up your knowledge.

00:00:24 Laurie Crocker

Game? Let's get started.

00:00:28 Laurie Crocker

Episode 10.

00:00:30 Laurie Crocker

Understanding the Foster Care System: Lead Agencies, Aging Out, and a History Lesson.

00:00:43 Sandi Vidal

Orphaned and he started the orphan train movement, which put kids into Midwest farms and again kind of like indentured servitude, some of them.

00:00:54 Peter Amico

2005 So so this model was basically to allow local nonprofits who are closer to the community.

00:01:00 Peter Amico

to oversee the local foster care system and then kind of work in conjunction with the DCF.

00:01:05 Phil Scarpelli

What we've known for quite some time is that we really need to move upstream to families that are on the verge of going into crisis, not when they're deep into crisis. You you have much better.

00:01:16 Raquel Bell

Youth that are aging out. What does that support look like? The state of Florida is one of the only states across the country where children get a tuition waiver who age out of foster care, where they can go to any state university for free and use that waiver up until the age of 28 and so.

00:01:32 Raquel Bell

We were kind of.

00:01:37 Laurie Crocker

Let's start out with a history lesson, because we can't learn how to create a better future without understanding the past, and foster care has a very active last century or so. Here is Central Florida foundation Sandy Vidal as she walks us through major milestones.

00:01:53 Sandi Vidal

So really, the the foster system kind of dates back very far in time to the early Christian Church.

00:02:01 Sandi Vidal

And Judaism in the care of orphaned children and then in about the 1500's the English Poor Laws came about and that was really around the placement of poor children into indentured service, and that practice was imported to the US.

00:02:21 Sandi Vidal

And children were started to be placed into kind of foster programs. They weren't as formal as what we see now, and most of the time that was when either a parent or a guardian had died.

00:02:36 Sandi Vidal

Child abuse at that time, scary enough, was accepted and legal.

00:02:43 Sandi Vidal

Just pause on that for a moment. Today, children are often removed from their homes because of the abuse rather than being orphaned, and the modern foster care system began in the 1800s when Charles Long Brace founded the Children's Aid Society in New York City, and he had seen a lot of.

00:03:03 Sandi Vidal

Immigrant children, who were essentially living on the streets. Many of them were orphaned, and he started the orphan train movement, which put kids into Midwest farms.

00:03:15 Sandi Vidal

And again, kind of like indentured servitude. Some of them were warmly welcomed. They were taken care of and others, the treatment was more akin to slavery, and they were forced to work. Not great conditions, didn't have children's labor laws at the time. And so in the early 1900s.

00:03:37 Sandi Vidal

That's when society started to really recognize.

00:03:40 Sandi Vidal

That children needed to be cared for. In 1912, the first child welfare law was passed, and that required licensing for foster homes and then foster parents were started to be seen as part of a process and really as part of a team to formalize.

00:04:03 Sandi Vidal

That whole foster care system and states started to not only formalize the process but also regulate the process.

00:04:11 Sandi Vidal

And at that time, records started being kept, inspections were made and children's needs were considered. And then, in 1935, the Social Security Act started to provide some funding around that child welfare. And then in 1980, the adoption assistance and welfare Child Welfare Act was passed to ensure.

00:04:32 Sandi Vidal

Children in foster care had a home placement and were provided funding for services.

00:04:38 Sandi Vidal

Most of that was really focused on reunifying children with their birth parents or placing them in adoptive homes. And then in 1997, the Adoption and Safe Families Act focused on finding permanent homes for foster care children and really started focusing on permanency planning.

00:04:59 Sandi Vidal

And then providing funding support for adoptive parents and foster caregivers. Today, children are placed in foster care, either with a relative, which is called kinship care in single family homes where parents are taking care of their own children, and then up to 6 foster children. And then there's also group homes.

00:05:20 Sandi Vidal

Which historically have been known for abuse, but they have gotten much better regulated now.

00:05:30 Laurie Crocker

That was a painless history lesson, right? And remember now you're better equipped to take in and understand the foster care system on a deeper level. So a lot of the dates Sandi shared were from the 20th century. And that makes sense. A lot of progress was made on a national scale.

00:05:48 Laurie Crocker

But now we're going to zoom in a little bit to the state level and specifically to the turn of the Millennium, when a major change in Florida's approach to foster care happened. For this let's tune into a conversation I had with someone who has been deeply steeped in the system for over a decade.

