We are pleased to share with you the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute’s 2015 Foster Youth Internship (FYI) Program™ report Embracing Our Past, Empowering Their Future: Why Child Welfare Reform Matters. We hope you are enlightened and inspired as you read personal accounts and innovative solutions from the Foster Youth Interns as they highlight areas of child welfare in need of reform and propose creative policy solutions to federal policymakers.

The electronic copy of the report is now available HERE, and a video of the Congressional Briefing is available HERE!

This year’s policy topics include:

• Foster Children of Parents with Serious Mental Illness: A Forgotten Population
• Collecting Relevant Information to Address Adoption Disruption and Dissolution: It’s Not Just About the Numbers
• Increasing Positive Outcomes for African-American Males in the Foster Care System through Adoption
• Addressing the Overuse of Psychotropic Medication Among Foster Children
• Every Life Matters: Trauma-Informed Training and Peer-to-Peer Support Groups to Prevent Foster Youth and Alumni Suicide
• “Family Group Homes” as a Chance at Normalcy for “Hard-to-Place” Teens
• Redefining Homeless: Improving the Outcomes for Aged Out Foster Youth
• Closing the Educational Gap: Addressing the Need for Educational-Vocational Specialists
• Fostering a Culture of Silence: The Need to Improve Reporting of Sexual Abuse in Foster Care
• Investing in Foster Youth’s Futures: Improving Access to Extracurricular Activities and Supportive Relationships
• Reaching Higher Goals: Improving Educational Outcomes for Foster Youth
• Mental Health for Foster Children: Creating Consistency Among States

To learn more about the FYI Program, please visit www.ccainstitute.org.