The UW School of Social work hosted a pre-conference gathering of the Transition Age Youth Special Interest Group (TAY-SIG) of the Society for Social Work Research (SSWR) conference on Wednesday, January 15, 2025 at the UW Tower. The gathering consisted of a lunch followed by a panel presentation and Q&A session. The presentation title was Collaborative research and policy advocacy for meaningful system change for transition age adults exiting foster care.
During the 2024 legislative session, Washington state passed legislation eliminating eligibility requirements for Extended Foster Care (EFC), eligibility requirements which previously kept many young adults exiting foster care from accessing critically needed monthly stipends. The presentation described the participatory and collaborative systems assessment of EFC and subsequent policy advocacy efforts which led to this significant policy reform.
The panel included speakers from the University of Washington, the Department of Children, Youth, and Families, Mockingbird Society, a community-based advocacy organization, the Department of Social and Health Services, and SDM Consulting, a youth voice consulting group.
Presenter List
- Charles Smith, Mockingbird Society, Public Policy and Advocacy Director
- Jennifer Personius, DCYF, Systems of Change Administrator
- Ellen Kersten, DSHS, RDA, Research Manager
- Dalilah Hampton, SDMC Policy Specialist – presented for Sam D. Martin Consulting (SDMC)
- Emiko Tajima, UW SSW, P4C Director, Associate Professor
- Kristian Jones, UW SSW, Assistant Professor
- Jon Torres, UW SSW, Research Coordinator