New Network Will Connect Former Foster Youth With Workforce Resources

The Texas Institute for Child & Family Wellbeing at The University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work will launch a centralized hotline to connect youth who have aged out of foster care with workforce resources, educational opportunities and other supports needed to facilitate their successful transition to adulthood. The Texas Foster Youth Network will be funded with a $4 million grant from the Texas Workforce Commission.

"We are committed to ensuring former foster youth have the resources they need to thrive in their careers," said Alberto Treviño III, TWC commissioner representing labor. "The Texas Foster Youth Network provides a centralized location for those resources, offering crucial support and building confidence as they transition into the workforce. This initiative will help them realize their professional aspirations right here in Texas."

During the next year and after extensive planning co-led by young people who have lived in foster care, the Texas Foster Youth Network will operate a call center staffed by former foster youth to handle inquiries and case management. The goal will be to connect youth to resources and provide the support needed to navigate those resources.

"If you think about the first time you had to make a medical appointment or deal with a government bureaucracy on your own, it was probably a bit more complicated than you expected," said Tym Belseth, a former foster youth and now senior program coordinator at the School of Social Work. "It can be very discouraging for youth to receive a list of resources and have to call a random person, tell their stories and then be told to go somewhere else for help or fill out a different paper. Our hope is to help walk them through those processes so they learn not to give up."

To ensure the Texas Foster Youth Network meets the needs of youth, young adults who lived in foster care will play a critical role in its development. The Texas Institute for Child & Family Wellbeing will hire young adults with experience in foster care to guide a landscape analysis, inform an outreach plan, and develop operations policies during the first year of the project. The planning process will also explore how to incorporate artificial intelligence into the call center, with current foster youth helping identify the best practices.

"By centering lived experiences in our advisory groups and staffing, the Texas Foster Youth Network will develop a relevant and accessible resource for foster youth to access vital services in education, employment, housing, and more," said Monica Faulkner, director of the Texas Institute for Child & Family Wellbeing. "We know through our prior research that youth want reliable relationships with adults and that human interaction is critical, but we also see potential to incorporate AI into our services. Youth will lead us in planning the best ways to do that."

Establishing the Texas Foster Youth Network at UT Austin enables it to draw on the expertise of staff at the Texas Institute for Child & Family Wellbeing and the School of Social Work. Social workers are well positioned to design and implement programs, create networks of resources and evaluate programs. Additionally, University students who have lived in foster care will be hired to staff the project.

"Our school has a long history of working with the state to improve child well-being in Texas," said Allan Cole, dean of the School of Social Work. "The Texas Foster Youth Network is the next step in our commitment to helping youth transition from foster care toward thriving adulthood."