Siblings in Foster Care Get Help from USM's Muskie School

Editor's Note: Youth leaders have created a Web site for the Maine Youth Leadership Advisory Team that describes policy and legislative efforts of the team. See www.ylat.usm.maine.edu For more information about the YLAT and the Muskie School's Youth Leadership and Mentoring Projects, please contact YLAT coordinator Penthea Burns at USM, 780-5861.

Young people in foster care on the Maine Youth Leadership Advisory Team (YLAT), have been working with staff at the Muskie School at the University of Southern Maine on addressing their top issues.

Many youth in YLAT have experienced separation from siblings when they came into foster care, with few opportunities for visitation. With the support of the Youth Leadership and Mentoring Project staff at the Muskie School's Institute for Public Sector Innovation (IPSI), they will partner with other community members to bring a summer camp for siblings separated by foster care or adoption to Maine.

Many YLAT proposals have been well received by the Maine Department of Human Services. At the request of Karen Westburg, Director of the DHS Bureau of Child and Family Services, the YLAT is drafting the first DHS policy regarding the care of siblings in the foster care system. YLAT anticipates completing the first draft of the Sibling Policy this summer.

The YLAT, which is coordinated by IPSI staff, has had substantial impact on recent legislation and policy. Members of YLAT provided powerful testimony that helped passage of P.L. 2657: Tuition Waiver at State Post-Secondary Educational Institutions for Persons Who Have Resided in Foster Care, which was enacted in September 2000. This law provides youth in care that graduate high school or obtain a GED while in care the opportunity to have their tuition waived if they are planning to attend one of the University of Maine System institutions, a Maine Technical College System institution or the Maine Maritime Academy.

The YLAT has also provided insight into the impact of child abuse and neglect and the work of the Department of Human Services through their testimony to the Maine Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee and to a Special Legislative Commission to Study Child Abuse. Members of YLAT continue to be available to bring personal insight and human understanding to complex social and family problems. This aids the state government as they seek to make effective policies on behalf of children and families.

Additionally, the YLAT participated in the revision of the Department of Human Services' (DHS) "Extension/Termination of Care at Age 18" (V9) policy. The V9 policy governs how DHS staff will offer and provide support to youth in care between the ages of 18 and 21 to enable them to successfully transition out of care. The YLAT members worked with DHS personnel to develop a revised policy that is more flexible and responsive to the needs of the individual youth and gives each youth a greater voice in decisions about his/her care.