Listen to children tell us the meaning of a forever family as part of the Selfless Love Foundation’s
One Heart One Home Campaign.1
Among those waiting to be adopted, kids of color are overrepresented, specifically
American Indian/Alaska Native Black or African-American & Bi- or Multi-Racial youth.2
The Child
Welfare Information Gateway
offers various resources related to youth perspectives on foster care.3
Nationally, there are over
122,000
children & youth
waiting to be adopted who are at risk of aging out of foster care without permanent family connections. 4
9,144
Florida Statute 39.4085
Florida children were waiting to be adopted in FY 2018.6
Florida’s children in shelter or foster care have the right to be:
“involved and incorporated,
where appropriate, in the development of the case plan, to have a case plan which will address their specific needs, and to object to any of the provisions in the case plan.”5
A study of New Jersey youth aging out of foster care found that their participation on a Youth Advisory Board promoted:7 Opportunity through Access
Positive Perceptions of the System
Participatory Competence
Institute Affiliates
We have several affiliates who work on the topics of adoption and foster care. Learn more about their work in our Affiliate Directory: FICW.FSU.edu/Affiliates Shamra Boel-Studt, Ph.D., MSW
Khalilah Louis-Caines, MSW
Florida State University
St. Leo University
Morgan Cooley, Ph.D., MSW, CWLC
Marleen Milner, Ph.D., MSSW
Florida Atlantic University
Southeastern University
Jessica Felix Jäger de Weaver, DSW, MSW, CWLC
Gihan Omar, Psy.D.
Southeastern University
Citrus Health Network
Lisa Schelbe, Ph.D.
Martie Gillen, Ph.D.
Florida State University
University of Florida
Heather Thompson, Ph.D., MSW
Chris Groeber, MSW
Florida Atlantic University
University of South Florida
Institute Spotlight
Community Participatory Action Research (CPAR) involves the direct engagement of communities with knowledge of the issue at hand. With funding from the Institute, the Children’s Services Council of Broward County recently employed a CPAR framework infused with a racial equity lens to improve the quality of living and outcomes for children and families in Broward County’s child welfare system. The team of 20 co-researchers included 6 youth transitioning to independent living.
To learn more about the project, please visit our website to download the research brief. Selfless Love Foundation. (2018, October 23). Selfless Love Foundation, One Heart One Home, National Adoption Month [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz-z8IW4Avs&feature=youtube 2 Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2016). Racial disproportionality and disparity in child welfare. Retrieved from https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/racial_disproportionality.pdf 3 Youth perspectives on foster care. (n.d.). Child Welfare Information Gateway. https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/systemwide/youth/resourcesforyouth/youthperspectives/ 4 Children’s Bureau. (2020). The AFCARS Report. Retrieved October 16, 2020 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/cb/afcarsreport27.pdf 5 Fla. Stat. § 39.4085 (2020). 6 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. (n.d.). Florida. Retrieved October 16, 2020 from https://cwoutcomes.acf.hhs.gov/cwodatasite/waiting/index 7 Forenza, B. (2016). Psychological empowerment and the pursuit of social change: Outcomes of foster youth engagement. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 10(3), 274-290. https://doi.org/10.1080/15548732.2016.1140698 1
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