Empowering Foster Youth: Promoting Educational Advocacy

Support for foster and systems-impacted youth

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

Foster youth often lack vital systemic support upon leaving the child-welfare system, resulting in negative outcomes in adulthood. On a given night in LA, 3,000+ young adults experience homelessness--31% of whom report previous or current involvement in child welfare. California's overall high school graduation rate for youth stands at 83%. However, for students in foster care, only 53% graduate on time. Homelessness rates among foster youth exceed those of the general youth population, ranging from 11% to 38%. Within California’s prisons, 28% of inmates have been in foster care. Children in LA's child welfare and juvenile justice systems are historically BIPOC and low-income by HUD standards. Additionally, LA's massive population and immense geographic space results in the finite resources within our county are not distributed equally. A large portion of LA's systems-impacted youth live in the Antelope Valley, where less services for youth are offered compared to other areas of LA.

The Antelope Valley is a resource desert within one of the most populated counties in the US. Residents can travel up to thirty minutes by car to reach grocery stores, and others up to eight hours by public transit. This May, CASA opened our new Antelope Valley Community Hub for vulnerable youth. The renovated office includes a resource room for both families and CASAs, visitation rooms, training classrooms, a game room, a kitchen/dining area, and more. More than being a place of belonging and sanctuary for young people, it is also a vital lifeline for families and CASAs working tirelessly to navigate the complexities of the system. Foster children also face major educational obstacles; roughly 50% of foster youth in LA County graduate from high school and only 3% graduate from college. Educational Advocacy (EA), one of our primary programs, prioritizes the education of CASA youth. Specially-trained volunteers provide assessment, support, and advocacy services that address educational issues and needs and—in partnership with schools—develop effective strategies to address those needs. LA2050’s grant will enhance the hub’s capacity to expand educational and professional milestones and increase future volunteer recruitment. With the additional funding, the hub can expand its services, ensuring more families and young people receive the support they deserve. It would support the EA program, funding Advocate Supervisors to advise future educational advocates for LA foster youth.

Data from National CASA confirms that our youth are less likely to reenter the child welfare system than their peers without a CASA and are more likely to: perform better in school (i.e. get better grades, are more likely to graduate, and less likely to be expelled); achieve permanency; be reunited with their birth parents; be adopted; be linked to vital, coordinated services; and demonstrate higher levels of hope--which is linked to other positive outcomes such as academic success, overall wellbeing, increases in self-control, positive social relationships and optimism. We are confident that increasing our presence will further these amazing milestones for more children countywide. CASA/LA envisions a LA County where everyone, regardless of their background, placement, or history with the child welfare system, has the tools, support systems, and resources needed for them to succeed in all their future endeavors and break the cyclic nature of the child welfare system.

We measure impact through qualitative and quantitative data through our Efforts-to-Outcomes system (ETO). Supervisors regularly communicate with CASA volunteers to ensure that a youth’s needs are met. These include psychological, emotional, physical, and educational needs. Over the past fiscal year, 66% of CASA children have shown improved educational outcomes. Of the 323 CASA cases that closed last year, 81% of CASA youth experienced improved permanency outcomes; 86% of CASA youth experienced improved or maintained physical health outcomes; 71% of CASA youth experienced improved mental health outcomes.CASA/LA aims to recruit 200 new CASAs in addition to the ~1000 CASA that we currently support to serve 1100 children. Across all programming, we seek to reduce risks and increase positive outcomes for over 75% of impacted children, strengthen community partnerships, increase child referrals, promote educational opportunities for CASAs, and link CASA youth to more life-affirming services.