On Friday, August 7, 2020, the Supporting Foster Youth and Families through the Pandemic Act (H.R.7947) was released. This bipartisan legislation, introduced by Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-IL) and Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN), provides critical emergency support for older foster youth and grandparents and kin raising children. It aligns with Children’s Action Alliance’s COVID-19 policy recommendations and will provide urgently needed federal resources to help children, youth, and families navigate the difficulties created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Key provisions of the legislation include:

Support for Older Youth

Each year, approximately 900 young people age out of the foster care system in Arizona. COVID-19 has made the already challenging transition to independence even more perilous for these young people. In addition to increasing funding for supportive services to transition-age foster youth, H.R. 7947 will allow young people to stay in the system past the age of 20 and permit those  who “aged-out” during the pandemic to voluntarily re-enter the system to access critical housing and support services during the public health emergency.

Support for Grandparents and Other Kin Raising Children 

In Arizona, nearly 6,000 children in foster care are placed with kin and an additional 200,000 children are being raised by kin outside of the foster care system. H.R. 7947provides 100 percent federal reimbursement for funds to carry out kinship navigator programs. CAA strongly supports kinship navigator programs because they link kinship caregivers to the information and resources they need to function at their full potential, including:

• access to information and resources for necessities, including food, safety supplies, and testing and treatment for COVID–19;
• access to technology to support remote learning or other activities that must be carried out virtually due to COVID-19,
• health care and other assistance, including legal assistance and assistance with making alternative care plans for children in the event the caregiver becomes unable to continue providing care,
• services to kinship families, including those outside of the child welfare system.

Help older foster youth and grandparents and kin raising children and urge Arizona Senators Sinema and McSally, to include this proposal in their negotiations for the next COVID-19 relief package.

For over 30 years, CAA has been the independent voice for Arizona’s children. We connect local, regional, and national partners with the goal of improving the lives of children through advocacy, information, and action.  Understanding that enduring social change is created through community empowerment, CAA is deeply committed to approaching all we do with an equity lens.  That commitment is reflected in our leadership team, which is comprised wholly of people of color, and our firm commitment to stakeholder-led advocacy. This is why we started and continue to support the Fostering Advocates Arizona (FAAZ).

FAAZ is a dynamic group of young people who have experienced foster care and who lend their time, expertise, and leadership to make the child welfare system better for children in care and those who have recently aged out. CAA raises funds each year so that the FAAZ leaders can work year-round to engage lawmakers, agency leadership, and other stakeholders around their policy priorities and recommendations. Please donate today to support these young leaders as they impact change in our state.

Right now, CAA and FAAZ are focused on lifting up and supporting the approximately 5,400 current and former foster youth ages 18 to 23 who are faced with the challenges of supporting themselves and staying healthy during COVID-19.  In partnership with FAAZ, our Child Welfare Policy Director, Molly Dunn, has been advocating for key policy changes during the COVID-19 crisis that will create a life-line for young people who are facing the cliff of aging out of care during a pandemic and economic crisis.

Your donation will help keep older foster youth connected to services and housed during the health crisis. Your generosity will ensure successful transitions by supporting efforts to:

• Place a moratorium on discharges of youth aging out of extended foster care at age 21.
• Loosen eligibility requirements for extended foster care around education and employment activities.
• Provide post-foster care services and supports to youth until age 23.

Click here to learn more about FAAZ.

Now more than ever, Children’s Action Alliance (CAA) will continue to push forward to ensure every child in our state is safe, healthy, and loved. We appreciate your support in our mission.

Respectfully,

—Damita Curry,  VP Development & Engagement

P.S. Your donation may be eligible for an above-the-line deduction (for total charitable contributions of up to $300) as Congress passed the  CARES Act  in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. This charitable giving incentive applies to contributions made in 2020 and can be claimed when you file your taxes next year.  Please consult your tax preparer or consultant for more information.

May is Foster Care Awareness Month! On May 1^st, Arizona’s Department of Child Safety (DCS) ushered in this month by making an important and positive administrative change to make it easier for kinship families to access financial supports. Kinship families—grandparents, aunts, uncles and other relatives—are the backbone of Arizona’s child welfare system. They provide loving homes for over 40% of all foster children in the state. However, 87% of kinship foster placements are unlicensed, making them ineligible for a $640 per child monthly foster care maintenance payment. Instead, unlicensed kinship families receive a $75 per child monthly kinship stipend and are eligible to apply for TANF “child-only” benefits which provide about $164 a month.

