New York City government officials have released a plan to increase kinship care placements in the city, along with 15 other recommendations to improve foster care outcomes, according to this article from the Chronicle of Social Change. The plan was authored by the leader of the city’s Administration of Children’s Services, along with a 27-person task force created by New York City Council, and includes plans to hire 10 new staff to seek out kinship care placements, as well as expand after-school tutoring and other programs for foster youth. The goal is to increase kinship placements from one third of total foster care placements up to one half by the year 2020.
Other recommendations included:
- Increasing the time biological parents get to spend with children whom the city has removed from their care due to abuse or neglect allegations.
- Hiring school guidance counselors dedicated to serving foster youth.
- Expanding a pilot program for cutting-edge, intensive support for foster youth with severe mental illness.
- Prioritize foster youth aging out of the system for placement in public housing, even if they are placed in care outside the city.
Many of the elements of the plan can be enacted unilaterally by the city's Administration of Children's Services, other elements may require further negotiations.