Sacramento State University in California launched the Guardian Scholars Program in 2006 to help students with foster care experience on campus. The program offers services like counseling, housing, scholarships and financial aid, in addition to creating a sense of community among students with similar experiences. Since then, the program has helped alleviate stress for countless students who choose Sacramento State for college. “Coming here has been the best decision that I ever made because I found so much community and purpose, and support here on campus”, said student Deja Douglas.

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The Juvenile Community Action Team was established in 2022 to respond to a growing number of complex child welfare cases in Stearns County, MN. The innovative program brings together staff from schools, law enforcement, health care, mental health providers, probation and social services to connect with families and support them before referrals to child welfare are made. Families receive access to counseling, food, childcare or medical care, and for some rural families, even in-home programming that includes mental health intervention. Families have provided feedback that the support of the Juvenile Community Action Team has positively changed their trust in the system. The program has reduced the number of out-of-home placements, youth in the criminal justice system and length of time youth spend in care and is predicted to save $1 million per year in Stearns County.



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West Virginia’s Department of Human Services is funding additional programs around the state in its Transitional Living for Vulnerable Youth program, which serves youth ages 17 to 21. The transitional program provides housing to young adults exiting foster care, in addition to offering independent living skills, like financial management and cooking, and support with mental health and educational resources, including help enrolling in universities and vocational schools. The TLVY program now has 5 community providers and 49 beds. Cammie Chapman, DoHS deputy secretary of children and adult services, says, “We are committed to helping these young adults build a strong foundation for their future and become thriving members of our community.” 

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In January 2025, two counties in Minnesota will institute new practices to better ensure that children remain with or are returned to their families following a child welfare investigation. The African American Family Preservation and Child Welfare Disproportionality Act was passed in May this year with unanimous support from MN lawmakers and practices will be expanded to all counties in 2027. The law seeks to replicate some of the protections of the 1978 Federal Indian Child Welfare Act Requiring by “active efforts” on cases from child welfare agencies, including prioritizing kin for foster care placements and providing parents greater opportunities to get the help they need to reunify their families. The only other state with similar provisions is Montana, whose “ICWA for All” law went into effect in 2023.



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Florida Tech’s Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Innovating Design (CAMID) was awarded a nearly $1 million grant in July from the National Science Foundation for a new program called “Explorations: Advanced Manufacturing and Microelectronics to Empower Youth Aging out of Foster Care. The summer program will begin in 2025 and run through 2027 and serve 25 participants between the ages of 13 and 21 each year. Participants will come from the child welfare system in four local counties. “This initiative is important because it provides access to educational experiences, role models and success stories that can inspire this underrepresented group to pursue careers in STEM fields,” said Marifer Sagastume, co-principal investigator for the NSF project and the community manager at CAMID.

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