July/August 2011Vol. 12, No. 6Synthesis Compiles Information on Training Supervisors in IL Services
In 2005, the Children's Bureau awarded 3-year discretionary grants to five universities and one State to develop, implement, evaluate, and disseminate a training curriculum for public child welfare agency supervisors working with older youth in foster care and/or in Independent Living (IL) programs. The six projects funded in this grant cluster, Training of Child Welfare Agency Supervisors in the Effective Delivery and Management of Federal Independent Living Services for Youth in Foster Care, were:
- Department of Social Services, State of Massachusetts; Supervisory Training to Enhance Permanency Solutions (STEPS)
- Hunter College School of Social Work, CUNY Research Foundation; Preparation for Adulthood—Supervising for Success (PASS)
- San Francisco State University; Y.O.U.T.H. Training Project Child Welfare Supervisor Training
- University of Houston; Preparation for Adult Living: Supervisor Training and Empowerment Program (PAL-STEP)
- The University of Iowa; Improving Outcomes for Youth in Transition
- University of Louisville Research Foundation, Inc.; Evidence-Based Supervisor-Team Independent Living Training
Recently, Child Welfare Information Gateway and James Bell Associates produced a synthesis of the projects. Available on the Information Gateway website, the synthesis is presented in a format that allows the user to choose among four tabs: Summary of Projects, Overarching Themes, Evaluation, and Products. Each tab reveals a list of contents (such as youth involvement, logistics, participant recruitment) that is linked to detailed information.
Overall, the grantees' evaluations reveal improvements in the youth transition planning process following the training. Positive changes were reflected in individual attitudes and practices as well as at the agency level.
Read the full synthesis as well as individual site visit reports for each project on the Information Gateway website:
www.childwelfare.gov/management/funding/funding_sources/independent.cfm