{"id":4597,"date":"2015-12-18T21:15:08","date_gmt":"2015-12-18T21:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=4597"},"modified":"2015-12-18T21:15:37","modified_gmt":"2015-12-18T21:15:37","slug":"texas-takes-lead-helping-kids-in-foster-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=4597","title":{"rendered":"Texas Takes Lead Helping Kids in Foster Care"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em>by Eric Galatas<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>AUSTIN, Texas<\/strong> &#8211; A recent report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation shows how states can make sure children living in foster care have the same opportunities as their peers, and Texas is ahead of the curve.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">In the last session, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 1407, a law that makes it easier for children to do things others take for granted, such as playing sports or having an after school job.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Andy Homer, director of public affairs with the Texas Court Appointed Special Advocates, says the goal is to level the playing field by removing unnecessary restrictions.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cIt continues to create additional barriers to healthy emotional and mental health development,\u201d he states. \u201cWe want all these kids in the system to participate in the same activities that every other child is able to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4598\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4598\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4598\" src=\"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/gr-49354-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"Texas is taking the lead to help young people in foster care experience life as any other child. Photo: DragonImages\/iStockphoto\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/gr-49354-1-1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/gr-49354-1-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/gr-49354-1-1-405x270.jpg 405w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/gr-49354-1-1-60x40.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-4598\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Texas is taking the lead to help young people in foster care experience life as any other child. Photo: DragonImages\/iStockphoto<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Homer says foster parents were required to do background checks on families before children could attend a sleepover.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">When fully implemented, SB 1407 will put Texas in compliance with the Strengthening Families Act, a measure passed by Congress in 2014 to improve the experiences of children in foster care.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The Casey Foundation report, \u201cWhat Young People Need to Thrive,\u201d compiles recommendations from people across the nation who experienced foster care directly. They say children need connections to family and the ability to make more decisions for themselves.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The report found because children frequently have a history of trauma, foster parents also need additional training.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Todd Lloyd, a senior policy associate with the Casey Foundation, says because the state acts as legal guardian, concerns about liability have often kept young people in foster care from activities that help children feel like they belong.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cBecause it has been a system oriented toward safety, protecting children, that it\u2019s very easy to create policies that are overly restrictive out of concern for safety and also the liability,\u201d he points out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Eric Galatas AUSTIN, Texas &#8211; A recent report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation shows how states can make sure children living in foster care have the same opportunities as their peers, and Texas is ahead of the curve. In the last session, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 1407, a law that makes it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4597"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4599,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4597\/revisions\/4599"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}