Serving Diverse Young Adults of Transition Age at the Practice Level

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Serving Diverse Young Adults of Transition Age at
the Practice Level

• Presented by
• Mary Jo Whitfield, MSW
• Vice President of Behavioral Health
• Jewish Family Childrens Service
• Phoenix, Arizona

2
Childrens Action Alliance The Color of Foster
Care Racial Disproportionality in the Child
Welfare System in Maricopa County, May 2008
3
Childrens Action Alliance Racial
Disproportionality in the Juvenile Justice System
in Maricopa County, May 2008
4
Jewish Family Childrens ServiceTransition to
Independence Program

• Utilize the Transition to Independence Process
  (Hewitt B. Rusty Clark, Ph.D., Nicole
  Deschenes, M.Ed. National Network on Youth
  Transition for Behavioral Health, Florida Mental
  Health Institute, University of South Florida,
  Tampa, Florida).
• Strengths, needs and cultural discovery from the
  youths point of view as part of our service
  delivery system.

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Racial Ethnic Identity

• Youth in care face issues such as the lack of
  protective messages to face prejudice when
  foster parents are not of the same racial or
  ethnic background.
• Our program emphasizes and works with youth to
  support and develop a healthy racial and ethnic
  identity.

6
Specialized Recruitment/Training

• Staff are recruited from the communities via
  Hispanic and African American media.
• Candidates are interviewed by current staff and
  youth who participate in the program as part of
  the hiring process.
• All staff are required to complete cultural
  competence training that promotes self awareness
  and development of multi-cultural competence.

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Thank You! Gracías! Mary Jo
Whitfield Maryjo.Whitfield_at_jfcsarizona.com Teleph
one 602.567.8380