CFSP 5 Year Plan - RI Department of Children, Youth & Families

Chafee Foster Care Independence Program Plan 2010-2014
The Department for Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), is the state agency
responsible for the administration, supervision and oversight of all programs and services
required and funded under the CFCIP Program, including the NYTD requirements and the
ETV program. As such, DCYF is responsible for providing youth in foster care and
formerly in foster care with youth development services and supports to help them
transition to adulthood and to achieve permanency and self-sufficiency. DCYF is
committed to assisting all youth who are leaving the Department’s care prepare to enter
adulthood successfully.
While successful to some degree, DCYF recognizes that our CFCIP service
delivery system can and must be improved in order to increase positive outcomes for
youth in care and youth exiting care. DCYF has determined that the most effective way to
accomplish this is to develop and implement a Consolidated Youth Services (CYS)
Program which will be funded through a combination of federal CFCIP dollars and state
general revenue dollars. The program will be operated and managed by a nongovernmental,
community-based agency to be identified through a competitive bidding
process.
Through this program, DCYF seeks to provide comprehensive youth development
services, directly or through access to existing services funded through other agencies,
which address the employment, educational and life skills needs of youth who have a
variety of strengths and challenges. Through the CYS Program, it is the intent of DCYF to
assist each youth in achieving the highest level of education, employment and selfsufficiency
possible based on individual strengths and abilities, in preparation for
permanency, independence and successful adulthood. This program will also be
responsible for assisting the Department in implementing the requirements of the National
Youth in Transition Database which will support the Department’s cooperation in national
evaluations of the effects of programs in achieving the purposes of the CFCIP.
The CYS Program will be designed to ensure that older youth in the care and
custody of the Department are provided the tools, resources and opportunities which will
increase the likelihood that they will successfully transition from DCYF care. Services
will be available to all youth age 16-20 who are in foster care or who were in foster care
after their 16 th birthday, including youth who left foster care for kinship guardianship or
adoption after their 16 th birthday. It is anticipated that youth who are in foster care and are
younger than age 16 will primarily obtain similar services through their foster parents
and/or the residential programs in which they reside. However, when appropriate,
younger youth could be served through the CFCIP funded services. Chafee ETV
eligibility is discussed in that section.
The Department anticipates that the following direct and/or indirect services will be
included in the CYS Program:
• Support Services to Youth, including services focused on assisting youth with
transitioning to self-sufficiency, and Adolescent Support services to DCYF staff
to include:
Assisting youth with transitioning to self-sufficiency
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