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CWLA 2009 Children's Legislative Agenda
Helping Vulnerable Young People
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For the past seven years, CWLA has consistently reported
that child maltreatment researchers and practitioners, as
well as those in the field of criminal justice, have been
increasingly concerned about the long-term negative consequences
of child abuse and neglect and the increased likelihood
of abused and neglected youth to become involved in
the juvenile justice system. Although the evidence does not
suggest that any single factor accounts for the development
of criminal behavior, experts increasingly recognize the
importance of childhood victimization as a risk factor for
subsequent delinquency and violence.
The research presented in CWLA's Understanding Child
Maltreatment and Juvenile Delinquency: From Research to
Effective Program Practice and Systemic Solutions provides
undeniable evidence that victims of childhood maltreatment
are at risk of entering the juvenile justice system and becoming
tomorrow's serious and violent offenders. Children who
are abused and neglected are not only more likely than other
children to commit delinquent acts as adolescents and crimes
as adults, but they are also more likely to experience a range
of mental health, substance abuse, occupational, and educational
deficiencies during adolescence and adulthood.
The fact that maltreatment is not inevitably associated
with delinquency legitimizes the necessity for child welfare
and juvenile justice systems to work in a coordinated
and integrated manner. The overwhelming conclusion
from this body of research is that to improve the wellbeing
of our nation's most disadvantaged and traumatized
children and youth, and to see sustained reductions in
child maltreatment and delinquency, we must improve the
coordination and integration of the child welfare and juvenile
justice systems.
The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act
The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act
(JJDPA) is a federal initiative designed to help state and
local governments and private nonprofit agencies in supporting
and initiating programs that prevent and treat juvenile delinquency. Many public and private facilities
nationwide provide custody and care for children who are
wards of juvenile courts, juvenile corrections, or other public
or private agencies. These facilities represent a spectrum
of residential programs for accused or adjudicated
delinquents and status offenders-youths detained for
offenses that would not be crimes if they were adults,
such as running away or truancy.
Established in 1974, and authorized most recently in
2002, JJDPA is based on a broad consensus that children,
youth, and families involved with the juvenile and criminal
courts should be guarded by federal standards for care and
custody, while also upholding community safety and preventing
victimization.
The connection between child maltreatment and later
involvement with the juvenile justice system is well documented.
A growing body of research undeniably establishes
the connection between all forms of child maltreatment-neglect,
physical, and sexual abuse-and the risk of subsequent
involvement in delinquency and the juvenile justice system.
Recommendations
Long-Term Actions:
- Congress should provide further leadership and guidance
to the nationwide implementation of reforms on
behalf of this significant population of disadvantaged
youth and families. CWLA has proposed language that
would promote improved action.
- The new Administration and Congress should strengthen
the coordination, and improve protocols and procedures
between the delinquency and dependent systems.
- The new Administration and Congress should provide
for the compilation of data on juveniles entering the
juvenile justice system with a prior history as victims of
child abuse or neglect.
- The new Administration should undertake an analysis of
necessary services for the prevention and treatment for
these youth, and use the analysis to plan for providing
such services.
Youth Transitioning Out of Foster Care
Certainly there is no group of America's youth more deserving
of Congress' attention than those in foster care or who
leave foster care after turning 18. Some 20,000 to 25,000
young people exit the foster care system annually. These
young people leave care simply because there is an age limit
on federal funding. Although some states extend this support
beyond age 18, and the John H. Chaffee Independent Living
Program offers limited funding for transitional services to
these young people, all too often the end result is that foster
children find themselves on their own at 18.
Most youth enter out-of-home care as a result of abuse,
neglect, or exploitation. Young people transitioning out of
foster care are affected significantly by the instability that
accompanies long periods of out-of-home placement during
childhood and adolescence. They often find themselves truly
on their own, with few if any financial resources, no place to
live, and little or no support from family, friends, or community.
Their experiences place them at higher risk for unemployment,
poor educational outcomes, health issues, early
parenthood, long-term dependency on public assistance,
increased rates of incarceration, and homelessness. The
resulting harm to the youth, their communities, and society
at large is unacceptably high.
The Chafee program helps states provide services to
young people as they age out of foster care. The program
helps eligible children make the transition to self-sufficiency
through such services as assistance in earning a high
school diploma, support in career exploration, vocational
training, job placement and retention, and training in daily
living skills. The program allows up to 30% of funds to be
used for room and board. Chafee is a capped entitlement of
$140 million.
Congress also authorized an additional $60 million in
discretionary funds in 2001 for education and training
vouchers for youth eligible for the Foster Care Independence
Program, as well as youth adopted from foster care after
age 16. The Education and Training Vouchers (ETV) program
provides assistance of up to $5,000 per year for the
cost of attending an institution of higher education for youth
who age out of foster care or are adopted after age 16. The
ETV program began receiving funds in 2003 at $42 million,
with current funding at $45 million.
The newly enacted Fostering Connections Act includes
significant reforms affecting youth aging out or about to age
out of foster care, including an option for states to increase
the age of eligibility for Title-IV-E foster care assistance up
to age 21, and requiring a transition plan for all youth 18
or older to be developed with young people during the 90
days before exiting care. This plan is as detailed as the
youth chooses, and must include specific options on housing,
health insurance, education, local opportunities for
mentoring, continuing support services, workforce supports,
and employment services. The legislation extends protections
and requirements already in place for younger children
in care to apply to youth 18-21, and allows states to extend
adoption assistance and guardianship payments on behalf of
youth ages 19-21 if they entered care after age 16.
Adolescents in foster care are at higher risk for continuing
medical problems, which are exacerbated by multiple
placements, lack of continuity of intervention and recordkeeping,
and declining emphasis on preventive measures,
such as immunizations, as they enter adolescence.
