State Efforts Vary When It Comes to Helping Foster Youth Lead Normal Lives

“This is really a culture shift,” said Jennifer Pokempner, senior attorney at Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia. “It’s the foundation for change, but there’s a ton of work that needs to be done. It’s a challenge because you’re asking resource parents to do something that we told them before they couldn’t do.”

Juvenile Law Center has been providing guidance to some states and agencies, and has contracts with New Jersey and Pennsylvania to develop the policy and practice to support the prudent parent standards, but implementation hasn’t been consistent across all states, especially since no additional funding was provided to help the states with the process.

“Many states like Tennessee really took it seriously,” Pokempner said. “Some states have taken it on and integrated it well because they see the impact in child well-being.”