This summer, 12 youth formerly in foster care traveled to Washington, D.C. to participate in a Congressional internship. The Foster Youth Internship Program (FYI) began in 2003 and is overseen by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute. During their time in Washington, interns reviewed policy issues affecting children in foster care across the nation. Drawing from their research, as well as their own experience growing up in the foster care system, interns created a policy report, which was presented during a Congressional briefing and released to child welfare advocates across he country.

The FYI program gives these youth a platform for their voices and experiences to be heard in order to solve challenges they and other children in foster care face. Federal policymakers see firsthand what youth in foster care experience, enabling them to use that knowledge to drive legislative change.

Below is the list of topics chosen by the FYI participants. Click here to view the entire proposal and recommendations.

• Giving Youth a Voice: Contact after Involuntary Termination of Parental Rights by Jane Krienke
• Increasing Stability and Permanency for Infants and Toddlers in Care by Robert Parsons
• Essential Documentation For Youth in Care by Dominique Freeman
• Addressing the Trauma: Treating Children’s Mental Health with Screening and Assessments by Emily Satifka
• Creating Best Practice Standards for the Intersection of Immigration Enforcement and the Child Welfare System by Samuel Leiva
• Renewing the System’s Commitment to Child Well Being: Fostering Resilience through Trauma Informed Training by Amnoni Myers
• Providing Comfort and Information to Children Transitioning into the System by Kellie Henderson
• Stolen Pasts, Corrupted Futures: Preventing Identity Theft for Youth in Foster Care by Kaylia Ervin
• Empowering Foster Youth through Case Plan Trainings to Increase Youth’s Acceptance Rate of Extended Foster Care by Darrah Hall
• Helping Foster Youth Overcome Barriers to Employment by Wilondja Muyoma
• Improving Educational Outcomes for Foster Youth: Special Education and Mental Health by Ta’Kijah Randolph

Children and youth who grow up in the foster care system are the true experts on how the system performs and what areas need improvement. At KVC, we lead the nation in child welfare improvements and have already integrated several of the topics listed above into our continuum of service. Staff and foster families are trained in Trauma Systems Therapy (TST), young adults make lifetime connections through the LIFE program, and our children’s psychiatric hospitals offer comprehensive assessments and treatment goals to treat children with varying emotional, behavioral and psychiatric symptoms. KVC also continually looks for ways to integrate “youth voice and choice” to ensure we have input from the children and teens our programs serve. We exist to help children and families in crisis, because people matter.