By Reyna Rutan, President of Youth Leadership Council for DFPS Region 7 I entered foster care when I was in 5th grade. Right away, I changed schools. I met awesome kids and… Read more »
Posts By: Katelyn McKerlie
Helping make the holidays merry and bright for foster youth
Ashley Payne, Youth Specialist, Fostering Horns Program Jeni Brazeal, Program Coordinator, Healthy Youth Partnership The Christmas lights go up, the smell of fresh cut Christmas trees are all around, stockings… Read more »
Comprehensive needs assessment of Texans with disabilities.
In partnership with the Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS), researchers at the University of Texas at Austin conducted a comprehensive needs assessment for Texans with disabilities in… Read more »
Texas foster care redesign: Initial insights into foster care reform.
This report provides findings from a process evaluation on the redesign of the Texas foster care system. Foster care redesign is the result of a multi-year process that involved over… Read more »
SB 44 Needs Assessment: Examining the relinquishment of children with serious emotional disturbances
Roughly 5% of children are classified as having a serious emotional disturbance. Children with a serious emotional disturbance may require extensive and costly medical, behavioral and educational supports. For many… Read more »
Travis, D. J., Lee, A., Faulkner, M., Gerstenblatt, P., Boston, J. (2014). Cultivating a thriving childcare workforce: a theory-driven qualitative analysis. Community, Work & Family 17(3) 325-345.
Following a positive organizational framework, this study fills a gap in the human service literature by examining what works to boost the ability of the childcare workforce to thrive in… Read more »
Faulkner, M., Gerstenblatt, P., Lee, A., Vallejo, V. & Travis, D. (2014). Childcare providers: Work stress and personal well-being. Journal of Early Childhood Research.
Childcare providers often face stress in the workplace. Small studies of childcare providers have suggested that providers have high levels of depression compared to the general population. However, unlike other… Read more »
Berger Cardoso, J., Dettlaff, A., Finno-Velasquez, M., Scott, J. & Faulkner, M. (2014). Citizenship and immigration status among Latinos involved in the child welfare system: Characteristics, risk and maltreatment. Child and Youth Services Review, 44, 189-200.
Abstract The purpose of this study was to estimate the proportion of Latinos in the child welfare system and to identify how their household, community, and maltreatment characteristics differ from… Read more »
Scott, J., Faulkner, M., Berger Cardoso & Burstain, J. (2014). Kinship care and undocumented Latino children in the Texas foster care system: Navigating the child welfare- immigration crossroads. Child Welfare, 93 (4), 53-69.
Growing national concern has focused on the circumstances of undocumented youth in foster care as a result of parental deportation. Despite this growing interest in undocumented children and their families,… Read more »
Texas TRIO project final evaluation report
Our team at the Texas Institute for Child & Family Wellbeing led an evaluation of the Texas Trio Project on behalf of the Texas Education Agency. The team, comprised of… Read more »