Specifications include, but are not limited to: DCS provides supervision and support to youth in the foster care system. These youth in statecustody are linked with services to support transition into adulthood including employment. Thereis a need for comprehensive, trauma-informed services to support youth entering the workforceand maintaining employment while in foster care. Employment builds technical and inter-personal skills that a youth can rely upon after exiting the child welfare system. Likewise, thoseyouth who achieve permanency may need support that their peers have received from biologicalfamilies. In particular, those youth who have exited custody through adoption or subsidizedpermanent guardianship would benefit from additional supports in achieving and maintainingemployment as they stabilize in their new legal families. Currently, children who exit foster careby turning eighteen (18) years old have the option to participate in the EFC program up to the ageof twenty-one (21). There are existing case management and generalized services that supportyouth to address several aspects of young adulthood. This program was recently expanded toallow DCS to support youth who decide that employment in lieu of education is the path tostability they want to pursue. This has caused an increase of approximately 50% in thepopulation being served
