Take a moment to think about the first time you got a state issued ID, the first time you signed a lease, or the first time you bought a car. Who was with you when you hit those adult milestones? For those of us who grew up with a biological parent, our parent(s) walked us through this process. Young adults in foster care, and those who age out of the system without legal permanency, don’t always have a parent at their side. So CFCS must work to help them meet those milestones in other ways.

Our dedicated foster parents support our teens and young adults daily to learn and practice a wide variety of skills: everything from how to do laundry to how to sign up for a driving permit test. Intensive Foster Care (IFC) staff also use the PAYA curriculum (Preparing Adolescents for Young Adulthood) to supplement the work foster parents do every day. This curriculum, created by DCF, covers all those things a biological parent would teach over years of a young teen growing into a young adult and beyond. It covers everything from food shopping on a budget to acing a job interview.

Here at CFCS, we like to teach the PAYA curriculum to our teens in foster care in groups, so our youth can learn from each other as well as from social workers and foster parents. We recently held a small group session over zoom to review how to search for affordable apartments. I didn’t learn this skill until my early 20s, when I was first searching for a place to call my own. However, youth in foster care don’t have the luxury of waiting to learn these skills.

This “time crunch,” as we often say, places a large amount of stress on youth in foster care and providers who are working to set them up for success. There is a ticking clock, counting down the days until a youth’s 22nd birthday when services through DCF end. Youth who are 22 are no longer able to live in a foster home, group home, or independent living program. They also no longer receive case management services through DCF or CFCS and agencies like us, nor do they receive financial support from DCF. It is my job as an IFC Social Worker, along with DCF and a youth’s foster parents, to prepare them for that moment.

PAYA is one way we work to address this clock; it is a way to ensure that youth have been taught the skills that they need, even if teachable moments like moving out after college have not yet come up naturally in their lives. I always feel anxious and a sense of urgency when working with older youth in IFC, and these youth often share my worries. Youth talk with me about being afraid of becoming homeless or being alone after the paid supports through DCF are no longer available to them. I feel a pressure to teach each youth as much as I can. This anxiety continues after they leave our program, because I usually don’t know if the youth remembers what they learned, or if they are able to use it. But my anxiety decreases significantly when I know a youth aging out of foster care has a network of supports. CFCS works to build up a youth’s network to ensure they can continue to learn and grow without our help.

Now think to a time when you turned 26 and needed to understand health insurance options for the first time. Or maybe there was a time when you needed help picking up that queen mattress you bought for your first apartment. Who did you turn to for help? Those people are your network. For me, that includes my parents, partner, extended family members, and friends. The most important task for providers like me, who work with older youth in foster care, is supporting them to create a network of their own.

Network building is part of every meeting with our IFC youth. We use creative tools to help youth identify people who are already natural supports for them, and we help them brainstorm about people they might have lost touch with. We use outreach strategies to bring potential network members into a youth’s life in a more meaningful way. We hold meetings where the entire focus is on listening to the youth about their goals for strengthening their lifelong relationships. It is always our goal for youth to discharge from our program to a member of a youth’s network, who has agreed to become their permanent family.

Team members for youth in foster care can include their biological family, foster parents, teachers, mentors, and more. The majority of children and youth in the CFCS Intensive Foster Care program discharge directly from our homes to the home of a permeant caregivers, such as an adoptive parent, a biological family member, or another member of the youth’s network due to our Social Workers’ and Foster Parents’ permanency work. When legal and physical permanency are not possible despite our efforts, a youth’s network serve as continued lifelong supports. With a good support network in place, youth leaving DCF care on their 22nd birthday aren’t alone. They have adults in their life to continue teaching them, to celebrate their achievements, and to provide support in times of stress.

This part of our work can be challenging and emotional. It is also the most rewarding. PAYA ensures that youth have the knowledge they need to reach their goals, but our permanency practices ensure that youth have the people they need to support them along the way.