Thursday, May 24, 2007

Foster children receiving inadequate medical care

Medicaid not enough for foster children
Wheeler, Stertease. AXcess News, May 24, 2007.

(Georgetown, KY) Washington - Children in foster care are at a higher risk for developing mental and physical health problems, but it's much harder for these children to receive proper medical care, experts said Monday.

They spoke at a discussion in the U.S. Capitol on federal issues regarding the health and well being of foster care children.

The focus of the discussion was on inadequate Medicaid funding, which in turn dictates how much medical care children in foster care receive. The panelists also discussed the need to push for mandatory medical coverage for children leaving the foster care system and to improve dental coverage and child-placement practices.

Dr. David M. Rubin, director of research and policy at Safe Place: Center for Child Protection and Health, said that states are not required to provide Medicaid coverage to young adults after age 18. Safe Place is a program developed by the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to provide resources to address the medical and psychosocial needs of at-risk children.

The Chafee Independence Act of 1999 gives states the option of extending medical coverage to foster children who become too old for the system at age 18 and to help them make the transition into adult life. The "Medicaid Foster Care Coverage Act of 2007," introduced in the Senate in March, would make Medicaid coverage of foster care children mandatory through age 21.

Access to adequate dental health care is also a problem among foster children receiving Medicaid.

Foster parent Deborah D. Williams of Dumfries, Va., is a long-time foster parent.

"Dentist's wouldn't take kids under 4 on Medicaid," Williams said. "We do need care and more help in finding doctors that will take Medicaid."

According to a study conducted by the Child Welfare League of America, one-third to one-half of children afflicted with dental problems were reported to have dental decay. The CWLA is an association of almost 800 nonprofit agencies headquartered in Arlington, Va., that is responsible for assisting more than 3.5 million neglected children annually.

Another issue is whether kinship care, or children placed with relatives, is better than general foster care. Rubin said welfare workers make kinship care a priority over general foster care, but there isn't overwhelming evidence to prove that placing children with relatives is better.

"There is scant and conflicting evidence to show how placement of a child in kinship care influences the child's well-being long-term," Rubin said.

Despite the conflicts, Rubin did not dismiss the idea, and he said it could prove to be a good alternative to general foster care.

"We need to think about placement with kin. It is an important alternative to traditional foster care that may help children exit the system quickly," Rubin said. "I'm not here to say that we should push every child in kinship care, there has to be some limits ... they have to have some relationship with the child."

To provide better health care and an overall better way of life for children in foster care, two bills have been proposed to ensure better care of foster children. One would help relatives of foster children who agree to care for them and the other would also help non-relatives.

Source: Scripps Howard Foundation Wire

Sunday, May 20, 2007

246 security incidents since new online system for KY social workers was implemented

Security web system praised
Facilitates reports of threats, attacks
Kentucky Post, May 14, 2007.

Some Kentucky social workers are giving high marks for a computer-based system that allows workers to report threats, attacks and other security concerns.

The reporting system is among changes by the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services since the slaying of Western Kentucky social service aide Boni Frederick last October.It enables social workers to report security concerns to Frankfort using a Web site that immediately e-mails the report to supervisors in Frankfort and in the field.

Previously, workers had to fill out a written report and fax or mail it to Frankfort.

Shenise Mack, a Jefferson County social worker, said the computer-based system is "going to be a way to help us." Jennifer Williams, who also works in Jefferson County, called it a sign of "tremendous progress."

Both said threats and attacks are an ongoing problem for social workers who often deal with hostile and angry adults who sometimes have mental-health or substance-abuse problems.

The new statewide system is resulting in swifter action against people who make threats, state officials said last week to a group of social workers and others studying safety.

Since the computer-based system began in November, 246 incidents have been reported, according to a report provided to the work group. In 33 of those cases, law enforcement or emergency medical officials were notified, it said.

The incidents included threats, assaults and disorderly conduct. Thirteen cases resulted in criminal charges.

Tom Emberton Jr., Kentucky's undersecretary for child and family services, said the system allows the state to act swiftly on such reports and compile a database to track trends and identify areas of particular concern.

Bruce Linder, who oversees the state's nine social service regions, said he gets the reports immediately by e-mail, which allows him to keep up with threats or attacks on social workers and make sure they are being handled properly by regional supervisors.

