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COLLABORATION OF AGENCIES FOR PERMANENCY AND STABILITY CAPS PROJECT KICKOFF

COLLABORATION OF AGENCIES FOR PERMANENCY AND STABILITY CAPS PROJECT KICKOFF Thursday, January 12 th , 2012 — Mid-America Center. Project Description: The purpose of the CAPS project is to address the educational stability problems of youth in or at-risk of entering foster care.

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COLLABORATION OF AGENCIES FOR PERMANENCY AND STABILITY CAPS PROJECT KICKOFF

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  1. COLLABORATION OF AGENCIES FOR PERMANENCY AND STABILITY CAPS PROJECT KICKOFF Thursday, January 12th, 2012 — Mid-America Center

  2. Project Description: The purpose of the CAPS project is to address the educational stability problems of youth in or at-risk of entering foster care. Youth in or at-risk of entering foster care will benefit from more seamless transitions and greater permanency, along with experiencing less reentry into the system. The project will test this model in two Western Iowa counties in order to assess the merits of implementing the model across the state. • Project partners believe this model will: • Increase focus on education within the legal system; • Increase education system awareness of youth needs and transition problems; and • Increase high school graduation rates and post-secondary entries.

  3. Our MissionCollaborate with agencies to facilitate change in policies, procedures, practices, and programs, to increase permanency and stability, promote academic excellence and achievement, and reduce reentry into the system.Our VisionInstitutions serving Iowa’s youth in foster care align their policies and procedures to provide the best possible educational outcomes for all youth in foster care.

  4. Project Goals and Objectives: To provide more seamless educational transitions, increase permanency for youth, and reduce reentry into the system, CAPS will: Raise awareness of education-related issues within the child welfare, education, and legal communities, beginning with a kick-off conference featuring a nationally-recognized expert; 2. Create electronic academic records shared across the three systems, and; 3. Provide Education Advocates to help youth and their families navigate educational systems successfully.

  5. Target Population: The Collaboration of Agencies for Permanency and Stability (CAPS) intends to address educational stability problems in Iowa‘s Woodbury and Pottawattamie Counties. Youth in the service area face great challenges to academic excellence and barriers to educational achievement. The two counties have high foster care placement rates and these youth face even greater challenges. CAPS will serve youth ages 13 and older in the child welfare system. CAPS anticipates serving 100-200 youth during the 18-month project period.

  6. Goal 1. Coordinate and institutionalize communication among child welfare, legal, and educational systems to maximize educational stability for youth in the child welfare system.

  7. Goal 2. Develop data-sharing capacity using integrated record-keeping and data exchanges across systems that support the educational stability of youth in foster care.

  8. Goal 3. Develop educational policies, protocols, and data-sharing agreements within counties in the project service area to minimize disruption caused by school transfers.

  9. Goal 4. Define and implement recruitment and training of qualified volunteers to serve as Education Advocates for youth in the child welfare system and their families.

  10. Goal 5. Provide resource materials and regular updates regarding collaborative efforts to the child welfare, education, and legal communities. www.iowacapsproject.org

  11. Sustainability Partners in this project and other key stakeholders have expressed their strong commitment to this project which is an excellent first step toward sustainability. Representatives from the child welfare, legal, and education communities will serve as the project oversight committee. One important item on the committee‘s agenda is planning for sustainability after grant funding ends. The committee will use the quarterly evaluation reports to guide the project, modifying and adjusting activities if warranted to ensure that the project reaches its goals and objectives. If evaluations report the expected overall project success, stakeholders have committed to pursuing statewide implementation of the project model. In that case, statewide implementation sustains and expands the project. The Iowa Department of Education will sustain and maintain the cross-system user interface to academic records that this project designs, and the local project described in this application will complete successfully with no further need for grant funding for this part of the project.

  12. Expected Opportunities • Expected Opportunities Include: • Timeliness of Data Sharing • Increase Child/ED Advocacy • Increased Educational Attainment • Inter-Agency Collaboration • Precedent for State-Wide Model • What we’re excited about: • Development of Common Language • Utilizing Technologies

  13. Expected Challenges • Expected Challenges Include: • Jurisdictional Issues • Technological Issues • Cross-Over/Credit Transfer Pathways • Time • Overcoming Challenges: • Project Kick-Off Conference • MOU/Formal Agreements • Oversight Committee Guidance • Program Evaluations/Measurements

  14. The Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins With a Single Step. - Lao-tzu

  15. Next Steps • Loss of Academic Credits and Transcript Errors • Information Sharing • Course and Graduation Discrepancies • Timing of Transitions • Youth Perspective “Having a good discussion is like having riches” -Kenyan Proverb

  16. David Gleiser CAPS Project Coordinator (712) 635-0839 david.gleiser@hotmail.com www.iowacapsproject.org

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