Those of us who have been running housing-based ILPs over the years learned early on that youth were not arriving at our doors with a lot of preparation for independence. Instead, we found we were taking in youth with a surprising deficit of basic skills. We heard youth say that they were always woken up by their foster parents and didn’t know how to set an alarm clock. There were youth who were not allowed to use the washer or dryer at their placement and youth who were not allowed in the kitchen. Not only were these youth not learning basic skills that we all learned from our parents, they were being kept from learning them.

For many of us, self-sufficiency skills are developed over many years and start at a young age. For youth from dysfunctional families, skills teaching and positive role modeling are often non-existent. In some case, youth are actively taught criminal strategies for survival or learn a sense of entitlement and expect others to do basic things for them.

Given the limited time ILPs have to work with youth, something has to give. ILP staff should not be the first child welfare professionals to be working on self-sufficiency skills. In some case, the very existence of an ILP has resulted in other care-providers doing less in this area, feeling that ILP staff would take care of any unresolved issues. The reality is that ILP staff need to take charge in engaging the system to do more to help in this area, if nothing other than to make our jobs easier!

What can be done?

1. Offer free training to foster parents, social workers, caseworkers and other care-providers to discuss things they could do to help develop self-sufficiency skills in the youth’s current setting.
   
   
2. Create and disseminate workbooks that care-providers can use with youth, ages 12-16.
   
   
3. Create “Task lists” that give adults ideas on things they could be doing to increase self-sufficiency. (See attached list: “50 Things You Can do ….”)
   
   
4. Make sure all youths complete a life-skills assessment by the time they are 16. Be sure to share the results with them and their care-providers.
   
   
5. Establish an ongoing self-sufficiency training program that is year-round and reaches all youth in out of home care, 16 and older-before they move into a less-supervised setting.
   
   
6. Involve former ILP clients who made a successful transition to life on their own in training both youth and care-providers on what helped them become more self-sufficient.
   
   
7. Offer to meet with youth still in supervised settings to discuss what it would take for them to be accepted into a scattered-site apartment or other less supervised setting.
   
   
8. Regularly remind all members of the system of the need to start IL training earlier and find ways to extend the lengths of time youth can stay in the system.
   
   
9. Ask juvenile court judges or magistrates to use their power to assure that all youth are given a chance to attend self-sufficiency trainings while still in care.
   
   
10. Continuously seek feedback from youth on what they think would help improve the local transition system.
    

Remember, it takes a caring system to transition a youth without stable family supports into a productive adult life.

50 Things You Can Do to Help Someone Get Ready for Life on Their Own

1. Help them get an original copy of their birth certificate.
2. Help them get a social security card (and wallet to put it in).
3. Enroll them in a school program in which they can succeed.
4. Help them get a picture identification card.
5. Find out if they are eligible for a Medicaid card.
6. Help them get copies of medical records.
7. Start a "life book" that will contain important papers.
8. Help them open up a bank account.
9. Teach them how to write and cash a check.
10. Line them up with a dentist that they can continue to use.
11. Line them up with a doctor they can use when they on their own.
12. Help them put together a family scrapbook.
13. Help them renew contact with family members.
14. Help them develop at least one friendship.
15. Line them up with a good counselor.
16. Take them to join a local recreation center.
17. Teach them some new ways to have fun.
18. Connect them with a church group.
19. Help them find a better paying job.
20. Make sure they really understand birth control.
21. Show them the best place to shop for food, clothing & furniture
22. Help them learn how to look up resources in the phone book.
23. Help them work through an independent living skills workbook.
24. Teach them how to read a map.
25. Take them on a tour of the city.
26. Teach them how to use the bus system and read the bus schedules.
27. Buy them an alarm clock and teach them how to use it.
28. Show them how to use the library & get a library card.
29. Help them get a driver's license and price insurance.
30. Role-play contacts with police, bank tellers, doctors & others.
31. Role-play several different styles of job interviews.
32. Help them put together a resume and an application fact sheet.
33. Make a list of important phone numbers.
34. Teach them how to cook five good meals.
35. Teach them how to store food.
36. Teach them how to use coupons and comparison shop.
37. Teach them how to read a paycheck stub.
38. Teach them how to use an oven and microwave.
39. Teach them how to thoroughly clean a kitchen and bathroom.
40. Take them to a session of adult court; traffic and criminal.
41. Tell them how to get a lawyer and when to get one.
42. Help them understand a lease or rental agreement.
43. Teach them how to do their taxes.
44. Teach them how to write a letter and mail it.
45. Help them develop good phone communication skills.
46. Go over tenant and landlord rights.
47. Help them find a safe, inexpensive place to live.
48. Teach them how to budget their money.
49. Help them find and get along with a potential roommate.
50. Talk to them often about feelings about going out on their own.