"It really has sped up the process," he said.

Joel Griffith, a regional supervisor, said he thinks workers are more likely to fill out the online reports -- partly because its faster and easier -- and also because, following Frederick's death, state officials repeatedly reminded workers to report security concerns.

As a result, Griffith believes more workers are reporting threats or other incidents they might previously have shrugged off as part of the job.

Meanwhile, the study group formed after Frederick's death will continue its work to come up with recommendations for lawmakers in 2008. It was the group's first meeting since the General Assembly in March passed legislation named after Frederick. The Boni law is aimed at upgrading safety and getting more frontline social workers on the job.

The group also discussed resources for social work, how to get more workers on the job, how to make offices safer, how to get faster criminal background checks on clients before they visit the home and ways to improve safety when workers make home visits.

Frederick was fatally beaten and stabbed in Henderson when she took an infant for what was to be a final home visit with his mother. The state recently had moved to sever the mother's parental rights and place the child for adoption. The mother and her boyfriend have been charged with Frederick's murder.

People need to be able to report child abuse without fear of retaliation, but in this case it seems like the cop went too far

Suit alleges child taken without cause
Parents say neighbor stirred action by calling her police officer son
Honeycutt-Spears, Valarie. Lexington Herald-Leader, May 14, 2007, pg. B1.

A Williamsburg police officer conspired with a state social worker to take custody of a woman's 2-year-old son after the woman got into a dispute with the officer's mother, according to a lawsuit filed last week.

The suit, filed Tuesday in Whitley Circuit Court, says that on April 9, Felicia Morgan of Williamsburg "had words" with her neighbor, telling the woman to stop "snooping" and "peeping" through a privacy fence. According to the suit, the neighbor called her son, Williamsburg police Officer Wayne Bird.

Within minutes Bird, in uniform, appeared on Morgan's doorstep along with state social worker Stephanie Bryant, who took custody of Morgan's 2-year-old son, according to the court complaint.

The lawsuit maintains that the child was taken without just cause.

According to the complaint, Bird told Felicia Morgan not to curse at his mother, "and the next time (his mother) called or he saw Plaintiffs outside he would clean house with the Plaintiffs on or off duty."

Bird and the social worker told Morgan that they were investigating a complaint that the Morgans -- Felicia and her husband, Anthony -- were permitting the 2-year-old to drink beer.

"It was obvious to Stephanie Bryant that the child was not intoxicated, was drinking root beer and was well-cared for," the lawsuit said.

A Cabinet for Health and Family Services document attached to the complaint states that Bryant found no evidence of a problem.

"This investigation is found to be an unsubstantiation at this time. A case will not be opened. No finding of neglect has been found," said the April 12 report, signed by Bryant and her supervisor.

"Overall," said the Morgans' attorney, David Smith of Corbin, "this shows that the Cabinet (child protection officials) in Whitley and McCreary counties is completely out of control."

Bryant took the child and placed him in the temporary custody of Felicia Morgan's mother. Social workers returned the child to his parents the next day, after the parents hired an attorney.

The Morgans are suing Wayne Bird, his mother, Gladys Bird, and Bryant, alleging that the three "clearly falsified untrue allegations."

The lawsuit also names the city of Williamsburg and Bryant's employer, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, as defendants. The couple asks for $8,000 in damages.

The two agencies "negligently supervised their employees and permitted them to act outside their duties, in an unconstitutional manner," the complaint says.

A lawsuit gives one side of a story. Wayne and Gladys Bird and Bryant did not return phone calls.

Cabinet spokeswoman Vikki Franklin said Cabinet officials could not comment because they had not received the lawsuit.

Williamsburg City Police Chief Denny Shelley said he was not aware of the lawsuit or the incident.

"No formal complaint has been filed with the city," Shelley said.

The complaint alleges that Bird searched without a warrant both the Morgans' house and that of a neighbor.

The Morgans passed two drug tests in the hours after the child was taken.

Although the social worker did not find any evidence that the couple had been neglectful, they were required to sign a "safety plan" promising that they would not "party" in front of their child.

In the past 18 months, the Cabinet has fielded several complaints that Kentucky social workers unjustly remove children from homes. Earlier this year, the Cabinet's inspector general found that some state social workers, mostly in Hardin County, were vindictive against parents and committed possible crimes as they removed children inappropriately.

