The Independent Living Program was implemented to assist foster youth, ages 16-21 years, in the transition from foster care to independent living . According to Malign (1998), “The Independent Living Program has been authorized as part of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993” (p. 61). The I.L.P. is funded from Federal, State, and County funds. Federal funding of the I.L.P., to each state, is determined by the number of eligible foster youth in that state. According to Courtney & Barth (1996), “Each state is required to match 50 % of the Federal funds allotted to that particular state” (p. 234). Each state is in charge of developing its own I.L.P. for foster youth. The services provided through the funding are education and employment assistance, living skills classes, and transitional support services. 

Statement of Need

In my research of the I.L.P. and foster youth, I came across an astonishing discovery. According to the Congressional Testimony of Carol W. Williams (1999), “Sixty percent of young women in foster care or young women formerly in foster care had given birth by the age of 21.” According to the Congressional Testimony of Cynthia M. Fagnoni (1999), “The Westat study found that fifty-three percent of young women who were formerly in foster care and had given birth were unemployed.” These statistics clearly state that the needs of young women in foster care are not being met. Because of the lack of research in this area, there are no real answers on why the pregnancy rate among this population is so high. 

Description of the Intervention

I initially became interested in the I.L.P and its involvement in transitioning foster youth at my internship at Children’s Services in Oroville. My supervisor encouraged me to work with the agency’s I.L.P. case workers and I quickly learned this is the population I want to work with. Because of my interest in the I.L.P. of Butte County, I decided to focus my Community Project on the program. It was very hard to find 5 professional journal articles about I.L.P, because it is a relatively new program and not many studies have been conducted on the topic.

After completing my literature review and community project interviews, I was unclear of the focus of my Community Project. I brought my dilemma to Professor Jean Schulberg of the Social Work Department at C.S.U., Chico, to discuss the narrowing of focus on my project. During my discussion with Professor Schulberg, I decided to focus my project on foster teen pregnancy. I decided to conduct a study on foster teen mothers in the I.L.P. of Butte County and try to find some answers on why the pregnancy rate is so high among this population. 

My goal was to interview 10 foster teen mothers. To do this, I created a guideline for my interviews. The goal of the study was to find out the strengths and weakness of the I.L.P’s support to my target population and to find out some answers in general on why the pregnancy rate is so high among this population. 

Evaluation of the Intervention

I met with the I.L.P. social workers at Children’s Services and discussed with them my guideline and the possibility of interviewing 10 foster youth mothers for my study. They invited my to “Ladies’ Night Out,” a program funded by I.L.P.. The I.L.P. social workers stated that on the first Wednesday of every month, I.L.P. takes young ladies out to dinner (with their social workers), as a way for these youths to bond with each other and their social workers. They stated that foster teen mothers on their caseload and the caseload in North County attended this activity. It was discussed that I would attend the April 4th Ladies’ Night Out and conduct my interviews there. Unfortunately, I was forced to cancel this appointment because of a life threatening illness that put me off schedule for over three weeks. Because of this I was unable to conduct my interviews for my study. 
Thus, my intervention was not accomplished.

Reflections on the Project

I found this project to be a wonderful learning experience. I am very passionate about the topic I chose for this project, and was greatly disappointed that I could not complete my study. I found that the I.L.P program is a great start to transition foster youth mothers transitioning from foster care to independent living, though it lacks special programs and education for these mothers. I feel that my study would have reflected this. I feel that over time, as more studies are conducted on foster teen pregnancy, more funding will be available to this population. Everyone I worked with in I.L.P., were very excited about my project and willing to help with it and I am very grateful for that. 

My wish is that someone next year will continue this project. The I.L.P. staff were very supportive and were more than willing to give advice and time to the project. A good place to start gathering information for this project is at Youth and Family Services in Chico. Please continue this project, for the information gathered from this project could implement change in I.L.P policies! 

References

Coutney, M. & Barth, R. (1996). Pathways of older adolescents out of foster care: Implications for independent living services. Social Work, 41 (6), 233-241.

Malign, G. (1998). After care, the where? Outcomes of an independent living program. Child Welfare, 71 (5), 61-73.

McMillen, J, Rideout, R., Fisher, R.H., & Tucker, J. (1997). Independent living services: The views of former foster youth. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Services, 16 (4), 471-480.

Post-foster independent living programs: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Human Resources of the Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, 104th Congress, 2nd Session (1999) (testimony of Cynthia M. Fagnoni).

Statement on meeting the needs of older youth in foster care: Hearing before the Subcommittee on the Human Resources of the Committee on Ways and Means , House of Representatives, 104th Congress, 2nd Session (1999) (testimony of Carol W. Williams). 

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