Fostering Futures℠
The California Association of Health and Education Linked Professions is excited to introduce you to Fostering Futures℠ a podcast that brings you high-quality, research-based content designed to inspire and educate. Each episode is crafted with care, drawing on the knowledge of credible experts, parents, and community members to ensure both trustworthiness and depth.
Our mission is to engage and expand our audience by delivering thought-provoking material that focuses on key areas crucial to the development and well-being of all youth. Through our discussions, we aim to provide insights that are not only relevant but also transformative.
Join us as we explore innovative approaches in special education, Social Emotional Well-Being, and Community. Be ready to be apart of a community committed to making a positive impact.
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Fostering Futures℠
Foster Youth EP 5 - From Foster Care to Leadership: Paul Durham and the SBCSS Foster Youth Program
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In this episode, Athena Cordero sits down with Paul Durham, Program Coordinator for the Children Deserve Success Team at San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools (SBCSS), to explore what it truly takes to support foster youth through education, stability, and connection.
Paul shares his dual perspective as both a system leader and someone who personally experienced foster care, offering powerful insight into the realities that foster youth face, including frequent school changes, housing instability, and the emotional toll of starting over again and again. He explains how San Bernardino County has built a coordinated, prevention‑focused approach that brings together school districts, child welfare, probation, community colleges, universities, and community agencies to improve outcomes for foster youth.
The conversation highlights why school stability, mentorship, and belonging are critical to graduation and long‑term success. Paul also details innovative, data‑driven programs like school‑based mentoring, CASA partnerships, and college transition supports that are improving attendance, reducing discipline, and increasing graduation rates. Listeners will walk away with a deeper understanding of how systems can work better together and how individuals can get involved to make a meaningful difference.
Highlights
- Paul explains SBCSS’s coordinated approach to supporting foster youth.
- Shares lived experience navigating foster care and school instability.
- Why school stability is critical for foster youth academic success.
- Overview of mentorship, CASA, and school‑based support programs.
- How data and partnerships drive prevention‑focused systems.
- Ways community members can support foster youth.
Key Takeaways
- Foster youth outcomes improve when systems work together.
- Stability, belonging, and mentorship are as important as academics.
- Prevention is more effective than crisis response.
- One consistent, caring adult can change a young person’s trajectory.
- Housing and transitions remain the biggest challenges.
- Community involvement plays a powerful role in foster youth success.
Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook and Instagram | www.cahelp.org | podcast@cahelp.org
00:00:09 Intro
The relentless pursuit of whatever works in the life of a child.
00:00:18 Intro
Welcome to Fostering Futures with CAHELP, a podcast dedicated to our relentless pursuit of whatever works in the life of a child.
00:00:26 Athena Cordero
I'm your host, Athena Cordero, inviting you to join me and countless others as we share our unique perspectives and expertise in the world of special education, behavioral health, social-emotional well-being, and community.
00:00:39 Athena Cordero
Follow us on Buzzsprout, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
00:00:44 Athena Cordero
Hey everyone, welcome to Fostering Futures.
00:00:47 Athena Cordero
I'm Athena Cordero and today I'm talking to Paul.
00:00:50 Athena Cordero
Paul, please say your last name for me so I don't just butcher it.
00:00:53 Paul Durham
Durham, the H is silent.
00:00:54 Athena Cordero
Okay, Durham.
00:00:55 Athena Cordero
Paul Durham.
00:00:56 Athena Cordero
And you are a coordinator for SBCSS Foster Youth Program.
00:01:01 Athena Cordero
Can you give me your title just so everyone knows?
00:01:03 Paul Durham
I'm program coordinator with the Children Reserve Success Team.
00:01:07 Paul Durham
The Children Reserve Success Team encompasses our Foster Youth Services Coordinating Program, which is my main program, our homeless education and our child
00:01:14 Paul Durham
welfare and attendance.
