ILP Leadership

If you are a foster youth or a former foster youth, you are a vital participant in decisions that are being made in the state of California and at the national level. If you are interested in participating in a group of young people from foster care to help make a difference in the foster care system you may be interested in joining a local California Youth Connection Chapter. Santa Barbara County Department of Social Services plans to work with the California Youth Connection to establish a chapter in the county.

The Santa Barbara Department of Social Services is currently working with other agencies to support the development of a Youth Advisory Group.

Advocacy

Foster youth have rights! There are people available at the state level to listen to foster youth and answer questions that they may have about their care. If you are in foster care and would like to voice your concern or make a complaint, you can contact the California Foster Care Ombudsmen’s office at they can advocate for you or just answer questions about your rights in foster care. ILP can also provide a copy of the book Legal Rights for Youth in out of home Care. Give us a call and we can give you the book.

If you have questions, complaints or suggestions to the folks that are in charge of foster care, you can call them or look them up on the web at: Foster Care Ombudsman’s office at www.fosteryouthhelp.ca.gov or by calling 1-877-846-1602 or there is also a link to Child Welfare League of America www.cwla.org this is a national organization of advocacy for foster youth. Another helpful link is www.teencentral.net. this is a teen website just for you to interact about teen issues.

Youth Leadership

Advocacy