Foster Youth Services Coordinating Programs (FYSCP) were established by the Legislature in 2015 so that the county office of education could support interagency collaboration and capacity building, both at the system and individual pupil level, focused on improving educational outcomes for pupils in foster care. This is a key component to the successful implementation of the local control funding formula. The FYSCPs support and facilitate collaboration and capacity building while preserving the ability to provide direct services such as tutoring, mentoring, counseling, transition, school-based social work, and emancipation assistance when there are identified gaps in service at the local level for foster youth. Each FYSCP established a local Executive Advisory Council (EAC) whose members include local or tribal welfare probation departments, the courts, and other stakeholders. The EAC establishes that these services are needed, coordinates services to avoid redundancy, and aligns its efforts with local control and accountability plan priorities.
The FYSCP Technical Assistance Provider (TAP) is selected through a competitive process to provide support to each county offering these services to foster youth. The FYSCP TAP must demonstrate the:
- Expertise with the FYSCP and continuous improvement;
- Ability to foster collaboration among county agencies though interagency agreements which address school stability and information sharing;
- Capacity and willingness to support data gathering and analysis processes; and
- Ability to support online meetings and resources sharing among county FYSCP Coordinators.
The goal of the FYSCP TAP is to support the collaboration and inter-agency coordination of services with local child welfare offices, school districts, and community partners, so that our California foster youth will have improved graduation rates, improved school attendance, and increased school stability.