2012 Connecting the Dots Conference - on the Cover of the Columbus Dispatch

Grown foster kids drive state help 

Forum aims to tackle long-standing problems 

Price, Rita. Columbus Dispatch, Aug. 4, 2012.

Daniel Curry, left, helps Arthur Miller III, 22, of Dayton, pick out a suit for job interviews at the Connecting the Dots conference. Photograph taken by Kyle Robertson, Columbus Dispatch.

He left the conference with two new suits, which will come in handy now that he’s in demand as a public speaker. Marcus Henry is 18, soon to begin his senior year in high school and very good at telling people what it’s like to come of age in foster care.

 Want to get your driver’s license? Forget it, because the state of Ohio is your parent and doesn’t want the liability. Hope to keep playing your sport after being transferred to a new foster home and school? Rules designed to prevent athletic recruiting might quash your eligibility.

Hauling all your belongings in trash bags? Henry and others think that’s an unfair embarrassment. They’re starting a drive to provide decent luggage for foster youths.

“When I first came into care, if you worked for children services, I hated you,” said Henry, who lives with foster parents in the Toledo area. “I switched that to, ‘What is bad about foster care, and how can I change it?’  ”

Michael Colbert, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, said current and former foster youths — not social workers and government officials — were the force behind yesterday’s Connecting the Dots conference in Columbus. 

More than 200 teens and young adults who are about to age out of foster care, or already have, signed up for workshops to get help with jobs, college plans, and health and legal issues. The conference is part of a larger state initiative called “Connecting the Dots from Foster Care to Employment and Independent Living.”

“This was the brainchild of the youth,” Colbert said. “Who are we to dictate everything that happens in foster care when we’ve never been in foster care?” 

About 1,000 to 1,300 Ohio youths leave the foster system each year without a permanent family, and many experience homelessness. Advocates say Colbert has put renewed focus on the youths’ futures.

“He gets our kids,” said Doris Edelmann, adult facilitator for the Ohio Youth Advisory Board. “And he listens.” Of five wish-list actions sent to the state by the youth board this year, three have been met and two are in the works, officials said.

Job and Family Services sponsored the conference, provided support for a new Ohio Youth Advisory Board website — www.ohioyab.org — and maintained a $2 million independent-living fund that had been cut from a previous state budget. The youth board also asked for two regional coordinators to help with independent living and transitional services for foster youths, as well as a housing task force to study the problem of housing for youths aging out of care. Colbert’s office said applications are being reviewed for the coordinators, who then will help with the housing task force.

“Housing is the biggest piece, and that task force has not yet been established,” said Lisa Dickson of the Foster Care Alumni of America Ohio chapter. “Our young people age out of foster care to homelessness. We need action.”

Dickson, one of the conference organizers, said the aim was to keep all activities and offerings relevant. Many kids lack business attire for job interviews and work, she said, so the Ohio State Bar Foundation and other organizations donated nearly 1,300 items for the foster-care youths to choose from yesterday in the Suits for Success room.

Henry found two that fit nicely, and he figures the speaking engagements will keep coming. “We’ve already changed some things,” he said. “We’re making a difference.”

FCAA Volunteer of the Year Award

Foster Care Alumni of America honors Lisa Dickson

Aurand, Lisa. ThisWeek, May 12, 2010.

When Lisa Dickson "aged out" of foster care at 16, she had a myriad of people who became her advocates.

The list included the English teacher who wrote a "rousing" recommendation for her college acceptance, the University of Kentucky dean who marched her over to financial aid and said, "This girl needs grants," the residents of the Methodist dormitory who became her "family" when she moved in after a year of homelessness.

Now Lisa is fighting for other foster care alumni to have the same chances at success she did.

"The people who were there for me are what motivate me," Dickson said. "All the things that I do now are because of them."

Dickson was named one of four Foster Care Alumni of America Volunteers of the Year in this, the awards' first year. She was a founding member of the group, and is the communications chair for its Ohio Chapter.

She was in foster care in Kentucky from ages 12 to 16 after her mother died, and was able to start classes at the University of Kentucky at age 16.

By 17, Dickson was homeless, but still attending college. It wasn't until she was 18 that she began living in the Methodist dormitory. She tried five different majors and was in college for 10 years, finishing by earning a master's degree in library science.