In recent weeks, a judge in Whitley County also criticized social work officials there for placing a foster child in a home where a registered sex offender "freely roamed."

Social workers deserve to be protected

Beyond the Boni Bill Louisville Courier Journal, May 12, 2007, pg. A8.

If salaries were measured on the Richter scale, the pay of most social workers would barely register. Yet, they fill some of the toughest jobs in state government — for example, when they must meet face to face with people about to lose custody of their children.

So, the new, statewide, computerized Critical Incident Reporting System represents a badly needed safety upgrade. Through it, social workers can quickly alert their superiors about threats and other security concerns. In turn, those potential risks can be tracked and, if warranted, other agencies can be called in. Previously, workers filled out paper reports and mailed or faxed them to Frankfort.

Technology is a beautiful thing, and early indications are that the new system is a big hit. Since it was started up in November, 246 incident reports have been logged, including 33 that resulted in law-enforcement and/or emergency medical officials being notified.

It's impossible to know if the system would have saved Boni Frederick, the social service aide who was murdered last October when she took a baby for a final visit with its mother before it was put up for adoption.

But Ms. Frederick's death obviously put the heat on state government. In March, the General Assembly passed the "Boni Bill," with the aim of putting more social workers on the front lines and making it safer them to do their jobs.

And there's more to come.

Mark Birdwhistell, secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, told the safety study group formed after Ms. Frederick's death that it's his job to come up with more recommendations to be considered by the General Assembly next year.

Meanwhile, we'll know how seriously Kentucky takes its responsibility to protect abused and neglected children by the degree to which it acts to protect the state workers sent in to rescue them.

Threats, assaults and disorderly conduct against social workers

System helps social workers report dangers
Still more to do, study group told
Yetter, Deborah. Louisville Courier-Journal, May 10, 2007, pg. B1.

FRANKFORT, Ky. — The threat was alarming — a father, angry that his children had been removed by child welfare officials, promised to kill the family caring for them and cut the throat of the social worker investigating his case.

"It's a common occurrence," said Joel Griffith, a regional supervisor who added that the threat occurred in his Northern Kentucky region. "It's a shocking occurrence."

But a new statewide computer system to report and track such incidents is resulting in swifter action against people who make threats, state officials yesterday told a group of social workers and others studying safety.

Formed after last October's murder of Western Kentucky social service aide Boni Frederick, the group will continue its work this year and held its first meeting since the General Assembly in March passed legislation named after Frederick. The Boni law is aimed at upgrading safety and getting more frontline social workers on the job.

Mark Birdwhistell, secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, told the group that the bill is a start and the study group's job is to come up with further recommendations for lawmakers in 2008.

"We really have to get down to work and prepare for the '08 session," he said.

The cabinet already has enacted some changes, including the "Critical Incident Reporting System," a computer-based effort that allows workers to report threats, attacks or other security concerns to Frankfort using a Web site that immediately e-mails the report to supervisors in Frankfort and in the field.

Previously workers had to fill out a written report and fax or mail it to Frankfort.

Some social workers at yesterday's meeting said the reporting system is one of the most significant improvements since Frederick's death.

"I think it's going to be a way to help us," said Shenise Mack, a Jefferson County social worker.

"That to me is tremendous progress," said Jennifer Williams, who also works in Jefferson County.

Both said threats and attacks are an on going problem for social workers who often deal with hostile and angry adults who sometimes have mental health or substance-abuse problems.

Since the computer-based system began in November, 246 incidents have been reported, according to a report provided to the work group yesterday. In 33 of those cases, law enforcement or emergency medical officials were notified, it said.

The incidents included threats, assaults and disorderly conduct. Thirteen cases resulted in criminal charges, including the Northern Kentucky man who threatened to kill the social worker and family caring for his children.

Tom Emberton Jr., Kentucky's undersecretary for child and family services, said yesterday the system allows the state to act swiftly on such reports and compile a database to track trends and identify areas of particular concern.

Bruce Linder, who oversees the state's nine social service regions, said he gets the reports immediately by e-mail, which allows him to keep up with threats or attacks on social workers and make sure they are being handled properly by regional supervisors.

