1. Visits with brothers and sisters are very important, and should never be skipped. This is particularly important when a sibling is adopted and others are not. Acknowledging that the adoptive parents have the right to decide whether sib visits continue (but not conceding that adoptive parents should have that right), workers should continue to facilitate visits with sibs and it should be a priority to make them happen.

2. Workers must work hard to find all of a child’s relatives, including the relatives on the father’s side.

3. A young person who is transitioning in to and out of the system should be helped to establish a relationship with any family member or other significant person from the past that he or she chooses. This includes parents, siblings, and extended family, even family members that the child has heard about but may never have met. It also includes unrelated adults who may be important to the young person, such as your mother’s best friend, your best friend’s mother, former teachers, coaches, or youth group leaders, former foster parents and godparents. These relationships should be encouraged and fostered during the child’s entire experience as a ward.

4. If the Department is extending services to wards 21 and older when they are attending school, all services should be extended (not just some) and they should be extended throughout the entire year (all 12 months, not just the 9 months while school is in session). Any ward accepted to college in or out of state should receive the same funding and services. All wards attending college should be equipped with a laptop.

5. There should be a special category of workers for wards aged 16-21 who are trained to meet the needs of adolescents and who can meet with them frequently to help them prepare for their futures. These caseworkers should be able to advocate effectively for teens in planning for employment and higher education. Too many teens miss out on important opportunities because of well intentioned workers who do not know about programs and benefits available to them.

6. A student’s privacy should not be violated by indiscreet agency contact with the school. No student should be identified as a ward in front of fellow students or have ward status noted on a report card.

7. The Department should review and make a decision on applications for Independent Living on a timely basis. Some teens in the group have been waiting as long as two years after completing required paperwork for a determination.

8. The name "Independent Living" does not accurately describe the program. The name should be changed to something like "Preparation for Adulthood."

9. Workers should understand fully what each permanency goal means. The worker should explain to the child what the permanency options are for him or her, fully describing each of the goals. The conversation should not be rushed, and the worker should continue the discussion until it is clear that the child fully understands each of the goals available to him or her. The worker may suggest which goal is most appropriate for the child, but no child should be pressured into endorsing a permanency goal with which he or she is not comfortable.

10. Workers should talk with wards about permanence, and what it means for them in their lives. This talk should take place at age 12, or when it is developmentally appropriate for that particular child.

11. Frequent placement changes create at least two practical problems for teens that severely impact their ability to succeed academically and with employment. Frequent moves make it difficult, if not impossible, to master schoolwork and establish a record that will gain them admission to college and scholarship support. Frequent changes in placement also leave a teen with no job history that can be put on a resume, and therefore no chance for employment advancement.

12. All wards exiting the system should be provided with basic legal documents such as an original birth certificate and a social security card. All teens starting at age 14 should have access to these documents through their foster parent upon request.

13. Workers should be aware not to say things that make a child feel like they are just a number or system challenge. Workers should never confront young people with their needs to "get the case moving" or "get the case out of the system" in order to meet contract or agency goals.

14. Workers must be trained to be skilled at talking to children about their families.

15. A caseworker should receive better pay, training for current knowledge on programs and supports, and adequate supervision. This would not only improve the caseworker’s performance but also improve the caseworker job to help reduce turnover. A caseworker’s salary should be based on knowledge and experience.

16. Clothing vouchers should not be limited to Sears. Sears offers a limited size range in clothes that makes it difficult for some teens to shop there, and many times needed items such as shoes are so expensive they exhaust too large a portion of the voucher. In addition, the amount of the voucher is too small to meet our needs. Young people should have more choices of retail stores to spend voucher money.

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