She was offered a job in Columbus in 1999, met and married her husband, Nathan Dickson, in 2000. They moved to Westerville in 2001, where they live with his two daughters, Rachel, 19, and Carly, 17.

Dickson, a Children's Librarian, said she spends about 40 hours a week volunteering for FCAA. The local chapter focuses on assisting the approximately 1,300 Ohio youths who age out of foster care each year.

"The top two things we do are connect and transform," she said.

The group helps foster care alumni connect with other former foster children, wherever they live.

For the past several years, the group has hosted an annual Thanksgiving dinner, an event that began when foster alumni from all over the country met in Washington, D.C., to talk to federal legislators about federal child welfare financial reform.

"We said we were coming home for the holidays," Dickson said.

The "transform" part of the group's mission involves lobbying on behalf of foster children making the transition to life on their own. Dickson was one of several foster care alumni who testified in front of the state legislature last year, asking members not to cut funding for programs that teach older foster care children how to live on their own.

Though the funding was approved by the Ohio House of Representatives and Senate, it was vetoed by Gov. Ted Strickland, Dickson said. But one good thing came out of that news: Dickson and a few of her colleagues were asked to be part of Strickland's Taskforce for Youth and Young Adults in Transition.

The two biggest needs for fosters in transition are housing and health insurance, Dickson said.

"One in four homeless adults is a former foster," she said.

Even those who end up going to college still struggle with housing and finances, she said.

"Most college kids, when they have (financial) trouble, they call mom and dad. But there is no mom and dad to call (for foster children)," Dickson said.

And though the recently passed federal health care bill will eventually mandate insurance for former fosters, that coverage won't take effect until 2014, she said.

Dickson, who recently was engaged as FCAA's volunteer social media coordinator, said she won't stop her quest to help fosters the way others helped her.

"I love the kicking-butt part and trying to make a difference," she said. "(The people who helped me) were there for me and cared for me. I want that for everyone."

Governor's Steering Committee On Transitional Youth and Young Adults

During 2010, FCAA Ohio officers Alex McLemore, Adrian McLemore, Doris Edelmann and Lisa Dickson participated in the Ohio Family and Children First Youth and Young Adults in Transition Steering Committee.

The committee was convened by Governor Strickland to recommend alignment and consolidation of policies, efforts, and resources and to identify major gaps for this particularly vulnerable and often overlooked population: vulnerable youth and young adults, ages 14-25.

After months of meetings, the committee has released its final report to the Ohio Family and Children First Cabinet Council.  The report may accessed here.

Ohio Reach Radio Interview

In 2010, the Ohio chapter of Foster Care Alumni of America will continue working towards improving Higher Education Outcomes for foster care youth and alumni.

Below is a radio interview that Lisa Dickson participated in regarding Ohio Reach for WCUE/WOTL/WYTN (radio stations covering Toledo, Cleveland and Youngstown).

FCAA Ohio on NPR

Foster Kids Who Age Out of Care Face Tough Road

Mandie Trimble, WOSU News (2010-01-11).

COLUMBUS, OH (WOSU) - Many rites of passages come along with turning eighteen: high school graduation, voting, entering the work force or college. For most young people it means the first time away from home and parents, an exciting, albeit scary, time for which many teens have been anxiously waiting for years. But for youth who reach the age of majority while in foster care, the rite of passage comes with additional challenges.

Mandie Trimble asked FCAA Ohio Communications Chair, Lisa Dickson, about the resources available and the current challenges for Ohio foster youth "aging out" of foster care.

Lisa Dickson named Volunteer of the Year

Ohio Foster Care Alumna Named Volunteer of the Year
Foster Care Alumni of America names Lisa Dickson Volunteer of the Year

Washington, DC — The Board of Directors of Foster Care Alumni of America, the only national association for adults who experienced foster care as children, has named Ohio resident, Lisa Dickson, as Volunteer of the Year.

