Support for Teens and Resource Families of Teens
When youth in out of home care turn 16, they begin working with their social worker and other mentors like you to establish realistic and achievable goals as part of their transition. Youth also participate in the Transitional Age Youth (TAY) – This program helps them build skills needed to live independently. Social workers discuss goals for college, employment, housing, and help them make decisions about exiting care or entering extended care.
Rewards to Caring for a Teen
You can often see the results to the care and stability you invest in a teen in real time. Through your care, you will see older children learn skills and gain experiences they may have never known before: learning to ride a bike, cook, drive, study, and make plans for a job or college, each a building block for their future. You may teach them how to do their laundry and immediately they are able to use that skill to their benefit. Your unconditional commitment to a teen both supports them and our community, as they become emerging young adults, ready to contribute to their own wellbeing and that of our community.
Did You Know, Teens in Care
Teens in out of home care are extremely vulnerable. Statistics show that 50% of youth aging out of care will become homeless and a large percent will end up incarcerated. We also know that teens in out of home care are a leading target of human and sex trafficking. Only a tiny percent will actually have received a college degree by the age of 26.
As one of the most vulnerable populations in Ventura County, we need unconditionally committed families who will walk alongside these youth, for the sake of love and community care.
Support for Teens and Resource Families of Teens
When youth in out of home care turn 16, they begin working with their social worker and other mentors like you to establish realistic and achievable goals as part of their transition. Youth also participate in the Independent Living Program (ILP) – This program helps them build skills needed to live independently. Social workers discuss goals for college, employment, housing, and help them make decisions about exiting care or entering extended care.
What's Next?
Become a Host Home
Older youth who choose to participate in Extended Foster Care may seek to live with a resource family. This continued family relationship is highly valuable and provides youth the added time and support that they need to develop their independent living skills as they continue to mature and seek stability. Under this arrangement, the foster parents will continue to receive the approved basic rate (plus any other allowable special reimbursements). Homes with Heart VC is always looking for additional host homes.
Extended Foster Care also takes seriously the need by all young adults to have family networks committed to their wellbeing and success.
