Follow-Up Letter to the Administration for Children and Families

Ryan Hanlon,

Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with us while we were in Washington D.C. 

We deeply appreciate your time, and the thoughtfulness you demonstrated by connecting by phone with one of our youth leaders who had forgotten to bring his Real ID. 

Our time in DC was truly rewarding, including our meeting with HUD, during which our meeting was initially with four staff members, but we ended up connecting with twelve. This exemplifies HUD's commitment to our population. They value and remember the role of Ohio foster care youth and alumni in designing FYI vouchers.

Upon our return home to Ohio, we met with Director Kara Wente of the Department of Children and Youth. We shared out about our time in DC, and she and her team offered support to us in reaching our goals on a statewide level. It is wonderful to have such local support - and the dedication that she and her team demonstrates is why Ohio spends down our Chafee and ETV allocations for the benefit of transitioning youth. 

Please let us know if we can be helpful to you and your work. We would love to encourage other states to share Ohio’s sense of urgency when it comes to spending down Chafee and ETV allotments. It is vitally important for every state in the nation to prioritize measurable, long-term youth outcomes in housing stability, financial literacy,  and career pipelines rather than allowing funds to get caught in bureaucratic stagnation.

Likewise, as A Home for Every Child moves forward, we will be working within our state to ensure robust training for foster parents, including and especially specialized training for foster parents who focus on ages 12-17. We have been laying the groundwork for years: 

• Life Skills: Essential Elements of Interdependence – A Learning Pathway for Resource Families was created by the Ohio University Consortium for Child and Adult Services (OUCCAS), in collaboration with the Overcoming Hurdles in Ohio Youth Advisory Board (OHIO YAB) and ACTION Ohio.

• Courses and activities within this professional development pathway are designed to help foster parents and kinship caregivers gain necessary knowledge and skills to assist youth skill development, which will promote a successful transition to interdependence.

• Youth voice has been, and remains, key in the creation and continued development of the Life Skills Pathway, including identifying the Essential Elements of Interdependence, mapping out Essential Resources for each category, designing badges for each category and creating a menu of Life Skills Activities for caregivers to share with youth at home. 

• Ohio youth leaders have also been empowered to review trainings within this pathway to offer feedback and suggestions. One of the young people you met in D.C. (Raven Grice) helped build this pathway, and is now writing curriculum of her own as a certified statewide trainer through the Ohio Child Welfare Training Program. 

Thanks once again for your time.