We recently captured testimonials with California former foster youth to learn what inclusive healthcare means to them– and what we, as professionals and adults, can do to provide a safe, welcoming environment in medical spaces. From May 18th to June 12th, RHEP will share these testimonials as part of our campaign, “That’s Inclusive Care”: Foster Youth & Their Healthcare Experiences.
RHEP conducted focus groups with current and former foster youth to deepen our understanding of foster youth’s attitudes, beliefs, and sources of information about abortion, as well as to better understand what resources and information are needed to improve foster youth’s experiences and access to abortion care in California. Foster youth shared that they often face complex and conflicting pressures when navigating pregnancy and abortion. Read key takeaways, youth responses, and potential solutions.
Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) is critical to our overall health and wellness. Our Youth Advisory Board members talk about WHY sexual and reproductive health matters to them. This series includes topics such as Our Communities Deserve STI Testing & Equitable Access to Sex Ed, Talking About Sexual and Reproductive Health to Beat Shame and Stigma, Being Informed Helps You Protect Yourself— and Others, and more.
A multidisciplinary team working with RHEP, including youth with foster care experience, developed “The Foster Friendly Healthcare Toolkit” to explain what it takes to implement inclusive, respectful sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care that contributes to building a sense of agency for youth in care and with diverse identities. This toolkit is a collection of easily accessible tools and information that support you on your journey to make change in your practice and in your clinic.
Self Taught: Former Foster Youth on Sex, Health, and Life. This podcast is from foster youth, for foster youth, with unfiltered conversations about sex, health and life. These are conversations about puberty, relationships, sexual health, identity and much more that we wish were part of our upbringing. We hope these conversations spark questions and provide resources for you, to find answers, feel empowered, and have community.
Fostering Parenthood: Reimagining “The Talk” With Caregivers And Foster Youth.
Talking to our teens about their sexual health journey can be intimidating but with Fostering Parenthood, you’re not alone. Together, we will talk about these important conversations through lived experience and provide helpful ideas, best practices, and resources. Our goal is helping our children and youth in foster care become informed, strong, and confident individuals.
Teen Talk Foster Youth is a free, virtual, community-based sex ed series for youth in California foster care, coordinated by the Reproductive Health Equity Project. This curriculum meets requirements of the California Healthy Youth Act, as well as the California Foster Youth Sexual Health Education Act. It is taught by leading educators & community-based organizations including Planned Parenthood of Pasadena and San Gabriel Valley & Black Women for Wellness.
Expectant and parenting youth (EPY) with current or prior involvement in foster care experience multiple educational, health, and financial stressors. RHEP worked to assess how EPY with foster care experience navigate financial benefit programs, especially those offering cash assistance, and determine whether a larger study of benefit and cash transfer programs would be of merit. This issue brief describes the study and summarizes its results.
John Burton Advocates for Youth, is conducting the California Foster Youth Tax Project to help foster youth file their taxes. This establishes Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites to assist foster youth with filing their taxes for free. This brings economic resources to parenting foster youth and their children.
A benefit of $2,700 became available in January 2022 for all pregnant foster youth in California. In this webinar, attendees learned about the new benefit, eligibility, and requirement for county implementation. This webinar is intended for child welfare agency administrators, caseworkers, caregivers advocates, other supportive adults, and young people in care.
The policy briefs includes SB 89 Implementation in the Bay Area, California Foster Youth Bill of Rights, and our youth-led research on former foster youth’s experiences with barriers and health during COVID-19.
On September 26th, 2023, CDSS released a report entitled “Performance Outcome Data on the Implementation of Sexual and Reproductive Health Training and Education”, an extensive, first of its kind report focused on reproductive & maternal health outcomes for young people in California’s foster care system. This webinar explains how the data in this innovative report was developed and review key findings.
RHEP conducted focus groups with current and former foster youth to deepen our understanding of foster youth’s attitudes, beliefs, and sources of information about abortion, as well as to better understand what resources and information are needed to improve foster youth’s experiences and access to abortion care in California. Foster youth shared that they often face complex and conflicting pressures when navigating pregnancy and abortion. Read key takeaways, youth responses,
Expectant and parenting youth (EPY) with current or prior involvement in foster care experience multiple educational, health, and financial stressors. RHEP worked to assess how EPY with foster care experience navigate financial benefit programs, especially those offering cash assistance, and determine whether a larger study of benefit and cash transfer programs would be of merit. This issue brief describes the study and summarizes its results.
The evaluation briefs include evaluation a sexual and reproductive health training for healthcare providers, court professionals, DCFS social workers and other DCFS personnels as well as a qualitative evaluation of DCFS Expectant and Parenting Conferences program and more!
This webinar presents results from the survey, conducted in the summer of 2023, including where youth get sexual health information, how they access care, and the barriers they face while highlighting differences based on age, gender, sexual orientation, or racial/ethnic identity. The presentation provides opportunities to discuss implications for policy and practice and possible next steps.
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