Federal Dollars That Are About to Disappear Helped New York City Get Kids Out of Foster Care Much More Quickly

Michael Fitzgerald - The Chronicle of Social Change

"According to a new evaluation from a top research institute, New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) may have figured out one way to do that: Hire more case planners for foster youth," says this article from the Chronicle of Social Change. “Having fewer cases allows our case planners to really take time to build those relationships, which I think leads to better outcomes for children and families," said Meridith Sopher, vice president of foster care for the nonprofit Sheltering Arms.

The scheme is part of New York State's Strong Families New York City project, which "focused on hiring more case planners and supervisors as a principal driver of lowering foster care caseloads. The waiver also helped pay for attachment therapy for youth in care, to train case planners to incorporate trauma therapy techniques, and a new needs assessment tool for youth in care longer than 30 days."