"It really has sped up the process," he said.

Griffith said he thinks workers are more likely to fill out the online reports — partly because its faster and easier — and also because, following Frederick's death, state officials repeatedly reminded workers to report security concerns. As a result, Griffith believes more workers are reporting threats or other incidents they might previously have shrugged off as part of the job.

"I know I'm getting lots more of the reports," he said.

The group also discussed resources for social work, how to get more workers on the job, how to make offices safer, how to get faster criminal background checks on clients before they visit the home and ways to improve safety when workers make home visits.

Frederick was fatally beaten and stabbed in Henderson when she took an infant for what was to be a final home visit with his mother. The state recently had moved to sever her parental rights and place the child for adoption.

The mother and her boyfriend have been charged with Frederick's murder.

Several workers said yesterday the state needs a protocol to assess an increased danger to the worker as circumstance of a case change with rules to back it up.

Griffith said he gets memos from workers who say they have been threatened and that they plan to hold the next meeting with the family in a state agency office instead of the home.

"I say OK, but there's no policy that says it's OK," Griffith said. - THERE SHOULD BE

Children's attorneys: You get what you pay for!

Accused state social workers still on the job
State gets a 'D' in representing neglected kids
Lexington Herald-Leader, May 2, 2007, pg. B3.

A recently released report on legal representation for foster children gave Kentucky a "D" for the representation it provides to abused and neglected children, according to officials from Kentucky Youth Advocates.

First Star, a national child advocacy organization based in Washington, issued the report, giving grades to states based on mandates for representation, training requirements, children's involvement in proceedings and attorney immunity from malpractice.

Kentucky was one of six states to receive a "D" grade based on a 100-point index; 15 states received failing grades. Kentucky received a score of 60 out of 100. Neighboring states received a range of grades. Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri were given failing grades, Ohio received a C, Tennessee got a B, and West Virginia got an A.

The group made recommendations to the Kentucky legislature that included developing training for attorneys, requiring that children keep the same attorney if possible, and giving children the right to legal representation during the appeals process.

The First Star report also recommended that children's attorneys have caseload and compensation levels that allow for "effective assistance of counsel."

"While Kentucky guarantees attorneys for children in its child welfare system, the issue of quality representation is simply not adequately addressed," said Dr. Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates. "At a broad level, we can do more to support the quality issue through proactive legislation in 2008 and a focused commitment from the legal profession. On a pragmatic basis, issues like increasing fees for court-appointed attorneys are imperative if we really want to tackle the quality issue."

Louisville-based Kentucky Youth Advocates is one of two groups that issued a report on concerns with adoption practices, particularly in Hardin County, in January 2006.

Funeral for Marcus Fiesel

Funeral held for boy murdered by foster mother
Greber, Dave. Kentucky Post, May 5, 2007, pg. A4.

Some who came to Marcus Fiesel's final send-off Friday found consolation in the fact that the 3-year-old who died such an ignominious death -- bound in a blanket and closed up in a closet for two days during a sweltering August weekend -- was at last getting a proper funeral.

"That little boy got some respect for once in his life," said Paul Brownstead, foreman of the Clermont County, Ohio, jury that convicted Marcus' foster mother, Liz Carroll, of his murder, leading to a prison sentence of 54 years to life for her.Carroll's husband, David Carroll Jr., got 16 years to life after copping a plea. He was also convicted of burning the boy's body.

Friday, all that remained of Marcus, 18 charred bone fragment enclosed in a casket no larger than a child's toy box, were buried in a cemetery here.

Earlier in the day, his biological mother, Donna Trevino, wept as she greeted mourners at a funeral home where about 60 people paid their respects.

Some carried flowers and stuffed animals, and many said they felt compelled to attend even though they didn't know the boy. "For me personally, this was the ultimate violation of civil rights," said Anita Scott Jones, president of the Middletown NAACP.

But there was also consolation in the fact that the boy's death has prompted calls for sweeping reform of Ohio's foster care system.

Among changes that have been proposed: adding staff and funding for the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services to intensify its oversight of private foster agencies like the one that placed Marcus with the Carrolls; mandating annual criminal background checks of foster parents and adding drug testing to them; and developing a central database for criminal and personal background checks.

