Accomplishments
YLAT was named one of three finalists for the Annie E. Casey Innovations Award in Children and Family System Reform in the United States by the Ash Institute for Innovation in Governance at Harvard’s Kennedy School.
Youth-centered policies.
YLAT has been central in helping DHHS, the courts, and service providers in developing a youth-centered system: laws and policies, practice, and resource distribution. We have made significant impact in the areas of improving public policies and systems.
- DHHS Permanency Policy (PDF)
- Youth in Care Bill of Rights (PDF)
- YLAT Position Paper on Sibling Placement and Visitation (PDF)
- The Sibling Rights Policy and Sibling Rights Legislation (LD 1682)
- The Tuition Waiver Eligibility Legislation
- Medicaid coverage expansion efforts
- Proposed legislation called “An Act to Allow Birth Parents Rights in Signing Activity Permission Forms for their Children who are in the Custody of the State”
- Evaluation of the state’s Guardian Ad Litem program
- Review of the child and family services
Youth-centered practices.
YLAT members train every new case worker and foster or adoptive parent in the state. New workers explain that in hearing from the YLAT youth, they are reminded of the small ways that they can support young people. Prospective caregivers are more likely to foster and adopt older children after hearing from YLAT members.
Youth-centered resource distribution.
YLAT has testified during state budget hearings on behalf of DHHS and foster and adoptive families. We have also worked with the state legislature through three rounds of legislation on higher-education tuition support for youth in care. The first time, YLAT helped create the law, which provides tuition reimbursement at any public state college or university. Maine was only the third state in the country to pass such a law; most states have now followed suit. In the second round, YLAT increased the number of slots available in the program. The third time, YLAT pushed the legislature to extend tuition waiver benefits to youth adopted from foster care, eliminating a major disincentive to the adoption of older youth.
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