Resources for Youth & Young Adults

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For more information, please visit Foster Care & Education webpage.

The Texas Blueprint:

2018 Foster Care & Education Summit

In July 2018, Texas hosted its second Foster Care and Education Summit. The 2018 Summit provided an opportunity to look at past accomplishments, assess current challenges, and build momentum going forward. Teams attended from every region in Texas and they included advocates, attorneys, child welfare and education professionals, foster care alumni, and judges. Key themes included using data to drive decisions, engaging youth in decisions that impact their lives, approaching students with a trauma-informed lens, and creating a college-going culture for children and youth in foster care.

Materials:

Texas Foster Care & Education Collaborative Reports:

Additional Foster Care & Education Resources

Contacts:

Links:

 

Homelessness creates serious adverse conditions for children and youth, including medical and mental health, lack of school stability, physical safety, food insecurity, risk of exploitation and trafficking, and substance abuse. 

Texas Appleseed, in partnership with Weatherford International and Baker & McKenzie LLP, created the Homeless Youth Handbook. This handbook provides homeless youth with Texas-specific information about their rights, responsibilities, and available resources related to every major aspect of their lives, including education, employment, health, housing, parenting, and other major topics.

For more information, please visit the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children webpage.

  • Video Series: Youth Voice Videos Explaining the Attorney-Client Relationship

    “Your Lawyer Works for You” is a two-part video series designed for youth to explain the attorney-client relationship. The videos are a collaboration between the Children’s Commission and the Texas Network of Youth Services (TNOYS) Young Adult Leadership Council (YALC) and features young adults formerly in foster care discussing their experiences with their attorneys, articulating basics about the attorney-client relationship, and helping youth understand how to resolve problems with their attorneys. The videos are available on the Children’s Commission's YouTube Youth Voice Playlist and the TNOYS YouTube Channel.

    Coloring Book: Sam and the Search for Spots - How Your Lawyer Can Help You

    The Children’s Commission Legal Representation Committee created a coloring book designed to help children ages 6-12 understand the role of an attorney ad litem for a child and the attorney-client relationship in a child welfare case. The coloring book was developed by a workgroup which included law professors, board-certified child welfare law experts, and youth with lived experience in foster care and is designed to help children and caregivers discuss what makes an attorney ad litem for the child different from other people in the child’s case and how the attorney can help the child during the case through counseling and advocacy.

    This publication is available in two formats at the links below: to print on a personal device, and for commercial print.

    in English:

    in Spanish:

    For assistance or inquiries about this publication, please contact Jessica Arguijo at children@txcourts.gov.

    Brochures Explaining the Attorney’s Role for Parents and for Children in a Child Welfare Case

    These brochures explain the responsibilities of an attorney for a parent or child towards their client and how to resolve issues between the attorney and the client. The brochures are intended to be shared with parents and foster parents in child welfare cases and may be helpful for judges to have available in the courtroom and/or a courthouse library or information center.

TEST

For more information about our work in Trauma-Informed Care, please visit the Statewide Collaborative on Trauma-Informed Care page. 

  • TraumaInformedTexas.com includes resources created in whole or in part by members of the Statewide Collaborative on Trauma-Informed Care (SCTIC) as well as resources from other state and national organizations.
  • Building a Trauma-Informed Child Welfare System: A Blueprint (available upon request)
  • In collaboration with the Children’s Commission, the Texas Alliance of Child and Family Services (TACFS) published Building a Network of Trauma Informed Courts in Texas which highlights the work and the resources created by the Trauma-Informed Courts Pilot Project.
  • February 8th, 2019 Commission Meeting PowerPoint Presentation
  • Judicial Trauma Institute Videos and Materials - The Judicial Trauma Institute was presented live on April 22-23, 2021 via webcast. The content was designed by Commission staff in partnership with the Statewide Collaborative on Trauma-Informed Care (SCTIC) Training Workgroup and hosted by the Texas Center for the Judiciary. The goal of the conference was for judicial teams to gain information and discover practical tools and resources about how to become a trauma-informed and trauma-responsive court in CPS cases. Video replays and conference materials can be accessed on the Judicial Trauma Institute webpage.

Additional Resources:

The Texas Office of Court Administration (OCA) utilizes Zoom technology to support video conferencing for participating courts. For more information, please visit the Zoom Information and YouTube Support webpage provided by OCA. 

For more information about the Children's Commission's work in youth voice and normalcy, please visit the Youth Voice & Normalcy webpage.

Your Lawyer Works for You! What You Need to Know 

The Children’s Commission is pleased to announce a two-part video series designed for youth to explain the attorney-client relationship. “Your Lawyer Works for You.” The videos are a collaboration between the Children’s Commission and the Texas Network of Youth Services (TNOYS) Young Adult Leadership Council (YALC) and feature young adults formerly in foster care discussing their experiences with their attorneys, articulating basics about the attorney-client relationship, and helping youth understand how to resolve problems with their attorneys. The videos are available on the Children’s Commission's YouTube Youth Voice Playlist and the TNOYS YouTube Channel.

Helpful Resources

Texas Health and Human Services Commission, Foster Care Ombudsman:

For children and youth experiencing foster care, complaints can be submitted to the Foster Care Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is available to assist children and youth who report maltreatment in foster care and has the authority to conduct an investigation into individual complaints. Children and youth experiencing foster care may contact the Ombudsman by any of the following means:

  • By phone: 1-844-286-0769; Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 
  • Online form: Foster Care Ombudsman Online Submission Form
  • By mail:
    Texas Health and Human Services Commission
    Foster Care Ombudsman, MC H-700
    P O Box 13247
    Austin, Texas 78711-3247
  • Website

Guides and Handbooks: 

Websites for Youth in Foster Care: 

Children's Commission YouTube Channel

 

Foster Care & Education:

  • Understanding Support for Foster Alumni: Financial Aid, Enrollment Process & Campus Support
  • Enhancing Support for Foster Alumni: Financial Aid, the Foster Care Tuition Waiver, and Campus Support
  • Changes to Educational Services for Texas Foster Youth
  • THECB Tuition and Fee Waiver: The tuition and fee waiver in the Texas Education Code offers eligible young adults the opportunity to attend any Texas public institution of higher education without the payment of tuition and fees. The video clarifies the eligibility criteria for the state tuition and fee waiver and explains how the waiver can be utilized in Texas.

Youth in Court

Speak UP! Foster Youth in Court