Foster Care

Prevention #2: 
Collaborate across IDHW Divisions to epxand services to youth residing in out-of-home placements, foster care, and adoptive family homes.

Sponsored by:

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Project Information

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The IBHC Foster Care Implementation Team originally identified four action items: Mentorship opportunities for youth in out-of-home placements and at risk of being removed from the home (to prevent re-entry); Improve engagement for caregivers (bio/foster/kinship/adoptive families) to access existing support to prevent burnout and disruptive placement; Identify opportunities to minimize disruption to education involvement for children placed in out-of-home care; and Platform for connecting faith-based communities with opportunities to meet tangible needs of Idaho families.

The action item for the faith-based connection platform remains as is, but the other three action items have been merged into a new action item as part of the project to implement the Idaho Community Resource Network. The ICRN is built around two integrated platforms: findhelpidaho.org and 211 Idaho CareLine. This “no wrong door” network will provide a robust database of resources for Idahoans seeking assistance. An additional action item was added to evaluate the effectiveness of foster care prevention strategies through the ICRN.

• Use findhelpidaho.org to connect families and youth to resources, with identified priorities including youth mentorship, caregiver support, and academic support – Three new teams were created to implement the Idaho Community Resource Network: Leadership and Stakeholder Engagement, Resource Development & Validation, and Public Outreach & Awareness.  Members were recruited from existing IBHC implementation teams, DHW, and other community partners. FindHelpIdaho had an existing steering committee, but they incorporated that role to the new ICRN Leadership Team and the two were merged.  The RD&V team was charged with identifying resources to serve priority populations and verifying their status on findhelpidaho.org. Both the RD&V and PO&A teams are reaching out to program providers to optimize their listings on FindHelpIdaho.org. The PO&A team is also supporting a multi-pronged campaign to schools in conjunction with SDE. This campaign includes work from the PARS team to encourage schools to post findhelpidaho.org on their website. 

• Platform for connecting faith-based communities with opportunities to meet tangible needs of Idaho families. This action item, led by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Division of Family and Community Partnerships, contracted with Eastern Washington University to recruit faith-based organizations and implement a platform that will allow these organizations to offer tangible support to foster families. This platform will eventually integrate with the 211 and findhelpidaho.org.

• Evaluate and monitor foster care prevention strategies through the Idaho Community Resource Network Framework, ensuring consistent reporting and sharing of outcomes with stakeholders – Work on this action item has not yet started.