Emerging Leader Fellow Dominique Mikell is featured in an article by Nina Rohr discussing what life often looks like for youth after foster care.
Debra Brickson lived in foster care as a small girl, starting at age 9. Two years later, when her family circumstances changed, she left the system only to return in her teens. Now, at 18, the age when foster children used to be put out on their own, Debra Brickman lives with “the most loving and caring guardian”. And like other 18 year olds — like young people in college — she can remain part of her foster family: under Pennsylvania law, she can file for a board extension to remain in foster care until she is 21. Brickson knows that a board extension is a “very good idea because people are not ready to be on their own at age 18 — not just physically, but mentally, too.”
For Brickson, things were quite clear. She knew that board extension was an option and she knew how to make it become a reality. Pennsylvania’s 2010 Children in Foster Care Act, requires that youth be notified of their right to remain in care past the age of 18. The child welfare agency must notify youth of this right, by a letter in the mail, and assist them in documenting their request. However, not all young people are so fortunate. Some may not receive this letter, they may not understand its ramifications, or they may think that they need to be more self-sufficient.
Although Debra relied on this act (and Act 91, a 2012 broadening of the law), to request a board extension, one of her friends was unaware that it was even an option, and Debra had to be the one to pass on the information. Debra’s friend exists in the wide chasm between the well-intentioned laws and their implementation. Through her research, Dominique Mikell (pronounced like “Michael”), a Stoneleigh Foundation Emerging Leader Fellow at the Juvenile Law Center, is working to bridge that gap. (The Stoneleigh Foundation, which sponsors Mikell’s research, supports the work of leaders in child welfare, juvenile justice and related fields.) Her project focuses on investigating statewide use of extended foster care in Pennsylvania after Act 91. She wants to find out who is actually staying in care in Pennsylvania. Why are these youth remaining in care? Do all of them know how to use this law? Are certain ones more or less likely than others to take advantage of it? Has the act been implemented effectively?
