KIDS KASA FOSTER CARE INC.Elizabeth Castro

SWRK 180

MISSION STATEMENT Kids Kasa's goal is to provide safe, structured, nurturing and therapeutic

foster homes for at risk children from ages 0 to 18 who have been removed from their biological families due to abuse or neglect.

Kids Kasa believes that given a nurturing, structured environment, all children will thrive and grow up to be productive and responsible adults.

On that premise, Kids Kasa will provide foster parents with 28 hours of intensive pre-certification training before having a child placed in their home.  Kids Kasa believes in healing the entire family and moving the family towards self sufficiency and independence from Social Services.

Kids Kasa will provide fully qualified social work staff in accordance with Title 22 regulations.  Social Workers shall have weekly contacts with the child to assess the social, emotional and therapeutic needs of the children.  Upon completion of an initial assessment, the social worker will link the children to outside resources as deemed appropriate to meet their therapeutic needs.

Kids Kasa will provide Independent Living Skills Program to adequately prepare children for emancipation.  The ILSP personnel shall be properly trained in all aspects of employment readiness and life skills.

Kids Kasa's agency goals are set and measured by the number of stable placements that we are able to consistently maintain that eventually progress into successfull reunification with the biological family.  Kids Kasa will internally evaluate its reunification success rate, concurrent placement rate, and emancipation rate to evaluate if the program can be improved to further meet the needs of its children.

PRACTICES

A small agency Personal attention 24-hour staff support Complete training program Substantial financial support The most dedicated & helpful staff Simple application and certification process Your choice of age, gender & ethnic

background Your choice of short-term or long-term

placement

POPULATION AT RISK

Foster children who have been removed from Biological parents for various reasons

Ages infants to 18 years old All cultures, ethnicity, and religions

SERVICES TO POPULATION AT RISK

Provide 24- hour services Well-trained Social Workers Weekly visitation (depending on county) Needs and Services reports (every 3 months) Progress Quarterly Reports (every week) Team support (Agency Director, KK-SWRK,

County SWRK, Foster Parent, and Bio-parents)

Well- trained and licensed foster parents Foster homes that are continuously inspected

where foster youth can grow and be cared for.

SERVICES TO POPULATION AT RISK

Referals to programs such as ILP (Independent Learning Plan) Wrap Around (Families First) T.B.S (Therapeutic Behavior Services) Tutoring, Mentoring, Therapy, and other services

COMMUNITY CONTEXT

Hospital Schools and School Districts County Other Foster Family Agencies C.A.S.A These contacts help Kids Kasa better meet the

needs of the foster children that are part of the agency.

SOCIAL WORK VALUES

Best Practice Service Social workers meet with foster parents,

foster children, and any other parties that are involved in the child’s life

There are basic needs that must be meet by foster parents and social workers that ensure that children’s rights are not violated

Social workers must abide by county regulations and well as the NASW code of ethics

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Kids Kasa strives to advocate for foster children in multiple areas such as personal, local, and national.

Before budget cuts, Kids Kasa was able to provide foster children with many activities that benefit their growth such as movie night, scrapbook making, pizza night, arts and crafts, and etc.

Kids Kasa also provided many training meetings for foster parents that ranged from anger management, stress, depression that helped foster parents learn how to deal with many of the children’s problems and issues

SOCIAL JUSTICE CONTINUED..

Due to budget cuts Kids Kasa has had some trouble coordinating activities for all the children as well as for parents

The foster parents of Kids Kasa have also suffered from budget cuts. Kids Kasa is not able to offer as many training meetings as it used to, this prevents many foster parents to get useful information that can help them assist the foster children that they take care of.