Even though nearly 100% of kinship foster placements are eligible for these benefits, just 32% receive them. CAA partnered with DCS to provide kinship caregivers with assistance filling out and submitting the TANF application. Now, more kinship families will be able to access the supports they need to care for their relative foster children. CAA thanks the Department of Child Safety for supporting kin who step up and care for Arizona’s foster children. We also thank Senator Brophy McGee for partnering with Arizona’s Grandparent Ambassadors and Kinship Caregivers in championing this issue.

CAA will continue to partner with the Arizona Grandparent Ambassadors and Kinship Caregivers to advocate for equal supports for unlicensed kinship care providers. You can read more about this issue in our policy brief.

—Molly Dunn, JD, Director of Child Welfare & Juvenile Justice Policy

We are so grateful for your support of our AZ Gives campaign to benefit AZGA and FAAZ – especially during these unsettling times.  In a single day, we raised over $3,000 for critical assistance and outreach activities for grandparents raising grandchildren, kinship caregivers, and transition-age foster youth.

We will continue to raise funds for this campaign through April. The Rondeau Family has agreed to generously match donations up to $5,000. If you have not done so, please consider making a gift to CAA that is meaningful to you.

On behalf of the more than 198,000 children in our state being raised by grandparents and other relatives and foster youth who age out of the system each year, thank you for your continued support of our mission to improve the lives of Arizona’s children.

Please help CAA improve the lives of Arizona’s children, by participating in our Arizona Gives campaign. This effort, which continues all month long, kicks off TODAY, with #ArizonaGivesDay. Our AZ Gives campaign focuses on two groups who were already struggling to find a sense of normalcy and to be successful with limited resources before the pandemic – transition-age foster youth and kinship caregivers. Fostering Advocates Arizona (FAAZ), is a group of dynamic young leaders who have experienced foster care and who advocate to improve Arizona’s foster care system, and AZ Grandparents and Kinship Caregivers (AZGA) is a support and legislative advocacy network creating positive change for kinship families.

Click here to learn more and to donate

Today, we ask all Arizonans to come together to show support for nonprofits! The Rondeau Family will generously match up to $5,000 for donations made on their fundraising page. Click here to learn why they support CAA and to donate.

Your donation may be eligible for an above-the-line deduction (for total charitable contributions of up to $300) as Congress just passed the CARES Act in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. This charitable giving incentive applies to contributions made in 2020 and can be claimed when you file your taxes next year.  Please consult your tax preparer or consultant for more information.

Thank you for your continued support. A special thanks to the Rondeau family not only for the match donation but for opening their hearts and home to foster two beautiful girls.

During this stressful time of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are reminded why our communities – children, parents, caregivers, co-workers, friends and donors like you – are so important to us. We appreciate your support in our relentless fight to improve the health, safety and education of Arizona’s children. Sadly, these basic needs for children are at even greater risk during these unsettling times. Now more than ever, Children’s Action Alliance (CAA) is pushing forward to ensure every child in our state is safe, healthy, and loved.

Please help CAA improve the lives of Arizona’s children, by participating in our Arizona Gives campaign. This effort, which we will continue all month long, kicks off tomorrow, April 7, with Arizona Gives Day. It is a day for all Arizonans to come together to show support for nonprofits!

Our AZ Gives campaign focuses on two groups who were already struggling to find a sense of normalcy and to be successful with limited resources before the pandemic – transition-age foster youth and kinship caregivers. Fostering Advocates Arizona (FAAZ), is a group of dynamic young leaders who have experienced foster care and who advocate to improve Arizona’s foster care system, and AZ Grandparents and Kinship Caregivers (AZGA) is a support and legislative advocacy network creating positive change for kinship families.

There are a couple ways you can participate this year aside from making a general donation.

1. You can support and champion CAA by creating your own fundraising page! Simply visit our profile and click on “Create a Fundraiser” to get started.
2. Become a sponsor and help us make donations go further with a matching gift! Match donations for an hour (or more) – just choose your time and the amount you’re willing to match. Reply to this email or call 602.266.07070 x202.

Your gift demonstrates to AZGA and FAAZ that the CAA community is together in the face of great adversity.

Philanthropy is a personal act of generosity, and only you know your situation. Respectfully, we ask that you reflect on your personal situation and consider a gift to CAA that is meaningful to you.

P.S. Did you know Section 2204 of the CARES Act that Congress just passed in response to the Coronavirus pandemic includes, an above-the-line deduction (universal or non-itemizer deduction that applies to all taxpayers) for total charitable contributions of up to $300? This charitable giving incentive applies to contributions made in 2020 and can be claimed when you file your taxes next year. Please consult your tax preparer or consultant for more information

COVID-19 is dramatically disrupting all of our lives, including the lives of over 14,000 children and youth in foster care in Arizona. Many of these young people were already struggling to find a sense of normalcy when COVID-19 pulled the rug out from underneath them again.

