Chapin Hall

Alameda County’s Youth Transitions Partnership: Lessons from a Formative Evaluation of a Program for Transition-Age Youth in Care

The transition to adulthood can be especially challenging for youth in foster care. Despite remarkable resilience and high aspirations, many youth in foster care still struggle to complete their education, secure steady employment, build connections with supportive adults, develop critical life skills, and remain stably housed.

California’s Alameda County implemented the Youth Transitions Partnership (YTP) to help transition-age youth in foster care engage with supports and improve their outcomes. YTP blends service coordination, intensive case management, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), an intensive, structured therapy that helps youth understand and manage their emotions.

YTP was initially funded by the Children’s Bureau Youth At-Risk of Homelessness grant program (YARH). It has been funded by the grant program and the county since 2021.

Chapin Hall conducted a formative evaluation of YTP and engaged in Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) activities to support implementation. They have produced the following briefs and reports:

• A report and brief from the formative evaluation and a brief on using CQI to support early program implementation
• A brief examining the relationship between placement stability and program engagement.
• A brief on designing program materials to be more youth friendly.
• A brief describing the use of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy with youth and young adults in YTP.
• A brief on the process of modifying the mindfulness curriculum that is part of each Dialectical Behavioral Therapy module.

Dr. Amy Dworsky, a nationally recognized expert on youth transitioning out of foster care, leads this work with Molly (Mayer) Van Drunen. Laura Packard Tucker (no longer at Chapin Hall) substantially contributed to early work on these projects.

For more information about this work and how it can be replicated in your community, please contact Molly Van Drunen.