Housing for Transition-Age Youth in DCFS Care and Post-21 (1.5 CEs)

Overview

Youth aging out of care are more likely to experience homelessness after leaving care. Our programs seek to prevent homelessness through housing advocacy, cash assistance and housing choice vouchers. Less than 10% of youth in care “age out” of care, meaning they remain in foster placements or transition to independent living after the age of 18. Most cases remain open until 21. There are living arrangements, and stipends, while the youth are in care to support independent living. These youth need an extraordinary amount of support due to lack of relationships, trauma, housing instability, placement changes, etc. HUD has created vouchers specifically for this population, and Illinois is on the forefront of Fostering Youth to Independence (FYI) voucher expansion. Being referred for a voucher extends housing advocacy and cash assistance until age 23, although youth can be referred to the program if housed by age 25. We consider this a “step down” in services from their case closing at 21.

Objectives

1. Understanding different housing options for youth while they are in DCFS care in Illinois.
   
2. Understanding barriers youth aging out of care will face.
   
3. Understanding the new vouchers created by HUD and national trends.

Registration and CEU Information

• Register here for the CE version and earn 1.5 CEs on completion of the post-webinar quiz
• This listing is for those wanting CEs for LCSW/LSW and LCPC/LPC licenses.

Presenter: Arielle Weston

Arielle Weston earned her Bachelor’s in Social Work from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2012 and her Master’s in Social Service Administration from University of Chicago in 2014. She has experience in a variety of social service fields working directly with different client populations and supervising programs. Her passion is government administration and policy, and she returned to DCFS (Department of Children and Family Services) in September 2019, where she completed her graduate internship five years prior. She works in the Office of Housing and Cash Assistance as the state-wide Youth Housing Assistance Program Coordinator serving youth transitioning, or who have transitioned, out of DCFS care. She also serves as the state-wide Program Monitor for 20+ contracted agencies that provide housing advocacy. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, spending time with loved ones and dogs.

Presenter: Jamie Mocker

Jamie Mocker earned her Bachelor of Arts in International Studies/Human Rights at Indiana University in 2011, taught English in Spain for a few years, and then obtained a Master of Arts in Human Rights from the University of Sussex in the UK. Before joining the Office of Housing and Cash Assistance, she worked for 6 years in direct service, serving as a case manager in both homeless and domestic violence shelters, and most recently for DCFS youth transitioning out of care. She has always had a passion for advocating for economic equality and improving services for families and youth experiencing homelessness and is currently the Statewide Liaison for the Family Unification Program and the Fostering Youth to Independence Program.