Laura Abrams, associate professor of social welfare at UCLA's Luskin School of Public Affairs, has been awarded a three-year grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to evaluate their transition of foster youth in Los Angeles and New York City. The grant was awarded in partnership with Westat, Inc. and Hunter College.
There are three key components to Abrams’ upcoming work, as illustrated from the Hilton Foundation program strategy:
• increasing transition-age youth self-sufficiency through improved college and career readiness, stronger caregivers and special services for the most vulnerable youth;
• strengthening collaboration and alignment across the systems that influence foster youth outcomes;
• developing and disseminating knowledge for the field.
Abrams is an expert on juvenile justice and author of a recently released the book: “Compassionate Confinement: A Year in the Life of Unit C.” Two areas of the project will be given extra attention: pregnant and parenting foster youth and foster youth who are in the juvenile justice system.
The Hilton Foundation’s strategy, launched in March 2012, addresses the obstacles foster youth face as they age out of the system by supporting both programs that meet the needs of particularly vulnerable foster youth, and programs that give all foster youth the skills and support they need to succeed.
