Independent Living Program - Florida's Center for Child Welfare

AcknowledgementsThe Life Skills Guidebook was created with the energy and thoughtfulness of many dedicated child welfare professionals, fosterparents, and youth. The goal of this work is to better prepare people for living on their own. Casey Family Programs believes inlearner involvement and leadership in this process. Casey also believes assessment is core to preparation. The Guidebook was createdto help translate the results of the Ansell-Casey Life Skills Assessment into practice as well as provide a tool for foster parents andpractitioners to teach life skills based on necessary competencies.From the National Resource Center for Youth Services, Dorothy Ansell, and Joan Morse were integrally involved in this process,conducting focus groups, writing Learning Goals and Expectations, finding activities to teach Learning Goals, as well as writing andediting the Life Skills Guidebook. At Casey, led by Kimberly Nollan, Research Services’ Transition Research Team supported thiswork by coordinating the overall project, giving feedback, editing, and helping with technical writing. The original team included KimNollan, Richard Bressani, Chris Downs, Margaret Jeffrey, Michael Horn, Jason Williams, Jill Leibold. The current team consists ofChris Downs, Kelly Sim and Mike Weygint.In spring of 2004, Casey contracted with Success Technologies to revise the Guidebook. Kimberly Nollan and Ray Hoskins madesignificant revisions and additions to the Guidebook, such as expanding the Learning Goals and expectations for 8-10 year olds,updating and including new resources, and adding mastery standards.We are grateful to Casey Family Programs Tucson Division staff members who provided valuable ideas and support for this project,as well as reviewed all domain Learning Goals and Expectations. They included Susan Abagnale, Ana Acuna, Leslie Butler, AmyCox, Dixie Ellis, Levonne Gaddy, Joan Hansman, Fredericka Hunter, Cindy Johnson, Bea Kea, Patricia King, Bobbie McNeill,Marjorie Parks, Yvonne Rodriguez, Rosalyn Riesgo, Leora Sanders, Laura Stockert, Ward Townsend, and Beth Treas. In addition,Gloria Garcia, Lillie Murray, Regina Taylor, Nicole Killary, Calvin Dacus, and Moniquea Ibarra provided insight and edits to theLearning Goals and Expectations from caregiver and youth perspectives. We also acknowledge the Youth Enrichment and Success(YES) Foundation whose participants reviewed all Youth appropriate resources. Thank you also to all those who provided feedbackon an ongoing basis, which was used to strengthen the Guidebook.We appreciate the support provided by the South Bronx Human Development Organization, which provided access to their extensivelife skills resource library. We also are grateful for the assistance of Kathleen D. Morin, Ed.D., who provided assistance in the editingthe original Learning Goals (competencies).Life Skills Guidebook 2©2004 by Casey Family Programs.