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  • Normalcy for Youth in Foster Care

Normalcy for Youth in Foster Care

Foster youth often have difficulty participating in everyday activities, including after-school jobs, learning to drive, and sleepovers, that their peers get to participate in and that can help facilitate their transition to adulthood. The following includes resources that address issues that affect normalcy for children and youth in out-of-home care, including State and local examples.

About Normalcy and the Reasonable and Prudent Parent Standard (PDF - 156 KB)
Capacity Building Center for States (2016)
Defines and provides information about normalcy and the reasonable and prudent parent standard in the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Family Act (PL 113-183).

Authentic Relationships Matter Most: A New Model for Permanency - Pilot Study Findings (PDF - 4,210 KB)
Faulkner, Belseth, Adkins, & Perez (2018)
Texas Institute for Child and Family Wellbeing
Provides an overview of legal permanency for children in foster care and describes a model that helps give youth what they need to succeed in adulthood. 

Considerations for LGBTQ Children and Youth in Foster Care: Exploring Normalcy as it Relates to P.L. 113–183 (PDF - 139 KB)
Capacity Building Center for States (2018)
Provides information on how to create normalcy for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning children and youth in foster care and gives examples of additional normalcy considerations for that population..

Having the Normalcy Conversation Series
Capacity Building Center for States (2018)
Aims to advance organizational knowledge about the importance of normalcy for young people in foster care and to facilitate regular discussions about its implementation among all stakeholders, including young people themselves. A free login is required to access these resources.

Importance of Normalcy for Foster Youth
Alliance for Children's Rights (2016)
Discusses the ways in which normalcy promotes well-being and healthy development among children and teenagers involved in the child welfare system.

Perspectives on Normalcy: Videos and Discussion Questions (PDF - 171 KB)
Capacity Building Center for States (2016)
Includes videos from the Authentic Voices Videos series, which feature a diverse group of individuals sharing their perspectives on normalcy and experiences with the child welfare system, and accompanying discussion questions.

Promoting Normalcy
FosterClub
Provides reading materials and a video for caseworkers to learn more about normalcy in foster care, including the definition of normalcy with considerations from a youth perspective, system-imposed barriers to normalcy, how to discuss and define normalcy activities with youth, and policy recommendations and trends across the country.

Promoting Normalcy for Children and Youth in Foster Care
Pokempner, Mordecai, Rosado, & Subrahmanyam (2015)
Juvenile Law Center
Provides information for States to enable the implementation of federal mandates regarding normalcy for children and youth in out-of-home care.

Promoting Well-Being Through the Reasonable and Prudent Parent Standard: A Guide for States Implementing the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act (H.R. 4980) (PDF - 20,216 KB)
Citirin, Martin, Dhillon, Bettencourt, & Notkin (2017)
Center for the Study of Social Policy
Provides policy recommendations for a reasonable and prudent parent, or normalcy, standard for all youth, as well expectant and parenting youth and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth. 

Removing Barriers to Everyday Experiences: Normalcy and Foster Care
Annie E. Casey Foundation (2016)
Offers practical guidance for States, child welfare professionals, and foster parents to help provide normalcy to children and youth in out-of-home care.

What Young People Need to Thrive: Leveraging the Strengthening Families Act to Promote Normalcy (PDF - 1,843 KB)
Annie E. Casey Foundation (2015)
Provides the perspectives of children and youth in out-of-home care on everyday experiences and normalcy interventions to facilitate the improved implementation of normalcy mandates.

Why Normalcy is Important for Youth in Foster Care
Gross (2016)
Child Trends
Discusses the social and mental health implications of normalcy on teenagers involved in child welfare.

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State and local examples

Achieving Normalcy Is Hard, But These Programs Can Help
Tiano (2019)
The Imprint
Describes programs and policies around the United States that promote normalcy for youth in the foster care system, including a program that helps youth attend prom and other school dances, funding for extracurricular and community activities, skill building activities, and more.  

Normalcy for Youth in Foster Care 
Texas Foster Care Association (2019)
Presents the findings of a report from the Normalcy Roundtable that defines normalcy for youth in care, explains why normalcy is important, and outlines systemic barriers to providing normalcy, such as transportation issues and financial roadblocks.  

Normalcy for Youth in Foster Care
Virginia Department of Social Services
Guides users through important considerations when making decisions for children and youth in foster care, including State-specific laws and normalcy considerations.

Normalcy for Youth in Foster Care [Webinar]
Center for Child Welfare at University of South Florida (2018)
Provides an overview of normalcy, Federal and State laws in California that govern normalcy, and ways to incorporate elements of normalcy in case practice.

Pennsylvania Video Highlights “Normalcy” for Children in Foster Care
Child Law Practice Today (2016)
Discusses the need and purpose of the Pennsylvania normalcy initiative presented in an education video.

Prudent Parenting & Normalcy
Tennessee Department of Children’s Services
Reviews the mandated protocol, and the reasons why it’s important to promote prudent parenting and normalcy in Tennessee.

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