00:06:06 Peter Amico

Hi, my name is Peter Amico. I was the chairman of the Board of Embrace Families CBC for several years before they transitioned to a new nonprofit. And I've been a foster parent for 10 plus years. In the in the 90s, when Jeb Bush was governor.

00:06:26 Peter Amico

There was this idea that foster care could be done better in the communities rather than kind of from Tallahassee, DCF running the whole system and so.

00:06:35 Peter Amico

So they they initiated this idea of community based care, which was fully implemented by December of 2005. So this model was basically to allow local nonprofits who are closer to the communities to oversee the local foster care system and then kind of work in conjunction with DCF to.

00:06:55 Peter Amico

run the foster care system, so it was an idea to privatize.

00:06:59 Peter Amico

foster care and Florida was one of the leaders in this.

00:07:02

So is.

00:07:02 Laurie Crocker

Something that other states do to your knowledge, or is it kind of a Florida only thing?

00:07:08 Peter Amico

I believe Texas and Kansas maybe. Or Colorado. There's a couple states, but it's largely like in Massachusetts, where I lived previously. It was just DCF runs, the whole state, you know, you have, they have offices and all throughout the state and whatever, but it's less of a.

00:07:27 Peter Amico

Kind of community run thing and it's more kind of top down. The idea was that the lead agency is they know the community, they know the unique needs, they are much more tuned in to all of those kind of specific needs and so that they will do kind of a more tailored.

00:07:47 Peter Amico

Approach.

00:07:48 Laurie Crocker

So different need agencies in different regions might approach something like foster care differently?

00:07:57 Peter Amico

Yeah. So I think I think that was the idea.

00:08:02 Peter Amico

Originally, but I think in many ways there is, there are still a lot of core functions that every lead agency has to do. They all have to do case management. They all have to do kind of working with the the biological parents. So. So there's a lot of functions, they all have to do adoption. So there's a lot of core functions that they all do. It just might be how.

00:08:23 Peter Amico

How do they partner with different

00:08:26 Peter Amico

Different organizations in the community to kind of provide some of those value add services and maybe a community has more needs in kind of a mental health space. They can kind of have more of a presence on that side or whatever it might look like. The hope is that, you know, Miami might be different than kind of you know the middle of the state.

00:08:46 Peter Amico

Somewhere and so like an example. Embrace families saw a need that lots of kids in foster care don't get their drivers license, and so they kind of spun.

00:09:00 Peter Amico

A different initiative called Keys to Independence, but the idea that you shouldn't graduate out of foster care and not have your driver's license because you know it's just kind of an overlooked thing that a lot of kids foster parents or whoever don't make it happen. And so that the rates of foster kids with.

00:09:20 Peter Amico

Driver's license went up pretty dramatically, and so that was something that was kind of just tailored, specific to a need that they saw. And so they went out and kind of figured out a way to do it.

00:09:35 Laurie Crocker

So far, we've learned that Florida has a lead agency model for its foster care system. On a side note, you might remember this language from Episode 7. Why is solving homelessness so hard? Part 2, This isn't the only space where the state has chosen to privatize, and just to give

00:09:53 Laurie Crocker

Clarity on what that actually means. Privatization simply means the shift from a government owned andTranscript Recording2_mixdown.wav

Transcript

Laurie Crocker

Operated system to a non government entity, in this case a nonprofit with all that being said, let's learn more about the current status and state of foster care in our region with the President and CEO of our region's lead agency.

Phil Scarpelli

I'm Phil Scarpelli. I'm the President and CEO of Family Partnerships of Central Florida. We are the lead child protection agency for Brevard, Seminole, Orange and Osceola counties here in Central Florida. What we've known for quite some time is that we really need to move upstream to families that are on the verge of going into crisis, not when they're deep into crisis. You you have much better. Success and acuity of mitigating safety factors and wellness factors for children and families. If you just get them sooner, so that's a. Large. Part of our mission, right, it's it's it's all the front end diverting families from coming in because yes, it's true. The state of Florida is quite innovative and wanting to keep families intact. Where and when we can and when we can't mitigate safety factors for a child, we will do something to the point of which, of course, with the hands of the court, remove kids and place them in a safe place and next of kin is the first pursuit. Right. And when all efforts are exhausted, then we do have wonderful licensed foster families who take our children.

