Fair Futures
Intended Audience
- Youth
Targeted Age Group(s)
- 10-12
- 13-17
- 18 or older
QIC-EY Engagement Model Components (i) The engagement model components were identified through the QIC-EY Environmental Scan as critical to the support of youth engagement in the attainment of permanence.
- Engage Specialized Staff
- Support Youth Empowerment
- Utilize Youth-guided Team
- Prioritize Legal, Relational and Cultural Permanence
Description
Fair Futures is a comprehensive model that serves young people from sixth grade through age 26 who have been in the foster care system. The model includes a robust program to prepare students for success in middle school and high school and a long-term coaching program that includes professional coaching; tutoring; and comprehensive social-emotional, academic, career development, employment, housing and independent-living supports.
The overarching goals of the Fair Futures model are to help young people:
- to develop relational skills.
- to prepare for and to graduate from high school.
- to persist in postsecondary settings.
- to build progressive, career development experiences in line with their interests and academic/vocational plans that will help them to navigate onto a living-wage, career pathway.
- to access and to maintain affordable housing (for young people who age out of foster care).
- to gain independent-living skills.
- to build a strong network of positive, adult and peer supports.
The Fair Futures model was developed through a yearlong research project that included the expertise of New York City’s (NYC) executive-level and program-level leadership in child welfare and youth development. The model’s services and service delivery are founded on evidence-based and best-practice programs in NYC and across the nation that serve young people in foster care. The model integrates many of the key components of Graham Windham’s SLAM program and The New York Foundling Road to Success program. The model also infuses best practices at critical junctures derived from other NYC-based foster care agencies, educational and workforce development organizations and evidence-based national models.
Implementation Considerations
This model is intended to be implemented by child welfare agencies and others that interact directly with youth. A program manual that maps out, step by step, how to support young people based on their current situation is available for sites wishing to implement the model. It also links to a comprehensive set of tools, materials and vetted resources that staff can use to assist young people throughout their journey. Agencies adopting this model may continue to use or to develop their own program branding, to infuse additional program components or best practices, or to alter staff titles and roles slightly, as long as they deliver all of the key components of the model. There is inherent flexibility to the Fair Futures model because it is structured around young people’s needs.
