Fostering Success: GVSU initiatives strengthen support for foster youth, from infant to college-age

STORY BY MICHELE COFFIL
PHOTOS BY KENDRA STANLEY-MILLS

Frustrated by the gaps between the health care and child welfare systems she encountered as a foster and adoptive parent, Grand Valley faculty member Christina Quick turned to her expertise as a nurse practitioner and set out on what she told her husband was a mission to change the world.

Or, at least change the world for the children and youth in Kent County who experience barriers to timely health care, a systemic problem throughout Michigan and the country.

In 2023, the Kirkhof College of Nursing received a $195,600 grant from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund to begin a project, "Fostering Futures: Partners in Community, Behavior, and Health Care," assessing the inconsistencies and roadblocks foster and adoptive parents experienced when seeking behavioral and physical health care for the children in their charge.

Quick led that project and, during the following year, nursing faculty members Emily Bemben and Amy Rohn joined the project team. Their first step was to establish a countywide advisory council that included foster/adoptive parents and stakeholders from social service, education and health care organizations.

Through surveys and focus groups, the advisory council facilitated a needs assessment that revealed significant gaps in care continuity for children and youth in foster care, gaps in provider knowledge and gaps in policies. The project team said the gaps left complex health needs unmet and resulted in missed opportunities for early intervention.

With consensus from the advisory council and buoyed by a second grant from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund for $499,562, the team's work now moves toward implementing a trauma-informed, mobile, integrated health care model that would screen foster children within 72 hours of their placement, provide coordinated care and improve continuity of care.

If the pilot program, which is expected to be launched later this year, is successful, Rohn said it's a model that could easily be replicated throughout Michigan and nationally.

The effort to improve care for children in foster placements is part of a broader continuum of support at Grand Valley that extends well beyond early childhood and includes the Fostering Laker Success Program.