Laurie Crocker

So the the ultimate goal is to keep families together. When that's not possible, what's the next goal?

Phil Scarpelli

So, you know, we're talking about children and quite, quite frankly, families of adverse experiences and a lot of. trauma so what's incumbent upon us is that whatever we do, we do it expeditiously and with sensitivity and awareness that children of trauma don't need to be retraumatization by a systemic response from where they're coming. So a lot of what we do is predicated on how we do it. And So what we do is we make very diligent effort to search for next of kin. Family, friends, people who are known to the child in communities that are. Familiar to the. Child when and if they have to be removed and so when we go and look for adoptive families, foster families, we're looking for the right kind of. Match the right kind of families that will understand and blend in that child to their. Family situation, even though it's temporary, we do it with great diligence. And so that's the first order of business, right is is to find places where the children will be. Safe first and. Almost that when they're safe that we wrap that family and that child with services that will begin the process of healing. Now mind you, as we said earlier that this is all really about when and if possible. And that's the lion's share of families that have children removed. Are gonna go back when we find the resources that get them on a path towards self-sufficiency and resiliency. So that's a large part of how we do. What we do at the earliest of stages.

Laurie Crocker

Can I ask you a question on that? So, so while, understood, that your focus is on the children, then do you have programming and goals with the family and what's your touch point with the family?

Phil Scarpelli

Great question. So as a lead agency and Florida has. 16 lead agencies across the state who cover 67 counties. So these private entities predominantly take the administrative role over a system of care design that we create. On direct contract with the state. So that families and children's needs are being met diligently and with great acuity. So what we do as a lead agency, we basically broker a lot of partner agencies who had specialty in dealing with families in crisis. And and quite frankly, the three predominant indicators where courts and the department deemed it necessary that a child be either removed or a family be mandated towards services is really a predicated on mental illness issues, substance abuse issues and domestic violence. There's an assembly of other variables that complicate things for those families, but those are the leading ones. If you look into the systems records, why are kids being removed? So that is the focus of a lead agency's role is to design systems that treat children's needs and family needs with great degree of acuity. No one does it better in the nation than Florida. We have the best outcomes.

Laurie Crocker

Really. Can you share any of those outcomes?

Phil Scarpelli

So all of what we're our objective is has been proven statistically that the length of time that kids are in care in foster care has been markedly reduced. In the years that we came in to to privatize this here in Florida, #1 #2 the acuity of matching needs with services not only to children but to families has been so heightened and so vested by the lead agencies and the very essential. Partner agencies to provide those services. The Behavioral Health overlay has been well integrated so that not only are we dealing with a a legalistic system and journey for children and families for their reunification, but we're really looking at it from a holistic approach and making sure that healing is happening. The treatments involved not just for the child but for mom and dad, who many of whom have had very similar adverse childhood experiences before having their own children. So you could imagine the nexus as to why children end up. In the system, if you. will.

Laurie Crocker

Now it's time to zoom in a little more. We talked about national milestones, Florida's approach, and our lead agencies focus on foster care. Now let's dig into a specific milestone along the foster care experience for the child in the system aging out. At 18, services drop off, leaving many unprepared youth now turned young adults at risk for homelessness, incarceration and many other. issues. So I sat down with a local nonprofit that is focused on wrapping services around these individuals in a unique way. We talked about the details of what exactly happens when someone turns 18 and other key ages for aged out foster youth, and how they approach supporting this vulnerable population.

Raquel Bell

Hi, my name is Raquel Tapia Bell. I'm the Executive Director at the Foundation for Foster Children.

Michelle Chira

Hi, I'm Michelle Chira. I'm a Co-Founder of the Foundation for Foster Children and Board member.

Raquel Bell

So our mission at the Foundation is to create meaningful connections for children and foster care through personalized support. And so we have three programs that provide us suite of integrated services for children in foster care, including enrichment. Activities, mentoring, educational support and life skills development and training. And so we really just work to wrap around youth in foster care, zero to 24 through those programs and helping them to be confident, increase their self esteem and really for our older youth, help them transition to adulthood with success.

Laurie Crocker

So you said zero to 24. So my first question is what makes it 24 and not 18?

