MEDIA CONTACT:
Candice L. Maze, Executive Director, Florida Foster Care Review
Cell. 305-772-0708, cmaze@fostercarereview.org

MIAMI, FL – July 17, 2014 – In response to data showing that children in foster care are more likely to face poor outcomes later in life the longer they remain in the system, Florida Foster Care Review (FFCR) is announcing its leadership role in a new initiative to help youth in foster care secure permanent families. The need for the new program is hard to overstate: according to the 2012 Florida Youth in Transition National Database Survey, 28% of young adults (18 to 22 years old) who “aged out” of the foster care system reported experiencing homelessness.

Through the Permanency Roundtable Program – a collaborative effort by Florida Foster Care Review, Our Kids of Miami-Dade/Monroe, Inc., the full case management agencies, and other community experts – FFCR staff will facilitate team-driven professional case consultations focused exclusively on achieving permanent, lifelong adult connections for youth in foster care, including those who are at risk of aging out without a place to call home. The program uses a model developed by Casey Family Programs, which is providing training and technical support. The Roundtables represent the largest and highest impact expansion of FFCR’s scope of work in over two decades.

“We’re looking forward to applying our 25 years of experience facilitating the Citizen Review Panel Program to this concentrated effort to secure permanent families for our community’s most vulnerable children and youth,” said Candice L. Maze, Florida Foster Care Review’s Executive Director. “The Permanency Roundtable Program will ensure that urgent, collaborative action is taken to help children and youth develop the lifelong family connections that they need lead productive, successful lives.”

To support FFCR’s role in the effort, several foundations have invested a total of $70,000 in the program. Peacock Foundation, Inc. has contributed $40,000, with The Miami Foundation’s Safe Passage for Foster Youth (made possible by the Dade Fund) allocating $20,000 and the Joseph H. & Florence A. Roblee Foundation giving $10,000.

“We are pleased to support Florida Foster Care Review’s efforts to ensure that youth in foster care have long term connections with caring adults,” said Joëlle Allen, Executive Director of Peacock Foundation, Inc. “Building these authentic relationships will lead to positive outcomes for our youth and for our community.”

ABOUT FLORIDA FOSTER CARE REVIEW

Florida Foster Care Review promotes the safety, well-being, and long-term success of abused and neglected children through comprehensive volunteer-driven case reviews and system-level advocacy. Florida Foster Care Review was established in 1989 by a United Way committee that recommended using volunteers to ease the burden on Miami’s Juvenile Dependency Court. Since that time, the challenges faced by children in foster care have increased in complexity. In response, Florida Foster Care Review is expanding its facilitated case review concept to more intensively promote positive outcomes for abused and neglected children and youth.
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