Lisa lived in foster care from ages 12-16, lived in a variety of placements, including group homes and an emergency shelter, and "aged out" of foster care and started college when she was 16 years old.  As the Communications Chair for the Ohio Chapter of Foster Care Alumni of America (FCAA), Lisa has been extremely effective in establishing the chapter and its members as a source of expertise in the state and around the country.  Lisa has led efforts to advocate for reinstating state funding for Independent Living services through advocacy visits with members of the state legislature, coordination with other advocates, and numerous opportunities for chapter members to testify before legislative committees.

The chapter has also been involved in Ohio Reach, a statewide effort to increase the recruitment and retention of foster care alumni in high education, and to establish foster care liaisons at Ohio universities, community college and technical schools.  Lisa’s commitment to supporting the leadership development of other alumni across the state has led to a very well trained and experienced core membership in the chapter and will serve to make the Ohio chapter sustainable well into the future.

Lisa has led the development of a number of trainings for FCAA including Emotional Resiliency, Purposeful Sharing and Real Life 101 workshops. She is dedicated to teaching professionals to effectively and respectfully engage alumni, to create understanding about how childhood trauma can affect an individual for their entire life, and to support young people and alumni to establish healthy boundaries and expectations in their personal, volunteer and professional relationships.

In addition to her activities at the state level, Lisa is a highly visible and effective national leader.  She has a strong presence online as a person who is always willing to ask tough questions about practice and policy in both foster care and adoption.  She has provided her technical expertise to numerous other FCAA members as well as the broader child welfare community (leading the establishment of a number of resource websites aimed at people in and from care and the professionals who serve them).  Lisa is a gifted trainer and often represents FCAA at state and national events as a keynote speaker and/or workshop presenter.

Lisa has recently been engaged FCAA’s Volunteer Social Media Coordinator.  This is a fitting evolution for an individual committed to making her own voice heard through blogs, forums, and social networks that are related to foster care. 

Foster Care Alumni of America’s Board of Directors named four Volunteers of the Year in 2009. In addition to Lisa, they celebrated the contributions of Ryan Dollinger (alumnus of foster care from Texas), Eshawn Peterson (alumna from Arizona) and consultant and retired juvenile and family court judge, Stephen Rideout of Virginia. 

About Foster Care Alumni of America: In 2004, foster care alumni and advocates created a national non-profit association that brings together the expertise of adults who have experienced foster care.  Foster Care Alumni of America (FCAA) was formed to engage the more than 12 million alumni of foster care and to advocate for the needs of the youth and alumni of foster care.

FCAA has nearly 3, 000 members from all 50 states. Through FCAA, alumni of foster care hope to create the ability to connect with one another in an organized and well-supported community and to use alumni expertise to transform the foster care system.

FCAA's mission seeks to provide innovation in the federal and state child welfare systems and effective and meaningful partnerships with child welfare organizations. FCAA has confidence that it can partner with others to reduce the numbers of children and youth in foster care and can improve the foster care experience through investments of their expertise and energy.

For more information on Foster Care Alumni of America, please visit our website at: www.fostercarealumni.org

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Foster-care cuts will be costly to kids, society

Op Ed: Foster-care cuts will be costly to kids, society
Columbus Dispatch, Sept. 5, 2009.

At a time when the needs of foster-care youths transitioning to adulthood are being recognized on the federal level through the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act, Ohio has chosen to cut the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families-Independent Living Allocation by 100 percent.

The Independent Living Initiative was the only state program that provides transitional-living services to foster-care youths. These services include drivers' education, life-skills training, job-readiness preparation and food and housing assistance.

Gov. Ted Strickland eliminated this allocation, saying that it constrained county agencies' ability to use the allocated funds in a flexible manner that meets each county's needs to support children.

Approximately 1,300 Ohio teenagers emancipate from the foster-care system each year. Because they have no families to rely upon, these young people are at greater risk of poverty, homelessness, unwed pregnancies and incarceration.

Foster-care youths transitioning to adulthood are not a "line item." They are children who rely on the state to be their parents. They are teenagers entering into adulthood during a recession.

Ohio taxpayers will pay for their needs, whether now or later. Research by the Children's Advocacy Institute has shown that early investment leads to foster-care youths being three times more likely to enroll in college, 65 percent less likely to be arrested and 33 percent less likely to become pregnant.

According to Dr. Mark Courtney of the Chapin Hall Center for Children, every dollar invested in continued foster care supports and services results in a return of $2.40.