Raquel Bell

Yeah. So what makes it 24 instead of 18 is age children in foster care, or youth and foster care at that point, age out at 18 years. Hold in the state of Florida. We do have extended foster care where kids can extend, choose to stay in foster care until they're 21 or 22. If they have a documented disability. And so at the Foundation, we decided to extend that age to 24, knowing that there are bulk of youth that like most 18 year olds will say I don't need anything. I'm done, I. I don't want to be in foster care anymore. And what we find is many of the youth that don't opt to do extended foster care. They try to go out and do it on their own for some time and they still need help and assistance. Oftentimes, with the extended foster care, they can opt in at any point up until 21, and so for those youth that you know, make that decision or 20 at 20 or 21 years old, the state services and everything are only going to be with them for one year. And so we were really looking at these youth that are aging out. What does that support Look like? The state of Florida is one of The only states across the country where children get a tuition waiver who age out of foster care, where they can go to any state university for free, and use that waiver up until the age of 28. And so we were kind of looking at the research, looking at the data, especially some of the research around psychology. And when that frontal lobe closes and. The data shows is around 23 years old is where you really kind of peak in adulthood and so us going to 24 was that approach to really wrap around our kids and understanding that once kids age out of care there are so many factors. That impact their lives and we wanted to come alongside them to really see what does that transition to adulthood look like with success? Because it's not at 18 and it's not at 21. But it's really once they have been able to get a job and they are stable in their life and you can see that, you know, closer at the age of 24 and the Michelle Chira

That this really was that the state, the DCF Department of Children and Families really provides for the shelter and the well-being of the child in a very minimal way. And these children who are in foster care come in, abused, abandoned or neglected, and then typically. Will, at the age of 10 or 11, if they're still in care, going to group homes. And so there was a huge lack of support for these children outside of shelter and basic needs like food and clothing. So there is an opportunity to help. We spent two years. Researching the needs because we didn't want to replicate anything or do something somebody else was already doing well and found some very clear gaps, and those are addressed in the programs that Raquel mentioned earlier. And so all of our focus is devoted to bridging the gap between the community and ways they can help. In these children in personalized ways that they need to. Be held.

Laurie Crocker

And then for going to like turning 18 aging out moving forward, can you Help me and people who are not part of this space understand what kind of supportive services there are at 18 typically and then what drops off once they turn 18?

Raquel Bell

Right. So our lead agency, which there was just there, a recent change here in our community. Embrace Families was our lead agency for over 20 years. Brevard Family Partnership which is over in Brevard County is now our lead agency and has changed their name to Family Partnerships of Central Florida. And so when kids turn around, 12 or 13 is when they get an independent living case manager to start working alongside their case manager, who's working their case. And then they get another worker through the lead agency to help focus on life skills. Those workers are supposed to, you know, help them. Learn how to, you know, balance the checkbook and you know, do you know how to wash clothes? And do you know to look for a job and all of those supports that the workers are are are. You know, wrapping around them with. Where our program comes in, it's that meaningful connection in addition to the life skill development. And so we work alongside the independent living workers to say, hey, you know, they're going to see the kids maybe once a month, maybe once every 45 days. Our advocates are meeting with them every week. And so if a kid, you know, you want a kid to learn how to. You know, search for a job or open a bank account, or figure out what they want to do for college. We recognize that that is going to take a lot of work and a lot of meaningful connection and relationship and time. And so our advocates meet with them. Every week, what happens at 18 if they decide to not opt in to extended foster care? All of those services goes away from the lead agency, including the monitoring of DCF, DCF, monitoring that those things are happening, and so everything such as your housing, any support that. You're receiving for mental health medical all of those things drop off at 18. And so normally what's happening around 16 to 18 is the IL workers trying to get them, you know? Do you understand, like, how to sign up for food stamps? Do you know how to sign up for your Medicaid? All of these things are going to go away on your 18th birthday. Today, there are kids that are even in Group homes in the day that they. Turn. 18 If they don't opt in to extend their foster care, many of those kids become homeless unless they have some other type of placement or set up for them. There is also an option which is called PESS. If kids do decide to go to college and use that tuition waiver. Will they will get $1750 from the state, but you have to be going to school and we know that college isn't for everyone. And So what we see is those kids that once they turn 18 and all of the foster care services goes away. Now you're just an adult in the community who used to be in foster care. And so for us, where we talk about community and collaboration, a big piece of what we're doing and our team is how do we find those resources in our community that aren't specific to foster care. But when our kids turn 18, they should be aware of and they should be connected to. And so a lot of what our advocates do for those kids after 18, if they choose not to be in foster care, one of the great things is that our program will continue to serve them. And so for 18 to 24. Only thing that we need to know is that you were formerly in foster care so that we can come alongside you and really figure out how do we bridge those gaps in the community. You know, if you have a child, there's 4C available. You know, if you need mental health services, Aspire can do that for you. So really helping them be able to self advocate and empower them with the knowledge. And the resources and really to have agency over their own lives. That's one of the big things that our kids don't have in care. And I would say. One of the biggest changes that happens for them, you know, we had a youth tell us you have no idea what it's like to look around you and know everyone in your life is paid to be there. And so when you're 18, all of those paid resources go away and services go away and you're left alone trying to navigate life. And that's where our advocates and the Empower program comes in is to. Understand all of the nuances that is foster care as well as bridging those gaps with the community because our community is full of nonprofits and Community resources that can come alongside our youth. Oftentimes it's helping them to understand what those specific needs may be and trauma that our kids have.