Reformers also want a database of foster caregivers whose licenses have been revoked and requiring a five-year waiting period before they can apply for reinstatement.

At the county level, Marcus' death provided the impetus to disband the Butler County Children Services Board and merge the agency with the county's Department of Job and Family Services. And the case cost board director Jann Heffner her job.

The Children Services board has decided to oppose Butler County Commissioners' plan to disband it, which could occur as early as May 14 with a unanimous vote by commissioners.

Contracts with private foster care agencies, such as Lifeway for Youth, which selected the home where Marcus died, were renegotiated for more frequent foster parent background checks. They now require state, federal and driving record checks every year, local criminal checks every six months, and notification within 24 hours of criminal activity.

Instead of every three months, caseworkers began checking private foster homes inside and outside the county monthly starting in September.

Why are these 13 social workers still on the job and working with children?

Probe alleged violations of law and policy
Honeycutt-Spears, Valarie. Lexington Herald-Leader, May 2, 2007, pg. 3B.

FRANKFORT -- At least 13 state social workers remain on the job nearly four months after a Kentucky inspector general's investigation alleged that they had committed crimes and violated policies while removing children from their families.

Also still working is a supervisor under investigation since April 2006 for allegedly trying to alter documents and intimidate witnesses in the investigation by the inspector general for the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services, spokeswoman Vikki Franklin has confirmed.

Franklin said the supervisor, Pam Tungate, an assistant administrator for the cabinet's Lincoln Trail region based in Elizabethtown, is working in another county until the cabinet completes an internal personnel review launched as a result of the inspector general's report.

Former Inspector General Robert J. Benvenuti spent a year investigating inappropriate state adoptions, terminations of parental rights and foster care before releasing a report in January.

Benvenuti found that employees gave false testimony in court and falsified public records and adoption records. The investigation showed that one social worker threatened, struck and cursed clients. Another social worker did not visit families, but lied and said she did.

All of those workers are still on the job. Cabinet officials are reviewing the cases to determine appropriate personnel actions while they continue working, Franklin said.

Benvenuti turned his findings over to Hardin Commonwealth's Attorney Chris Shaw, who could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Terry Brooks, executive director of Louisville-based Kentucky Youth Advocates, said his organization is concerned that the workers might still be dealing with families.

Brooks said his organization is not suggesting that the social workers be pegged as guilty before the investigations are complete.

"But if the cabinet is serious about changing its climate and practices," Brooks said, "you have to wonder if you can do that with the same players."

No one listened to Tonya Thomas' concerns about foster children being in daily contact with sex offender

Sex offender 'roamed' in foster home
Judge chastises officials
Honeycutt-Spears, Valarie. Lexington Herald-Leader, May 1, 2007, pg. A1.

WILLIAMSBURG -- A judge says that Kentucky child protection officials were "reckless and negligent" for repeatedly placing children in a foster home where a known registered sex offender "freely roamed."

In an April 10 order, Whitley District Judge Daniel L. Ballou said the registered sex offender lived on the property of and adjacent to the Whitley County foster home, was in the foster home on a daily basis, "freely roamed the premises of the foster home and was not prohibited from having daily contact with foster children."

Ballou's order said the cabinet "knowingly placed Kentucky children in harm's way."

Ballou's order is the latest in a series of allegations from child advocates, judges, attorneys, frontline social workers and families involving the cabinet's placement of foster children. Some complaints allege that social workers, especially supervisors, make inappropriate decisions under the guise of federal laws that make it easier to remove children from their families.

In his order, Ballou said that in regard to the Whitley County case, he agreed with the late President Ronald Reagan who once quipped, "The most terrifying words in the English language are 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'"

"However, in the present case," Ballou wrote, "the humor is lost in the potential danger this child was placed in due to the incompetence of the government."

Ballou ordered a teenage girl in foster care at the home returned to her mother. Other foster children were in the home, according to the order. The order did not speak to the status of those children, but the judge ordered the cabinet not to place any children in the foster home.

In response, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services "is reviewing the matter and shares some of Judge Ballou's concerns," Cabinet spokeswoman Vikki Franklin said. "We are in the process of determining whether appropriate actions were taken and whether additional training is necessary."

