Across the state, foster parent recruitment has been a hot topic. As California pursues an ambitious slate of congregate-care reforms, many counties are looking for ways to increase the number and quality of foster homes.
Some of the 60,000 children in California currently placed in out-of-home care have experienced stable homes with supportive foster parents. Many others, though, have seen multiple placements and homes that have not always been loving or healthy.
For the third part in our series on the policy recommendations of California foster youth, California Youth Connection (CYC) advocates Miguel Aguilar and Rosalinda Paiz suggest ways the state can improve foster-parent accountability and reduce the number of placement changes that many foster youth face. Some of their ideas to improve the experience of youth in care include foster-parent evaluations, training and financial accountability.
To learn more about their policy recommendations, check out the video below. (You can watch the other parts of our series by clicking here.)
Video credit: Bryan Curiel and Holden Slattery