Laurie Crocker

Do you can you explain some reasons why somebody might not want to opt in to extend a foster?

Raquel Bell

Yeah, yeah, I think there's a lot of reasons. So for our kids who maybe have spent a long time in foster care, there's a youth in our program right now that came into foster care at 3, and he's 21. So, I mean, you spend your whole life in a system. Foster care isn't supposed to be a permanent thing. You know, part of the goal of DCF and our lead agency is to find permanency. So the goal is that foster care is a temporary placement until we find you a forever home. For some kids, that's reunification with families, for other that's their guardian, a legal guardianship. For some kids, that's adoption. But as Michelle. mentioned, once our kids turn about 10 or 11. Then the chances of adoption goes down to about 3% and they will age out of the system, which means that they will spend the rest of their childhood and their teenage years in the system. And so for many of our kids, they turn 18 and they just don't want to be part of a system anymore. They want to be able to have relationships that they feel really connected to. They want to be able to make their own choices, to have agency over their life, to not. have court and you know, multiple meetings a month and case worker switching out and turn over and all of those pieces. Yeah, some of it is a typical like 18 year old. Like I said when I turned 18, I was like, I'm going to college and I know it all and I have it all figured out. But I also have the safety blanket of family and my parents and friends.

Michelle Chira

And caseworkers switching out, you know?

Raquel Bell

That when you know that first summer where I was like, what am I doing? I could go home. But you know, I could go home for the summer. Our kids don't have that. And that's why they end up finding themselves, you know, homeless or incarcerated or unemployed and all of just the negative outcomes that happen to foster kids once they turn 18. Seen when all of those supports go away and so resources like our program where they can. Still receive support but not have to opt in to foster care is perfect for that population because they don't have to have the standardized services that foster care can be, but they can still have the meaningful connection and support that our team can.

Michelle Chira

Provide and I think one of the things too that is just amazing about what we're doing is we have some very concrete. Data points on the trajectory of these children versus the general population and Raquel can speak to that, but it is. Is it? It is just astounding what just a little bit of attention and support can can give a child to really let them bloom into a productive, supportive human being in our society versus in jail or, you know, a female pregnant. At a young age, all these things that contribute to you know life that is not very fulfilling for that human being, obviously, but has a great impact on our Community as well, so.

Raquel Bell

For sure. Yeah. And Michelle was speaking of is our five factors when kids age out of foster care, do they have a job? Do they have stable housing? Do they have a high school diploma or their GED for some of our kids, they won't graduate high school, but we will support them in getting their GED. Are they not a parent, and are they, you know, reducing their risky behavior so they don't end up in jail? And so over the last three years, we've had over 80% in all areas, 90% in Four of them of our kids. Avoiding those five factors. And so when we were looking at it, we're like success looks different for every person. But I think as a community, we can identify what failure looks like and our vision is a community where foster children have a sense of belonging. And so when we look at those five factors, we know within our community that people who feel like they don't belong are the people who have been in jail, the people who don't have jobs, the people who are homeless, the people who are high school dropouts are teen parents. And so it's a circular, if you will. You know, if we can meet with them, we can help them avoid those factors. Now in their teens. Set them up for success when they age out to Michelle's point. It's a benefit to them, but it's a benefit to our community as a whole. If we have less teen parents, less people in jail, less people homeless on the street, etcetera. And so it's really helping them to identify what their goals are, what are the barriers to those goals, helping them like crush those barriers and move those barriers. Out of the way and really give them the confidence that they need to be able to make decisions for themselves. Healthy decisions.

