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Youth Ages (youth + age)
Selected AbstractsA NOT SO HAPPY BIRTHDAY: THE FOSTER YOUTH TRANSITION FROM ADOLESCENCE INTO ADULTHOODFAMILY COURT REVIEW, Issue 2 2010Miriam Aroni Krinsky Every year close to 25,000 youth age out of our foster care system; without the anchor of a family, former foster youth disproportionately join the ranks of the homeless, incarcerated, and unemployed. While the average age of financial independence in America is twenty-six years of age, we presume that foster youth can somehow attain financial and emotional independence by age eighteen. Instead, these adolescents are woefully unprepared for independent adult life, and when they falter, too often no one is there to provide support or guidance. As a result, former foster youth are ten times more likely to be arrested than youth of the same age, race, and sex and one in four youth who age out of foster care will end up in jail within the first two years after leaving care. This article will discuss strategies for changing these disheartening outcomes for transitioning foster youth, including breaking down our silos and collectively taking charge of the lives of children in our care; keeping a watchful eye on data and outcomes and using that information to guide our actions; ensuring that the voices of youth are an ever-present part of decisions and processes that will chart their future; and educating ourselves about best practices and new approaches. This article also discusses new opportunities that now exist to support foster youth as they move into adulthood, including new federal legislation that,for the first time,will allow states to support foster youth beyond age eighteen. Finally, this article provides a backdrop for this Special Issue and summarizes the insightful articles and innovative thinking contained herein. [source] A CASE FOR REFORM OF THE CHILD WELFARE SYSTEMFAMILY COURT REVIEW, Issue 4 2007Miriam Aroni Krinsky There are more than half a million children in our nation's foster care system. While foster care is intended to provide a temporary safe harbor for abused and neglected children, too many of these youth spend years in foster care limbo,experiencing a turbulent life in motion as they move from placement to placement, community to community, and school to school. Youth in foster care commonly fail to receive basic health and psychological care, and nearly 20,000 youth age out of foster care every year to an adult path of homelessness, unemployment, and despair. Our entire community must work together to more responsibly parent these youth. This article will address how lawyers and child advocates can advocate for new approaches and enhanced support on behalf of the voiceless and most vulnerable members of our community. It will address existing hurdles and systemic challenges that have helped to create the current disheartening status quo. The article will then discuss strategies that advocates can employ to turn the corner on behalf of these youth at risk. [source] Medicaid's Role in Financing Health Care for Children With Behavioral Health Care Needs in the Special Education System: Implications of the Deficit Reduction ActJOURNAL OF SCHOOL HEALTH, Issue 10 2008David S. Mandell ScD ABSTRACT Background:, Recent changes to Medicaid policy may have unintended consequences in the education system. This study estimated the potential financial impact of the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) on school districts by calculating Medicaid-reimbursed behavioral health care expenditures for school-aged children in general and children in special education in particular. Methods:, Medicaid claims and special education records of youth ages 6 to 18 years in Philadelphia, PA, were merged for calendar year 2002. Behavioral health care volume, type, and expenditures were compared between Medicaid-enrolled children receiving and not receiving special education. Results:, Significant overlap existed among the 126,533 children who were either Medicaid enrolled (114,257) or received special education (27,620). Medicaid-reimbursed behavioral health care was used by 21% of children receiving special education (37% of those Medicaid enrolled) and 15% of other Medicaid-enrolled children. Total expenditures were $197.8 million, 40% of which was spent on the 5728 children in special education and 60% of which was spent on 15,092 other children. Conclusions:, Medicaid-reimbursed behavioral health services disproportionately support special education students, with expenditures equivalent to 4% of Philadelphia's $2 billion education budget. The results suggest that special education programs depend on Medicaid-reimbursed services, the financing of which the DRA may jeopardize. [source] Self-Regulation and Its Relations to Adaptive Functioning in Low Income YouthsAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 1 2009John C. Buckner PhD Most studies of self-regulation involving children have linked it to specific outcomes within a single domain of adaptive functioning. The authors examined the association of self-regulation with a range of indices of adaptive functioning among 155 youth ages 8,18 years from families with very low income. Controlling for other explanatory variables, self-regulation was strongly associated with various outcome measures in the areas of mental health, behavior, academic achievement, and social competence. The authors also contrasted youths relatively high and low in self-regulation (the top and bottom quartiles). Youths with good self-regulation had much better indices of adaptive functioning across measures of social competence, academic achievement, grades, problem behaviors, and depression and anxiety than their counterparts with more diminished self-regulatory capacities. In addition, youths with better self-regulation skills stated more adaptive responses both in terms of how they coped with past stressful live events and how they would deal with hypothetical stressors. This study indicates that self-regulation is robustly associated with a range of important indices of adaptive functioning across many domains. Findings are discussed in light of their implications for theory and intervention for children of diverse economic backgrounds. [source] Validity of the home and community social behavior scales: Comparisons with five behavior-rating scalesPSYCHOLOGY IN THE SCHOOLS, Issue 4 2001Kenneth W. Merrell Three separate studies focusing on convergent and discriminant validity evidence for the Home and Community Social Behavior Scales are presented. The HCSBS is a 65-item social behavior-rating scale for use by parents and caretakers of children and youth ages 5,18. It is a parent-rating version of the School Social Behavior Scales. Within these studies, relationships with five behavior-rating scales were examined: the Social Skills Rating System, Conners Parent Rating Scale,Revised-Short Form, Child Behavior Checklist, and the child and adolescent versions of the Behavior Assessment System for Children. HCSBS Scale A, Social Competence, evidenced strong positive correlations with measures of social skills and adaptability, strong negative correlations with measures of externalizing behavior problems, and modest negative correlations with measures of internalizing and atypical behavior problems. HCSBS Scale B, Antisocial Behavior, evidenced strong positive correlations with measures of externalizing behavior problems, modest positive correlations with measures of internalizing and atypical behavior problems, and strong negative correlations with measures of social skills and adaptability. These results support the HCSBS as a measure of social competence and antisocial behavior of children and youth. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [source] | ||||||||||