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- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
Children in Foster Care with Parents in Federal Prison: A Toolkit for Child Welfare Agencies, Federal Prisons, and Residential Reentry Centers
Roughly 10% of incarcerated mothers in state prison have a child in a foster home or other state care. Some estimates indicate that as many as 1 in 8 children who are subjects of reports of maltreatment and investigated by child welfare agencies have parents who were recently arrested. Though there is clearly overlap between the prison system and the child welfare system, it is often difficult for prison officials to know how to help incarcerated parents stay in touch with their children in foster care and work towards reunification. Similarly, it is difficult for child welfare agencies to know how to engage parents in prison. The purpose of this toolkit is to help facilitate communication and cooperation between child welfare agencies and federal prisons so that parents can stay engaged in their children's lives.
Children of Incarcerated Parents – Fact Sheet
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2007, an estimated 1.7 million children under the age of 18 had a parent in prison, an increase of almost 80 percent since 1991. The negative consequences for children with an incarcerated parent can be substantial, including financial instability, changes in family structure, shame, and social stigma. However, research also shows that supporting healthy and positive relationships between these vulnerable children, who are the innocent bystanders of adult decisions, and their families has the potential to mitigate negative outcomes.
An interagency group, that includes the Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Education, and Agriculture as well as the Social Security Administration, has partnered with stakeholders both inside and outside of government to identify opportunities to support these children and their caregivers. This fact sheet describes the efforts of the interagency group.
Disability Employment 101
The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services within the Department of Education has released and updated its Disability Employment 101 guide. This guide provides information about hiring employees with disabilities, including information about how to find qualified workers with disabilities, how to put disability and employment research into practice, and how to model what other businesses have done to successfully integrate individuals with disabilities into the workforce.
Joint Letter Regarding Building Partnerships With American Job Center Network
This joint letter from the Departments of Education, HHS, and Labor provides education, social services, workforce development, and private leaders with information about ways in which schools and human service agencies can work with the American Job Center network to ensure that students and families have relevant and timely information for making informed career decisions.
Joint Letter on Informing Career Decisions from the Departments of Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services
This Training and Employment Notice shares the interagency support for ensuring students and parents have relevant and timely information to make informed career decisions. The notice is meant to encourage continued coordination and collaboration across systems of public workforce, adult basic education, career and technical education, and human and social services to prepare students for education and career paths
National Academies Board on Children, Youth, and Families
The Board on Children, Youth, and Families (BCYF) addresses a variety of policy-relevant issues related to the health and development of children, youth, and families. It does so by convening experts to weigh in on matters from the perspective of the behavioral, social, and health sciences.
National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center
The National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center (NSTTAC) helps states build capacity to support and improve transition planning, services, and outcomes for youth with disabilities and disseminates information and provides technical assistance on scientifically-based research practices with an emphasis on building and sustaining state-level infrastructures of support and district-level demonstrations of effective transition methods for youth with disabilities.
PACER Center's Technical Assistance on Transition and the Rehabilitation Act (TATRA) Project
The Technical Assistance on Transition and the Rehabilitation Act (TATRA) Project offers Parent Information and Training Programs funded by the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) a variety of services to help them achieve their goals. Individualized services for each center are identified in technical assistance plans on an annual basis.
Registered Apprenticeship College Consortium
The Departments of Education and Labor have launched a new Registered Apprenticeship–College Consortium which will enable graduates of Registered Apprenticeship programs to earn college credit for their Registered Apprenticeship experience and accelerate attainment of an associate or bachelor degree.
Student Leaders Speak About Preparing for 21st Century Careers
In observance of Career and Technical Education Month in February 2014, student representatives from Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs) from across the country met with Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Assistant Secretary Brenda Dann-Messier to share how CTSOs have prepared them to take advantage of success in college and their future careers.
TechGirls 2013: A Network of Young Innovators
This video is an overview of TechGirls, an international exchange program to empower young girls from the Middle East and North Africa to pursue careers in science and technology. The program emphasizes hands-on skills development in fields such as programming, robotics, mobile application building, web design, video graphics, and 3D game design.
Trends Among Young Adults Over Three Decades
The Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics' report, “Trends Among Young Adults Over Three Decades, 1974-2006” outlines patterns of change in postsecondary enrollment, labor force roles, family formation, and civic engagement as measured in young adults two years out of high school in 1972, 1980, 1992, and 2004.
Ticket to Work Program
The Ticket to Work Program provides most people receiving Social Security benefits (beneficiaries) more choices for receiving employment services. Under this program, the Social Security Administration (SSA) issues tickets to eligible beneficiaries who, in turn, may choose to assign those tickets to an Employment Network (EN) of their choice to obtain employment services, vocational rehabilitation services, or other support services necessary to achieve a vocational (work) goal. The EN, if they accept the ticket, will coordinate and provide appropriate services to help the beneficiary find and maintain employment. Learn more about Ticket to Work
Resource: Native One Stop Website
This website provides a one-stop shop for American Indians and Alaska Natives to access resources available from the federal government. Users can complete a prescreening questionnaire to determine their eligibility criteria for resources and programs and learn how to apply. Resource categories include youth, education, food, employment, loans, and environment.
Resource: Youth Workforce Development
This resource (PDF, 6 pages) describes the stark consequences of youth unemployment, especially among youth of color, and provides an overview of “what works” for youth workforce development. It highlights critical strategies and best practices, exemplars, and additional resources to support local practitioners’ efforts to develop and implement workforce development programs for young people in their communities.
Share with Youth: From Fear to a Love of Nature: One Arctic Youth Ambassador’s Journey
This resource highlights the story of Reth Duir, an Arctic Youth Ambassador and son of South Sudan refugees, who describes how he overcame his fearful attitude about the outdoors and his passion to connect people from across different cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds to nature.
Share with Youth: The On-Ramp to Employment
This blog post provides youth with disabilities information and tips for finding and applying for meaningful internship and job opportunities. It also includes links to additional resources related to employment.
Resource: Supporting Success of Youth under WIOA
These technical assistance guides assist collaborations among DOL, ED, states, local workforce development areas, other workforce and education partners, and social service providers with serving out-of-school youth. Specifically, strategies are included in the guides for serving out-of-school English learners, current and former foster youth, and justice-involved youth.
Resource: Program-Level Gainful Employment Earnings Data
This data set provides information on program-level outcomes of college students preparing for gainful employment that can be used by prospective students and their families to weigh their options. Overall, the data show graduates of career training programs at public institutions generally fare better than those of comparable programs at for-profit colleges, earning higher salaries and being more prepared to enter higher earning fields.
Report: Participation in High School Career and Technical Education and Postsecondary Enrollment
This report analyzes the relationship between high school career and technical education course-taking and later enrollment in postsecondary education.
Report: High School Students’ Views on Who Influences Their Thinking about Education and Careers
This report examines who public high school students view as their main influence when they are considering postsecondary education and careers. Results show students relied on family members as the main influence when thinking about postsecondary education, and students relied on themselves primarily when thinking about careers.