Transcript Recording4_mixdown.wav

Transcript

Raquel Bell

Actions and choices, but also have the relationship to be able to pick up the phone and say I don't know what I'm doing. Can you help me with this?

Laurie Crocker

This topic is an emotional one. We're talking about innocent children facing unfortunate circumstances and the families that need a lot of support as well. I think we can all agree we want to improve the foster care system for youth who have no choice in most of the journey. You might now feel inspired, Learning about the system, ready to help in some way, so I asked Sandi Vidal, Peter Amico, and Phil Scarpelli their thoughts on where the focus should be and the critical areas that need the most support.

Sandi Vidal

You know, there's there's lots of things for people who are really concerned about children and their welfare, where they can get involved, whether it's. Through supporting an organization in the community that's focused on providing foster care supports or helping children who are aging out of foster care, whether it's a a group home type situation like a Boys Town or a organization that's really focused on helping with things like mentoring. Providing school supplies and some of the other essentials that are needed for kids in foster care. There's also organizations that are focused on the mental health piece of. You know, children going through this system are really going through a lot of different sorts of trauma. And so being able to work with them on those types of things. And then there's also agencies who are recruiting parents into the foster care system. So for those people who might be interested in either respite. There, which is that really short term, just needs somewhere to put a child who to keep them safe or longer term foster care. There's definitely a need for that as well. Foundation is supported several different agencies in the foster care space are hundred women strong. Did a grant that was focused on the Foundation for Foster Children and their education plus program, which was really focused and still is going on. I believe may have a different name now, but focused on those mentoring supports and kind of the idea that you really need to have at least one stable. Adult in your life and. Though that has been supported in. Additionally, our Winter Park grant round has supported a program that was very similar and they had merged those programs together. We've also supported the village, which is part of empower, our latest grant with them, which was a couple of years ago was focused. On the idea of flexible funding and we've seen that work in a variety of different areas, but the flexible funding was really so that. You could take care of whatever the immediate need might be. It might be paying for a driver's license or paying for books for college courses, or just helping a kid to get some needed supplies that they had to have for work or for school.

Peter Amico

I'll identify some of the I think the biggest challenge areas to me are first, those 150 teenagers, the ones who are living in group homes, finding them, families, getting them to permanency before they age out of the system, getting them mentors, getting them, you know, positive adult influences in their lives, these are. These are kids who are challenging, you know, they're they're in a group home because for a reason is that we there wasn't a foster family that thought they could take this kid. So they are. These aren't easy kids. But again, we're in a in the tri-county, there's 150. It's not an overwhelming number, but it is. So I would say that's one area of huge need to me the the other area. I think these are the two most overlooked areas of the system is the teenagers. And then the second is the biological parents. And so often the kid comes into care, the focus is on the kid but not on the family and the system behind the kid. And so strengthening those families, providing them, you know, the ability to succeed 'cause, you know, I think there's a misconception that kids mostly come into care because of abuse. That most of the kids come into care because of neglect. And so there's lots of poverty issues. There's lots of issues that are solvable and so. Helping those families kind of get to a better place, get out of living in week by week hotels, get out of homelessness, get out of whatever there's but the problem with all the two issues I just named is that these are not efficient spaces. There's not a high ROI in this space. These are like long slow. Inefficient fixes, but they are like hugely important areas for investment. So unfortunately I know investors are givers. I'm one myself. I love high ROI like hey, a dollar is going to save a life if I give a malaria net but. I but I also know that I live here in this community and I want to serve these kids and these families so I don't have a magic bullet of here's the here's the investment that will change everything. What I found from my 10 plus years in this space is that it's just a long, slow kind of work in the right direction and it doesn't always end up with a happy ending. But I think that it is. It is hugely important to the community to invest in this space.

