Statewide Quality Assurance Report

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Florida Department of Children and FamiliesCase Management Services - 2009-2010 Quality Assurance Reportservices and funding for youth to take these ideas into consideration and allow their voices to beheard.Sarasota (12 th Circuit) Roundtable ReportThe Teen Advisory Council of the 12 th Circuit feels that our voice is important because wehave a better understanding of what occurs to youth in care and how to improve the overallfoster care system. We feel that there are several areas of foster care that can be improved.Some of our concerns center around state and federal funding, placements, staff, currentprocedures, and some of the obstacles faced by the youth both in care and those who havetransitioned out of care.The local advisory board meeting occurs monthly at the same location and at the sametime. We take responsibility for notifying the potential participants and the members that are inattendance are regular council members. We attend these meetings in order to ensure that ourvoice is heard and to attempt to have input on the needed modifications to the foster caresystem. The ages of the participants in the Quality Assurance Youth Perspective Roundtablemeeting were from 14-21. There was not a good representation of the youth that were placedwith relatives or non-relatives.We would like for there to be more financial allocations for the staff that work at theshelters and group homes. We suggest that there be more extensive trainings as to the needs ofteenagers and a better understanding of what foster youth have gone through and how thisimpacts their behaviors. They should also be required to have more than a High Schooleducation and should have ongoing in-service trainings that focus on communications andappropriate confidentiality practices. The youth would also like to have the opportunity toparticipate in the development of policies and procedures. This would allow the youth toprovide feedback from their perspective.All Case Managers need to be accessible when we need them. There are times when weleave messages and do not receive call backs for several days. Typically, when we are calling it isbecause we need immediate assistance and are dealing with a situation in that moment. Wewould like for there to be a back up in place at all times particularly when staff are on leave orare out of the office.Office of Family Safety | Page 47
Florida Department of Children and FamiliesCase Management Services - 2009-2010 Quality Assurance ReportCurrently we have very good IL Case Managers that listen to us and are fairly easilyreached. The ability to text should be available for all Case Managers as this is helping us greatly.The SIL program is very beneficial and there are currently two mentoring programs that workwell in our circuit. The Kalish House Resource Center is proving to be one of our most valuableassets and also The GAL program, although, we would like for them to be able to transport us.The RTI subsidy is a necessity, without it we would not be able to sustain our livingarrangements and do not feel like school would be as high of a priority as it currently is.The TAC is going to attempt to host more social events in order to get more youthinvolved. We would also like to start some form of recreational sports league to reach out toother youth that may not currently be involved.This report was generated by 6 core members of the local teen advisory group andtranscribed by the IL coordinator, Cain Blackwell. The input was solely the opinions of the youththat participated. The ILC does offer one suggestion and that is in the future when we areconducting these types of surveys and meetings that the facilitator determine what time periodthe questions being asked reference. This would make it easier to understand if the issues thatarise are something that occurred well in the past and have since been addressed or if this is acurrent problem that needs the attention of the administration. Some of the youth thatparticipated in our roundtable have been in care for numerous years and have a good deal ofboth positive and negative experiences. This suggestion would also provide an opportunity fordirect attention to be given to particular situation as well as could impact the currentprocedures if the issue is present on multiple occasions.We would like for our suggestions to be taken seriously and possibly be reviewed forpossible considerations.Miami - Youth Perspective Roundtable ReportIntroduction: There were 15 youth at the roundtable. The youth greatly appreciated beingasked about their concerns.The discussion started off with placements. The youth were concerned about the quality oftheir foster care placements. Although some youth have had positive experiences withplacements, many youth had negative experiences.Office of Family Safety | Page 48
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