underdog DREAMS: Improving Long-Term Quality of Life Outcomes for Florida’s Foster Youth and Families

Abstract

Children and youth in the foster care system face significant and continuing barriers to both physical and mental health, including lack of a medical home, disruptions in primary care providers, frequent moves to new homes, excessive caseloads for oversight providers, and at times continuing exposure to the risk factors that are considered Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). The underdog DREAMS project sought to alter the course of the foster youth experience via a tri-part model that focused on clinical, research, and advocacy interventions for foster youth and the development of the workforce that supports them through training on the impacts of trauma and poverty.