TOPEKA — The Children’s Alliance of Kansas will provide support for a new foster care program that expands placement options for teens by letting them stay with a family member or close friend.
The SOUL Family program, which was created through legislation last year, provides teens 16 and older in foster care the opportunity to choose a non-family member to be their guardian, while still benefiting from foster care benefits. SOUL stands for Support, Opportunity, Unity, Legal Relationships.
“It gives youths the opportunity to define family in their own terms and create a route to permanency,” said KVC education and transition specialists supervisor Kim Duncan. “SOUL is an opportunity for that to happen.”
KVC is one of the agencies that contracts with the state to provide foster care services.
THE ANNIE E. Casey Foundation will provide a grant to the Children’s Alliance to fund a SOUL Family advisory group with the Department for Children and Families and other child welfare organizations. The funds will help pay advisory group members with lived experience in foster care.
“We’ll be focusing on how we assess progress that we’re making, any insights that we have with youths who are navigating toward a SOUL family and just helping support the ongoing implementation and success of this project,” said Children’s Alliance CEO Kristalle Hedrick.
GOV. LAURA KELLY made Kansas the first state to add the SOUL program to the options for permanency after signing the bill into law in April. According to data from DCF, seven teenagers in foster care have reached permanency through the program, from July to December of last year. Eight other case plans have been changed to SOUL and are in the process of being finalized. Foster teens who participate in SOUL are likely to spend less time in the foster care system.
“The Children’s Alliance was a strong proponent of that legislation,” Hedrick said. “One of the things that we’re pretty proud of in the project is that we did raise the voices of young people and help them share what it’s like for people who have left foster care.”
Along with giving foster teens a choice in guardian, they also receive permanency benefits such as health care, educational support and an adult to help with what Hedrick calls “day-to-day things” of life.
“A SOUL family relationship is designed to last throughout the kid’s entire life, and it’s recognized by the court for their whole life, so it doesn’t have to stop at age 18, like custodianship does,” Hedrick said. “Things are just really difficult to navigate adulthood. How do I pay my phone bill? How do I pay rent? This is an idea where several different adults from different households can step in and support youth.”
SAINT FRANCIS Ministries, a foster care organization in Kansas, recorded the first official SOUL Family case in the state and the nation.
“Far too many young people leave foster care without a legal, supportive family,” said Holly Dean-Osborne, vice president of permanency at Saint Francis. “By providing a permanency pathway that honors their identity and relationships, SOUL Family Legal Permanency ensures that every young person has the healing and hope they need to transition successfully into adulthood.”