Click here to visit our COVID-19 resources page for more information.

As our policymakers both in Washington, D.C. and here in Arizona respond to the novel coronavirus outbreak, Children’s Action Alliance is advocating to ensure that the needs of current and former foster youth are addressed.

What’s Happening Now?

On the federal level, the Children’s Bureau has waived the requirement for in-person, monthly visits between child welfare workers and foster children; temporarily permitting those visits to occur via videoconferencing. (Full Letter)

In Arizona, the Department of Child Safety has issued a set of directives and guidance in response to COVID-19. (DCS COVID-19 Information and Resources)

Effective March 19 through April 30 or later:

• Investigations of child abuse and neglect continue to occur through in-person contacts.
• Most monthly contacts between DCS and children in foster care are occurring through videoconferencing.
• Parent-child visitation is occurring virtually.
• New hire policies have been temporarily adjusted to address potential staffing gaps.

What Next?

We must do our best to anticipate the near- and long-term collateral consequences of this pandemic for young people in foster care as we move through this crisis:

• Plan for “re-placing” significant numbers of youth who are sick and need to be moved away from ill caretakers or group home settings due to outbreaks; or whose caretakers have lost jobs and are no longer able to meet the needs of the children in their care. The need to find new placements for children is already a pressing concern in New York.
• Provide additional supports for kinship caregivers. Many of these kin caregivers are older, placing them at higher risk of complications from COVID-19. Kin are essential parts of keeping children safe and our child welfare system functioning. DCS and its contractors need to proactively reach out to kin and ensure that they have the financial and supportive services they need during this crisis. (COVID-19 Fact Sheet for Grandfamilies)
• Ensure longer-term supports are available for transition-aged foster youth and former foster youth who have “aged-out” of care. These youth are at extraordinary risk of suffering the harshest of the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19. In partnership with community stakeholders, Fostering Advocates Arizona is surveying this population to learn what is needed most right now. A list of resources is available on to the FAAZ website.

The Affordable Care Act guaranteed children the ability to stay on their parents’ health insurance until age 26, and allowed foster youth who age out of care at 18 to stay on Medicaid until their 26 birthday, regardless of income. This provision promotes equity by helping foster care alumni stay connected to health services.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work that way. We’ve heard from countless former foster youth who say that staying connected is more difficult than it needs to be in Arizona.

Take Oshianna (pictured above), a member of Fostering Advocates of Arizona (FAAZ). Oshi turned 18 just as she was getting ready to start college. She had not received her dorm assignment yet and was not sure where she would be living.  The DCS Caseworker enrolled her in AHCCCS and put the DCS office address on the application. Oshi never received a letter from AHCCCS asking her for information, and was unaware she lost coverage until she became ill and needed to be hospitalized. More than 90 days had passed since her coverage had lapsed and her appeal was denied. Oshi is still paying off more than $4000 in medical bills from her hospital stay.

Stories like Oshi’s are the reason we drafted HB2632. Sponsored by Representative Walter Blackman, the bill would prevent former foster youth from having to deal with red tape to keep their health coverage.

We are pleased to say that not only has the bill passed unanimously through the Arizona House of Representatives, AHCCCS has also agreed to make the requested changes administratively. We know this will make a world of difference for former foster youth across Arizona.

To learn more about policy priorities identified by FAAZ this session, click here.

And to thank Representative Blackman for sponsoring this legislation, email here.

The young leaders of Fostering Advocate Arizona (FAAZ), alumni of foster care and change agents, hosted their annual Day at the Capitol today!

The FAAZ Young Adult Leadership Board started their day at the House Health and Human Services Committee where they  supported bill HB2632 which, if enacted, will make it easier for former foster youth to keep their Medicaid coverage after they age out of foster care. Following that, they met with Assistant Superintendent of Public Instruction, Kate Wright at the Arizona Department of Education and later had lunch with key legislators.

The FAAZ board shared their 2020 Priorities with lawmakers and include:

• Prioritize family finding and preserve healthy connections

• Reduce Department of Child Safety caseloads and enhance the case specialist relationship

• Help youth aging out secure stable housing by increasing the Independent Living Subsidy

• Increase access to healthcare by reducing bureaucratic barriers (HB 2632)

• Invest in the potential of foster youth by improving the Arizona Tuition Waiver (HB 2763)

Thanks to Representative Blackman, who is sponsoring both bills. Stay tuned for their progress throughout the legislative session!