PROGRAMS
Transitional Independent Living Services
Transitional Independent Living Services for youth emancipating from the foster care system provide housing and help to acquire the skills young people need to live independently.
Meeting a Critical Need
In November 2000, Hathaway-Sycamores established the Transitional Independent Living Program to provide support for foster and probation youth emancipating from group or foster homes. This program is designed to satisfy a critical need for housing and supportive mental health services for youth as they make the transition from foster care placements to adulthood and independent living.
Who We Serve
The Transitional Independent Living Program provides services for youth ages 18 to 20 years old who were in foster or probation care some time after their 14th birthday. These youth need to be at-risk for homelessness, to have completed high school and must be eligible for mental health services through Medi-Cal funding. Youth are required to function independently without direct staff supervision.
Services Provided
The Hathaway-Sycamores model for supported independent living utilizes a “scattered site” approach. Each youth and a roommate share a two-bedroom apartment with rent subsidized on a graduated schedule over a two-year period. Other financial assistance includes bus passes and food vouchers.
A support team, comprised of a youth advocate (former foster youth), case manager, emancipation clinician, youth advocate manager and program manager, works collaboratively with youth to identify personal goals and develop a strategic plan to achieve those goals. This process illuminates and enhances youths’ capabilities as the team continues to support them through mentoring, coaching, therapy, case management, workshops and other outings.
When emancipating youth face challenges as independent young adults, Hathaway-Sycamores staff members provide guidance, support and a helping hand
Successful Outcome
Many youth in the Transitional Living Program have spent most of their lives in foster care placements where they experienced a lack of permanence, stability or consistency of care. This type of experience often results in youth displaying defiance and anger towards life and a lack of trust in adults. Though many youth enter our program anticipating reasons to fail, they leave the program with a new sense of confidence and hope because they’ve developed fundamental life skills, a history of employment success and a foundation for further educational achievement. Emancipating youth establish healthy relationships from which they draw strength as they take their next steps in life.
Thank You Disney VoluntEARS!
On a recent Saturday in June a group of Disney VoluntEARS stopped by Hathaway-Sycamores with donated goods and ready to work. The VoluntEARS are employees of The Walt Disney Company (and its affiliate companies) that support a broad range of charitable and community efforts. Members of Disney VoluntEARS were introduced to Hathaway-Sycamores by John Vandemore, chief financial officer of Walt Disney Imagineering and a Hathaway-Sycamores' board member. In a coast-to-coast video conference attended by Disney VoluntEARS ' members in Burbank and Anaheim, as well as in Orlando, Fla., Vandemore—along with Hathaway-Sycamores' Executive Vice President of Development Rob Myers—provided an overview of the agency's services, including TILP and the FSP-TAY program.
The VoluntEARS learned that, through TILP, Hathaway-Sycamores provides housing and support services for youth—ages 18 to 21— who are transitioning from foster care to independent living. For those ages 16 to 26 who are struggling with mental-health challenges, Hathaway-Sycamores offers the FSP-TAY program. The FSP-TAY program is designed to reduce psychiatric hospitalizations, prevent homelessness, and to help program participants secure housing, education, and employment.
As part of the video conference, Disney VoluntEARS also heard from Shaquenta McDonald, who explained how Hathaway-Sycamores' TILP changed her life. McDonald, now 20, was in the foster-care system from the age of 14, and a longtime victim of abuse. Click here to read McDonald's story.
Following the video conference, Disney VoluntEARS launched a goods drive to benefit the young men and women served by Hathaway-Sycamores' TILP and its FSP-TAY program. Over the course of a month, the organization gathered an impressive inventory of items—including linens, tableware, toiletries, computer equipment, clothes, and furniture—to help stock these young people's apartments. Members of Disney VoluntEARS delivered the donated goods to the Pasadena office where the TILP and FSP-TAY program are housed and then spent the better part of the day sprucing up the office's outdoor areas—painting benches, tables, and basketball backboards—as well as planting flowers.
Members of Disney VoluntEARS were then joined by many of the young people served by Hathaway-Sycamores' TILP and its FSP-TAY program. All were treated to a barbeque lunch and an afternoon of outdoor games. Vandemore concluded the day's festivities by thanking Disney VoluntEARS and praising the young people on hand. "I've been told repeatedly how fantastic you guys are doing in these programs," he said. "There are hundreds of people at Disney who are so happy to see you succeed and who take pride in your achievements." Click here to see more pictures on our facebook page.