Ballou's order said the cabinet for Health and Family Services regional office in London was notified of the situation on or before May 2006 "but took no appropriate and necessary action to protect the children placed in their care." The judge's order does not name the sex offender.

Ballou's order said that one social worker, identified as Tonya Thomas, was "professional, diligent and conscientious" in notifying the court that the foster children were in daily contact with the sex offender. Ballou's order said that aside from the efforts of Steve Halstead, a former Cabinet regional office employee, "no immediate action" was taken by Thomas' supervisors in the regional office to protect the foster children.

At an April 4 hearing, the judge's order said, "testimony by Cabinet personnel was fraught with inconsistencies and exposed an irresponsible degree of indecisiveness on the part of Cabinet leadership as well as convenient bureaucratic memory lapses."

Ballou ordered the cabinet to provide three reports. One outlining complaints, reviews, income information and details about the foster home was due within 20 days. A second report detailing the safety of all children in state custody in Whitley and McCreary counties, where the judge also presides, was due within 30 days. A third report on allegations of other sex offenders living on the premises of foster homes in Whitley and McCreary counties was due within 20 days.

A 2006 report by child advocacy groups Kentucky Youth Advocates and the Louisville-based National Institute on Children Youth and Families cited examples of social workers at odds with regional supervisors who failed to protect children while trying to keep removal and adoption numbers high.

National Institute Executive Director David Richart said that Whitley and McCreary counties were "one of the pockets of danger" mentioned in the 2006 report called "The Other Kentucky Lottery."

"Like a broken record, the cabinet keeps saying it will conduct internal reviews" of problematic cases, " said Richart, "but sunshine is the best disinfectant, and that's why it's necessary for people outside the cabinet to be involved in the reviews."

Friday, May 04, 2007

Boys Haven training foster youth to succeed in the KY horse industry

Boys' Haven turns to horses
Equine program will aid clients
Smith, Peter. Louisville Courier-Journal, May 1, 2007, pg. B1.

While some are preparing a garland of roses for a Kentucky Derby winner this week, a small group is preparing a home for other horses they hope will bring more lasting benefits for needy youths and young adults.

Boys' Haven, which operates programs to help abused, homeless and struggling youths, is building a barn on its campus, located near Bardstown Road and the Watterson Expressway .

A grand opening is scheduled for Monday.

The barn, with a capacity of 12 horses, will be used to train Boys' Haven clients how to take care of horses, and eventually the group also hopes to bring in horses that can be used for therapy for disabled and traumatized children.

"There are a lot of kids who have been in foster care and residential care," said Jay Wilkinson, manager of the new equine program at Boys' Haven. "When they leave the state (system), they really don't have the employment skills to handle a job. They end up on the streets, in need of services."

He said the Kentucky horse industry has "a very ample supply of entry-level positions, with benefits," with the ability to advance.

Joshua Adams, 26, a former Boys' Haven resident, is helping to build the barn and plans to be in the first class.

"I've learned a lot just through building the barn," Adams said. "...We've been working pretty much seven days a week, trying to meet this deadline" for the grand opening.

Adams added that he knows nothing about horse care but wants to learn.

"I'd like to be able to just be involved in the trade, maybe eventually one day have my own horses," he said.

Boys' Haven has a dozen students — all adults — lined up for its first six-month training program, Wilkinson said. They will take care of three thoroughbreds and two standard bred horses — including getting them ready for races. They will also visit horse farms for their training.

In addition, the agency eventually hopes to house retired horses that could be used in an "equine therapy" program in which children with disabilities can ride and care for the animals.

"It works very well with kids with disabilities, both mental and physical, especially autistic kids," Wilkinson said.

"When they can take a horse ... and they can walk it, they bond with that horse" and develop self-esteem," he said.

The total cost for the barn is $55,000 in materials, with staff, students and volunteers providing the labor, said Vern Rickert, executive director.

"It's a very important project for us," he said.

"I'm surprised at how many other people are excited about it. It's just really caught hold in terms of interest in the general public."

According to Boys' Haven, major contributors and volunteers include the Al and Guy Campisano Family Trust, Doug and Susan Byars, C & I Engineering, Courier-Journal employees, Community Foundation of Louisville, Joseph Elmore, the Kentucky Equine Education Project, Kentucky Foster Youth Transition Assistance and Nicholas X. Simon.