This post is written by the Stability, Permanency, and Adoption MSW Intern, Andrea Brubaker.
As an alternative design to placing children in foster care in permanent families, the non-profit group home San Pasqual Academy near San Diego, CA offers a place for youth in foster care to live, attend high school, learn job skills, and be a member of a community.
The Academy has seen many successes, such as a 90% graduation rate, which is twice the statewide average for children in foster care. Accepted students at San Pasqual Academy range in age from 14-18 and must have no previous record of violence or substance addiction. They must also be in good academic standing.
The Academy, modeled after a youth village in Haifa, Israel, aims to create an alternative to family reunification and conventions of contemporary foster care. San Pasqual Academy has shown that positive outcomes for children who have gone through the foster care system can be achieved through peer and mentor support in a community based model.
This article highlights an interesting difference between traditional practice that puts connecting youth with a permanent family first and using a group home setting to extend permanency connections for youth as they age and grow out of the system.
To read more on this model and research on San Pasqual Academy go to:
http://www.psmag.com/education/best-remedy-broken-family-family-65379/. View the Academy’s website: http://www.sanpasqualacademy.org/admission_guidelines.htm
