For Caregivers
When it comes to supporting the healthy sexual development of youth in foster care, resources families and STRTPs have certain duties to:
Support access to healthy sexual development information and education
- Notify the case worker of any barriers a youth or nonminor dependent experiences in accessing sexual and reproductive health information or care
- Ensure youth have access to age-appropriate, medically accurate, culturally sensitive sexual health information and education when requested
- Honor their right to live in a safe, comfortable and healthy home where they are treated with respect, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or pregnancy or parenting status
- Not impose their own biases, judgements and/or religious beliefs
Facilitate access to sexual and reproductive health care
- Allow youth to have contraception, including condoms, in their placement
- Ensure youth in foster care receive health services to meet their medical and mental health needs
- Facilitate access and transportation to reproductive and sexual health related services in a timely basis by providing that transportation or otherwise arranging it when requested
- Allow youth to seek sexual and reproductive health care from the provider of their choice
Honor healthy sexual development and privacy
- Allow youth to have privacy in the doctor’s exam room
- Allow the youth to have private storage space and use that space to store sexual and reproductive health medications
- Use the reasonable and prudent parent standard to create normalcy and support the health sexual development of youth in foster care
Resources and Support
- Where does the law say this? View All County Letter No. 16-88 and this SB-89 Fact Sheet
- I’m an STRTP. How do I make sure my policies and practices comply with state licensing regulations? Read this Reproductive and Sexual Health Policies & Practices for STRTPs guide.
- Fast facts about the California Healthy Youth Act.
The California Foster Youth Sexual Health Education Act, Senate Bill 89, passed in 2017, mandated that group home administrators and resource families, as part of the pre-approval process, receive sexual and reproductive wellness training that includes information on the rights of youth to education and care, the duties of the caregiver to support access, how to identify appropriate resources and referrals, and how to engage and talk with youth and young adults about healthy sexual development and reproductive and sexual health in a manner that is medically accurate, developmentally and age-appropriate, trauma-informed, and strengths-based. The trainings on this page support compliance support compliance with this mandate and/or address other frequently requested topics related to sexual and reproductive health.
Resource Family Training
- The SB 89 compliant curriculum for resource family pre-approval training to empower caregivers to support foster youth with their sexual and reproductive wellness.
STRTP Training
- Curriculum and trainer guide for providing an SB 89 compliant training for short term residential therapeutic programs (STRTP) in person.
- Online video based SB 89 curriculum for California group homes and STRTPs. Staff who take this online training receive a certificate of completion.
These resources can help you understand, support, and protect foster youths’ reproductive and sexual health rights. It can help you learn about foster youth rights, programs, and services available as well as help you find solutions to challenges that foster youth face in accessing reproductive and sexual health care.
Tools to support having these conversations
- Visit the Talk With Your Kids website for ideas on how to talk with your kid
- Visit Amaze.org to learn about how to communicate puberty, reproduction, and sexuality
- You can view the PowerPoint for “Youth and Caregiver Speak: Creating Stronger Caregiver Youth Relationships By Embracing Awkward Conversations”
Resources for Sexual and Reproductive Health Care
- Learn more about sexual and reproductive health care insurance coverage.
- Visit Bedsider.org to find a birth control method that fits.
- Guide on healthy sexual development and pregnancy prevention in foster care.
- Visit TeenParent.net for a website on expecting parenting youth in foster care.
- Online health education options for youth and adult caregivers.
- Our Fostering Parenthood podcast is by caregivers for caregivers to promote the healthy sexual development of foster youth.
- To find a clinic on TeenSource.org
- Resource guide to see if the clinic is right for youth
- Find more resources for youth on our website
Advice from Youth
- Podcast episode on nurturing foster youth’s mental health in new placements
- Podcast episode on breaking the cycle: Voices of trafficking survivors in foster care
- Podcast episode on how to support pregnant and parenting youth.
- Watch this short video on meeting our youth advisory board member, Phillisha.
- Document on top tips for youth engagement
Youth Speak on COVID-19
- Advice from youth for youth PowerPoint on Self-Love, Sexual Intimacy, and Healthy Relationships amid COVID-19
- Parenting Youth Speak video on how they are experiencing COVID-19 and ways to support them. This webinar is part 3 of the 2020 LA RHEP Summer Learning Series.
- Youth perspective video on Health and Health Access in Times of COVID-19.
- Full report on former foster youth experiences with barriers and healing during COVID-19
- Report Summary on former foster youth experiences with barriers and healing during COVID-19
