Foster Care System Reform

Child and youth well-being is inextricably linked to the wellbeing of families and communities. Families need equitable access to safe and affordable housing, family support services, healthcare, and nutritious food. Child well-being is also undermined by trauma and violence. Children today are growing up in an unceasing climate of gun violence, racial violence, gender violence, economic inequality, and environmental devastation.

If we are to truly move toward justice as a community, we must be prepared for the deep engagement, vulnerability, and relational work this moment requires, and not fall back on punitive and reactionary responses. Vermont must improve transitional support to young adults, especially those launching into adulthood with the deck stacked against them: former foster youth, BIPOC, LGBTQI+, and those raised in economically disadvantaged families.

Cost of Inaction

  • 86% of US child trafficking survivors experienced foster care,

  • 60% of young people arrested have had foster care involvement,

  • 47% of older youth in foster care do not graduate high school on time,

  • 97% of older foster youth do not graduate college,

  • 51% of young people without housing have experienced foster care.

  • Former foster children are almost twice as likely as US war veterans and five times more likely than the general population to suffer from PTSD.

Solutions:

1. Prevent foster care involvement by removing key family stressors like economic insecurity, and provide trauma-informed, culturally responsive support programs.

  • Increase family income security through safety net programs, workforce protections like paid leave, and anti-poverty tax credits.

  • Design a system of child and parent legal representation to assist both parents and children in child protection proceedings.

  • Mindset shift from mandated reporter to mandated supporter.

2. Provide financial and program support for youth exiting foster care

  • Create a new $1,000 refundable credit for former foster youth, ages 18 to 26.

  • Create a universal basic income program for youth exiting foster care who may not otherwise have the resources needed to establish themselves in an independent living situation.

  • Support educational attainment with post secondary school financial assistance.

  • End the practice of the state keeping federal benefits that belong to youth in state custody - essentially charging youth for providing care. Instead, these funds should be put in trust so that when the youth exits foster care they have resources for housing, education, or other transitional needs.

3. Strengthen protections for the civil rights of youth and families.

  • Ensure adequate legal representation for parents and youth in child protection proceedings (CHINS hearings).

  • Implement measures to reduce the use of seclusion and restraint on children in state custody and residential care.

Active Legislation

  • A bill proposing universal basic income payments for youth exiting foster care.

  • This bill proposes to provide financial assistance for room and board expenses at residential postsecondary schools in Vermont to residents of the State who are or were in the custody of the state.

  • This bill proposes to require post secondary schools in Vermont to designate an official liaison to students experiencing homelessness and students exiting the foster care system, as well as develop policies requiring priority housing and class enrollment options and fee waivers for such students.

  • A proposal to save federal benefits for youth in state custody in trust funds established for their later use rather than the state receiving and keeping the benefits.

  • This bill proposes to create a working group to design a system of child and parent legal representation to assist both parents and children in CHINS proceedings.

  • This bill proposes to reduce the use of seclusion and restraint on children and youth who are in the custody of the Department for Children and Families and participating in a residential program.