Adolescents in foster care report low levels of trust in
adults and the service system, which may prevent them
from accessing health care and other services.
Immediately following statutory discharge from the foster
care system, young people experience tremendous problems
both in terms of their health status and in their ability
to access health services. Because health coverage ends at
emancipation, young people lose both routine preventive
care and care for chronic medical conditions.
The mental health of former foster youth is also a critical
issue, with mental health services the number one
health care need for this population. More than 13 million
children in the United States have a diagnosable mental
disorder. A substantial number of children and youth experience
substance abuse or co-occurring disorders. Nearly
43% of youth who receive mental health services have been
diagnosed with co-occurring disorders. Between 75% and
80% of children and youth, however, do not receive the
mental health services they need.
Securing and maintaining employment are critical factors
in achieving self-sufficiency in early adulthood. Youth
who must leave foster care at age 18 often are still in high
school. If they have been able to secure employment at all,
most are still in entry-level positions.
Young people exiting foster care are at greater risk for
homelessness than are youth in general. In New York, for
example, research found that half of the homeless young
people who came to shelters had previously lived in a foster
home, a group home, or other setting provided by the child
welfare system. Nationally, as many as 25% of youth leaving
foster care experience homelessness during the year following
emancipation.
Some children in foster care may be eligible for Social
Security benefits as a survivor of a parent, or through the
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. States have
had the right to determine and qualify these children and
youth who are eligible for benefits and then claim the benefits
to help offset the cost of Title IV-E payments. Legislation
introduced in the 110th Congress would redirect these
efforts. Under these proposals, states would determine
when a child or young person is eligible for Social Security
or SSI benefits and then reserve those benefits in an
account for that young person. The state would help these
young people plan the future use of these benefits. Such a
change could be of significant assistance to eligible young
people leaving foster care. Enacted as part of a large
finance proposal, such changes could also be done without
undercutting state funding of child welfare.
Recommendations
Short-Term Actions:
- The new Administration must act quickly, with guidance
and regulation, to assist states in implementing the
reforms contained in the Fostering Connections Act
related to youth.
Long-Term Actions:
- Congress and the new Administration should significantly
increase funding for the Chafee Foster Care
Independence Program.
- The new Administration needs to sustain long-term support
for this vulnerable population of young people. This
will ensure that their long-term developmental needs
are met and they have the skill set and knowledge base
to access the services they will need during and after
the transition to adulthood.
- The child welfare system, including federal, state, and
local governments, and agencies and the communities
they serve, must ensure that all young people, regardless
of their cultural, ethnic, or racial identity, receive
services that address the full spectrum of their needs in
a manner that reflects the cultural strengths of their
families and communities.
- Congress should amend Title II of the Social Security
Act to assist states in determining Supplemental
Security Income (SSI) and Social Security eligibility for
foster children and to allow these foster children to
have an account and a plan that will help them toward
transition to adulthood.
Teenage Pregnancy and Youth in the Child Welfare System
By age 19, nearly half of surveyed females in foster care
have been pregnant, compared with 20% of their counterparts
not in foster care. Adolescent childbearing, in combination
with other preexisting factors, is linked to negative consequences
for mother and child, and to significant costs to
society. Just over half of teenage mothers complete high
school during adolescence or early adulthood, and they are
likely to have limited employment opportunities, live in poverty,
and depend on welfare. Teen childbearing costs taxpayers
$9.1 billion annually; $2.3 billion of these costs fall on the
child welfare system because children born to teen mothers
are at increased risk of ending up in foster care and CPS.
Young people, including youth in foster care, need
access to comprehensive reproductive health and family
planning services. Medicaid provides an array of family
planning services to individuals of reproductive age. At least
17 states have taken the Chafee option in the Foster Care
Independence Act that allows the extension of Medicaid to
age 21 for former foster youth. Despite this progress, more
comprehensive health coverage, including family planning
services through Medicaid, is necessary. A 2007 survey of former foster youth found that only one-third of females and
one-fifth of males had received either family planning services
or information about birth control in the last couple of
years.
Since 1970 the federal family planning program, Title X
of the Public Health Service Act, has provided resources for
health services and counseling to low-income or uninsured
individuals who may otherwise lack access to health care.
Title X supports a network of 4,400 family planning clinics
nationwide that provide clinical services to prevent unintended
pregnancies, lower rates of HIV and other sexually
transmitted diseases, detect breast and cervical cancer at
the earliest stages, and improve women's overall health.
Unfortunately, Title X has been systematically underfunded
over the years; there have been no increases in its funding
to offset health care inflation and the growing demand for
subsidized family planning services.
Recommendations
Long-Term Actions:
- Congress and the new Administration should ensure
that youth in foster care receive well-coordinated health
care, including family planning services. As youth age
out of the foster care system, Medicaid coverage and
family planning services should continue until at least
age 21 to help promote a healthy adulthood.
- Congress and the new Administration should encourage
teen pregnancy prevention programs to serve youth in
foster care and to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions
for them; invest in research and demonstration
projects to develop or adapt teen pregnancy prevention
interventions for youth in foster care and those aging
out; and ensure that foster parents, other caretakers,
independent living staff, and other child welfare staff
receive training to communicate with foster teens about
relationships and pregnancy prevention, and are linked
with relevant community resources.
- Congress and the new Administration should increase
funding for the Title X family planning program, while
maintaining its status as a categorical federal program
that mandates informed patient consent and provides
confidentiality protection.
- Congress and the new Administration should support
funding for effective comprehensive health and sex
education that is medically accurate and includes information
about abstinence.
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