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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 & Children’s Service Phoenix, Arizona.
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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 & Children’s Service Phoenix, Arizona
Children’s Action Alliance – The Color of Foster Care: Racial Disproportionality in the Child Welfare System in Maricopa County, May 2008
Children’s Action Alliance – Racial Disproportionality in the Juvenile Justice System in Maricopa County, May 2008
Jewish Family & Children’s 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 youth’s point of view as part of our service delivery system.
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.
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.
Thank You! Gracías! Mary Jo Whitfield Maryjo.Whitfield@jfcsarizona.com Telephone 602.567.8380