LifeSet™
Intended Audience
- Child Welfare Supervisors
- Child Welfare Leadership
- Social Services Non-child Welfare
Targeted Age Group(s)
- 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
- Prioritize Legal, Relational and Cultural Permanence
Description
LifeSet™ is a high-intensity, individualized, community-based program serving young adults ages 17 and older. The LifeSet™ program model is youth-driven. Participants set their own goals and receive support from highly trained specialists while working to achieve those goals. LifeSet™ emphasizes experiential learning. It involves specialists who practice life skills with each participating young person while modeling behavior in the real world. LifeSet™ aims to give each youth the know-how and confidence to solve problems, to build a network of support and to conquer everyday challenges. To accomplish goals, LifeSet™ specialists meet with participants face-to-face at least once each week. They text, email and telephone each youth regularly throughout the week and make themselves available 24/7 as needs arise. These specialists leverage proven interventions to stabilize even the toughest situations. They help participating youths to build healthy relationships as well as to obtain safe housing, education and employment.
LifeSet™ is one of the first and largest, evidence-informed programs in the United States that is helping young people to transition from foster care. More than 20,000 young persons have been helped through LifeSet™ since its founding in 1999. In a randomized and controlled trial, leading research firm MDRC found that LifeSet™ program participation increases earnings, economic well-being and employment; reduces homelessness; improves mental health, and reduces domestic and partner violence.
Implementation Considerations
While the interventions are individualized for each youth, adherence to a structured model has allowed LifeSet™ to be effective in rural as well as urban settings, with youths from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, in various states and jurisdictions across the country. LifeSet™ is based on science, evidence and best practices in child welfare and behavioral health. Youth Villages®, the developer of LifeSet™, has more than 20 years of expertise in helping young people on their journeys from foster care to adulthood.
All core programs of Youth Villages®, including LifeSet™, pair the ongoing guidance of a licensed program expert at the master’s level with a robust, online catalog that contains hundreds of evidence-based, evidence-informed and other best-practice interventions and resources. The licensed program expert provides guidance to frontline staff and program leaders on matters such as choosing and implementing interventions in order to deliver services with high quality and consistency. This is how staff members know what to do when they spend time with participating young persons.
LifeSet™ is implemented in a team format in which a supervisor oversees three or four specialists. Each specialist works with 8 to 10 young persons. A team serves 36 to 40 participants on any given day.
LifeSet™ can be implemented directly by Youth Villages® or through partnerships with public child welfare agencies or private nonprofit organizations. Youth Villages® guides its partners through the certification and implementation processes and provides ongoing training and clinical oversight to ensure fidelity to the model and the program’s success. Public child welfare agencies and private nonprofit organizations interested in implementing LifeSet™ are required to complete Youth Villages®’ pre-certification and due diligence process.