Alaska Youth Call for Reform

I found this story of a recent attempt to reform the foster care system in Alaska. On Tuesday, February 17, members of the Alaska Youth Policy Summit met with legislators to share their stories of childhood trauma. The Alaska Youth Policy Summit is an advocacy group that recruits young people to talk to legislators about what they believe the problems in the state's social services system are.  This was part of the annual visit this group has to the state Capitol in order to give voice to children who are in the social services system. There were 5 presenters for this particular cause. The presenters talked about dealing with drug abuse, mental health, and being moved from place to place.

 Robin Ahqupuk is a 20 year old from Anchorage who was part of this summit. He spent 15 years in foster care and lived in 48 different homes. He wants to make sure that other Alaskan children will not have the same experience as him. He recalls how he felt like a loner and was never connected with people. He believes that the system makes children grow up too fast.

Benjamin Dahl-Rouzan is a 17 year old from Anchorage who was another presenter. He remembers dealing with multiple case workers and having to say you were doing one thing when you were really doing another. He was adopted at the age of 10, but not without spending 5 years in foster care first.

One of the main targets of the summit was the workload of caseworkers. Both boys agreed that lessening the burden of caseworkers was an improvement that needed to be made. Representative Les Gara introduced House Bills 27 and 28 in this summit. He says that, "Alaska is failing its foster youth. The state is its legal guardian; we need to treat them as we would treat our own children." Gara   understands the problems with the foster care system because he spent 12 years in it himself. He says that his experience was positive, but it did have its faults. The foster care system is declining because the social work staff is overburdened. His legislation is woking to keep foster children in the same school after moving to a different home. This would create a sense of permanency for the children. He also believes that children should be placed in a permanent home within 18 months of being in foster care.

The number of kids in foster care has increased in recent years. This is leading to caseworkers having to take on more work than one can reasonably handle. House Bill 28 proposes a $500,000 grant to support the staff of the Foster Care Independent Living Transition Program. This program currently has 6 caseworkers helping 300-400 older youth transition to adulthood. The department of Children's Services has not taken a position on the new legislations yet because they are uncertain that the new mandates on the department will be effective.

Below is a picture of Benjamin Dahl-Rouzan sharing his story at the meeting.