Enhanced-Youth Transition Planning (E-YTP)
Intended Audience
- Child Welfare Workers
- Child Welfare Supervisors
- Youth
Targeted Age Group(s)
- 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
Description
The Enhanced-Youth Transition Planning (E-YTP) Model is an individualized, youth-driven, strengths-based, comprehensive, and team-based transition planning process that places youth ages 14–21 who are in foster care at the center of their transition planning. E-YTP provides a structured system for a youth-driven transition planning process that honors youth’s voice and focuses on a youth’s own strengths and goals while supporting the youth in identifying natural supports who can serve as partners to help them meet those goals with success.
E-YTP was developed with funding from the federal Children’s Bureau as part of The Institute for Innovation and Implementation’s Youth At-Risk of Homelessness demonstration grant (2013-2015) and implementation grant (9/2015-9/2020). E-YTP currently is being implemented in several sites on Maryland’s rural Eastern Shore. E-YTP is culturally responsive to the needs of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youth and relevant to both rural and suburban communities. E-YTP supports the use of strong, youth engagement skills through the required certification of all foster care supervisors and workers in Achieve My Plan (AMP). AMP was selected as E-YTP’s youth engagement overlay to ensure that workers are engaging with youth by using skills and techniques that support the goals of E-YTP and reduce the risk of young people experiencing homelessness after exiting from foster care. E-YTP is grounded in implementation science. It utilizes skill-based, behavior change coaching with each foster care supervisor to ensure that skills and techniques learned during training are developed further and that they result in high-quality practice.
Innovation Institute at UConn School of Social Work is committed to ensuring that E-YTP empowers youth and their teams to reach their goals across these life domains: education and employment, financial empowerment, permanent and supportive connections, safe and stable housing, and well-being and civic engagement.
Implementation Considerations
A comprehensive, formative evaluation of E-YTP includes administrative data, youth and worker surveys, and interviews and focus groups with youth and the child welfare workforce. E-YTP is a model that uses skill-based, behavior change coaching to increase high-quality practice among the child welfare workforce. It focuses on building and strengthening skills of foster care workers in youth engagement to increase and to improve relationships with older youth in foster care. This results in increased youth participation in transition planning and development of self-determination skills. Child welfare supervisors are given tools, coaching and strategies to support workers in achieving these goals. The cost to implement E-YTP includes training, an implementation manual and fidelity measures. Completion of Achieve My Plan (AMP) certification, E-YTP orientation and training, and ongoing participation in coaching is required for certification. Prior to approval for implementation each site must participate in a readiness assessment.