Phil Scarpelli

When when people think philanthropically, first of all, it warms my heart. Because when when they think philanthropically, I think about a. Three areas you know, we need people involved in the system. We need to build a stronger workforce. It needs to be a competitive workforce, encouraging people, young people, going into school to take on human humanitarian courses and programs, social work and beyond. To be the right kind of people who wear this is where their passion lies. The government has predominantly funded the high level reactionary needs of children and families and. Places we do need resources and funding resources and funding and intellectual capacity. What do you call talent to support systems, families and community. But the dollars and cents would be wise to invest in working with programs that. Go upstream to divert and prevent families from evolving in that perpetual cycle of crisis. Just like in the medical model, we don't go see a doctor when we have an injury that is already infected and gangrenous and needing surgery. No, we see a practitioner at the earliest stages, so the treatment is most effective, short lived and healing is fast. Why shouldn't? Shouldn't that be the same? Right for abuse and neglect issues. Secondly, when it is necessary that children are to be removed and they go. Into foster care. We need resources, people and funding to help their journey by. Overlaying normalcy. Experiences that are are that are relevant to healing and bring comfort to children who have been removed from family, from communities, from schools, whatnot, normalcy camps, day programs, sports, arts, things that we can do that. We don't get any funding for. Right. We don't get funding for that stuff. That's normalcy. And then even helping the kids coming into the system with material goods and needs, whether it's toiletry or things relative to the the things that they love in hobbies and stuff like that. Bringing them normalcy while going through something that is not normal, right to be removed from families and to be in a system that is not as familiar. Last but not least, funding resources and manpower and awareness. Towards helping youth exit foster care again, there isn't enough resources to prepare for them. Some of the challenges that people don't often talk about is we need some really good mentors who want to build relations with. Youth who realize, hey, I kind of wanna age out of this system and not be involved with this system anymore. I wanna go out in my life and make my own decisions. But many children and youth who are products of abuse, neglect and or abandonment are not maturational at the level of their chronological age. They need people to be by them. To support them and and let me tell you something, the science, the sciences of understanding trauma have been teaching us for quite some time now. All of its reverse because of a single relationship that connects with the child, whether it be a mentor. Or or the like can build a child's self-confidence deal with some of that adverse childhood experiences, begin planning with great intentionality about hey, listen, if I'm gonna age out, I need to really be ready because being on the street is not easy. Getting housing is not easy accomplishing. An educational and or a career path. It's not easy for anyone, with or without adverse childhood experiences. We all have had people who have rallied us, championed us, and said you can do it and let me help you towards gaining that independence.

Laurie Crocker

As we close this episode, you might notice that we didn't include a first hand experience voice like we normally do. In this case, the child's voice is missing. That's because next week we'll be dedicating an entire episode to a conversation I had with a foster youth who aged out and is now a graduate student. At UCF. I encourage you to tune in to this episode next week. Finally, here are your 3 takeaways to take with you into your day #1 Florida has a lead agency model for its foster care system. This means that a nonprofit contracts with the state government to provide community based care with the goal of providing a more tailored approach that fits the specific region #2 aging. out is when a child in foster care turns 18 years. years old. Many services drop off at this point, unless the young adult opts in to extended foster care, which is sometimes a hard sell for an 18 year old who may have spent their entire life in a system. However, there are supportive services and nonprofits out there, such as the Foundation for Foster children that aim to bridge this gap. #3 Spaces within this system that are in need of the most support include bolstering a competitive and competent workforce for jobs that work with foster care youth, focusing upstream on preventative measures, and supportive wrap around services. Not ready for the conversation to be over? Neither are we. Find us on our website at cffound.org/podcast, Instagram @cffound and LinkedIn and Facebook at Central Florida Foundation. Let us know what you think about this episode. Ask questions and suggest. future topics.

Mark Brewer

Thank you for listening to the podcast First You Talk. As an engaged listener of this show, we encourage you to check out our podcast website at cffound.org/podcast to learn more about the complex issue. There you'll find more context to the voices that you've heard today. Links to any supporting materials mentioned during the episode and resources to help you explore additional perspectives to draw a fuller picture of the issue at hand through curiosity and collaboration, we can all make our community an even better place to call home.

Laurie Crocker

A special thank you to Sandi Vidal, Peter Amico, Phil Scarpelli, Michelle Chira, and Raquel Bell.