It makes better economic sense to intervene during their late teens and early 20s, a time when young people have open minds, high levels of energy and are actively engaged in the process of directing their future lives.

Lack of investment in independent-living preparation will lead more foster-care youths into situations of chronic homelessness, unwed pregnancies, unemployment and incarceration.

Left unchecked, the cycle will continue: One in four homeless adults is a former foster child.

Ohio's foster youths are "aging out" of care in the midst of a recession. They deserve far better than this.

LISA DICKSON
Founder, Communications chairman Ohio chapter of Foster Care Alumni of America Westerville

Hannah Report: Special Budget Edition

Vol. 128 – Special Budget Issue Saturday, May 30, 2009
Public Crowds Senate Chambers for Mixed Budget Testimony

The room was crowded Saturday for a public testimony session in the Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee, with several dozen witnesses prepared to either praise changes made Friday to HB1 (Sykes), or to urge the chamber to restore funding to a cut program.

Acknowledging the long day ahead of them, Chairman John Carey (R-Wellston) said that he was invoking his powers as a committee chairman and allowing audience members to bring in water and coffee despite warnings against it outside the hearing room.

Independent Living Initiative
The first group of witnesses testified in support of restoring full funding for the Independent Living Initiative through the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

They were Lisa Dickson, founder and communications chair of the Foster Care Alumni of America Ohio chapter; Doris Edelman, legislative liaison for the Ohio Independent Living Association; and Alexander McFarland, president of the Overcoming Hurdles in Ohio Youth Advisory Board.

All three advocated restoring the funding to $2.5 million in each of FY10-11.

Dickson, a former foster child and youth advocate, said the program had lost its funding but that the Senate had restored $1.5 million of support. She said Ohio is the only state making cuts to such a program, which she said offers training and life services to prepare foster care children to face the world alone.

She said foster children are not a line item and rely on the state to act as a parent. Without proper intervention, Dickson said, those children are at higher risk for poverty, unemployment and incarceration. "Ohio taxpayers will pay for their needs one way or another," she said.

McFarland shared his experience as a child who spent five years in foster care. "Without these services, I would not have been the person that I am today."

Sen. Dale Miller (D-Cleveland) asked more about the funding mechanism. He was told it had been previously funded using TANF money but now is a line item in the children and family services portion of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services' (ODJFS) budget.

****************************************************

*Two misquotes:

- Lisa Dickson didn't say that Ohio was the "only state making cuts to such a program." She spoke about the Fostering Connections Act, and how these cuts come at a time when the needs of transitioning foster youth are being recognized on a national level...

- Nor was Independent Living "previously funded using TANF money but now is a line item in the children and family services portion of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services' (ODJFS) budget"

It was and still is an earmark of the TANF budget. Both Lisa and Doris mentioned in their testimonies that Independent Living funding in Ohio should not be an earmark, and that young people transitioning out of foster care each year should not have to fight to maintain the only state source of funding allocated to prepare them for adulthood.

Foster Stories

Artist paints picture of hope for children needing homes

Columbus -- When Darrin Hoover went on stage at the Southern Theater on Thursday night, Nov. 13, 2008, two blank giant canvases awaited him.

Two hours later, the canvasses showed the likeness of two adults, Lisa Dickson and Cedric Riley, whose life stories were intended to inspire children in the custody of Franklin County Children Services, letting them know that it’s possible to overcome extreme adversity.

Hoover painted the images and narrated the stories on stage in the multi-media docudrama, which also included a film and stirring music.

“I’m like your tour guide,” he told the enthralled audience.

The program, Portrait of a Child: Lives on Canvas, also was designed to motivate potential adoptive and foster parents to take the vital steps to help children stabilize their lives. The effort also was intended to attract volunteers to help with the agency’s various programs.

The creative work was the brainchild of Troy Lindsey, executive producer of the program and recruitment assistant for Children Services.

November is National Adoption Month and the performance was part of the local observance.

The occasion also introduced the newest All Kids Count Adoption and Foster Care calendar, who is available throughout the year.

The calendar features 13 children in need of safe, permanent homes and some of the families who have opened their homes to children in need of such care.

For more information, call 614-341-6060 or visit the Web site: www.franklincountyohio.gov/children_services