00:01:15 Athena Cordero
Okay, so there's an awesome team, it sounds like, that takes care of a bunch of different things.
00:01:20 Paul Durham
There's 13 of us.
00:01:21 Athena Cordero
13 of you, and tell me all of what you guys get to do as that team.
00:01:26 Paul Durham
Oh, there's thousands of things.
00:01:27 Paul Durham
So we do everything from supporting our districts with professional development, all of our community partners, all of our agency partners, so DBH, child welfare, probation, IRC,
00:01:42 Paul Durham
all of our FFAs, all of our foster family associations, a great number, our community colleges, our four-year universities, a large, large community support network.
00:01:55 Athena Cordero
So anything really that has to do with foster kids?
00:01:57 Paul Durham
Anything that has to do with the education of foster kids, we're involved in.
00:02:00 Athena Cordero
You guys are the team.
00:02:01 Paul Durham
Yes.
00:02:01 Athena Cordero
Gotcha.
00:02:02 Athena Cordero
And do you want to shout out your peeps?
00:02:03 Athena Cordero
I mean, there's 13 of you guys, why not?
00:02:06 Paul Durham
Okay, there's Marion that does all of our contracts.
00:02:10 Paul Durham
Can't do anything without her.
00:02:11 Paul Durham
She controls our money.
00:02:13 Paul Durham
Our managers are Lena and Sarah with our foster youth services, Shawnee and Daisy with our homeless education.
00:02:20 Paul Durham
We have another coordinator of homeless education, Tyrese.
00:02:24 Paul Durham
Our director is Don English, wonderful boss.
00:02:27 Paul Durham
Our support staff is Stephanie and Stacy.
00:02:30 Paul Durham
We have two peer associates, Zachary and
00:02:34 Paul Durham
Daisy also.
00:02:34 Paul Durham
Okay.
00:02:35 Paul Durham
And then we have one student worker that just are with us, Stephanie.
00:02:38 Athena Cordero
Okay, so that is the Mighty 13.
00:02:40 Paul Durham
That's the Mighty 13.
00:02:41 Athena Cordero
That's awesome.
00:02:42 Athena Cordero
I just wanted to make sure you shouted them out because we have had a chance to talk to a couple of people.
00:02:49 Athena Cordero
We've had a couple of guests on to talk about foster youth, being a parent, you know, knowing what that system looks like for kids, the supports that they wish were available maybe sooner, and then also the awesome supports that are
00:03:03 Athena Cordero
available.
00:03:04 Athena Cordero
So I'm really interested to hear what you guys get to do for Foster Youth.
00:03:07 Athena Cordero
Great.
00:03:08 Athena Cordero
So this particular program, just so that folks know, it sits within the county office, the superintendent's office, yes?
00:03:17 Athena Cordero
And how many years has this program been in existence?
00:03:22 Paul Durham
I believe it started around 20 or around 2000.
00:03:27 Paul Durham
It's changed over the years.
00:03:28 Paul Durham
We started as a direct service program.
00:03:31 Paul Durham
About 15 years ago, we became a coordinator program.
00:03:34 Paul Durham
So it's a lot more support to our districts and our partners now, showing best practices, professional development, keeping up with all the new legislation,
00:03:42 Paul Durham
how to interpret and implement that legislation, bringing districts together to share best practices so you're not having to replicate strategies that we know are effective in increasing educational outcomes for you.
00:03:54 Athena Cordero
So, I mean, with the risk of sounding really, really cheesy, it's like, don't just give them the fish, like teach them how to fish, right?
00:04:00 Paul Durham
A little bit of that.
00:04:02 Paul Durham
A lot of it is more relationships and building those relationships, knowing that we're always a phone call away.
00:04:07 Paul Durham
And there's always some gray area or I just don't really understand this.
00:04:11 Paul Durham
And so they have our
00:04:12 Paul Durham
our cell phone numbers and they call us and we can walk them through step by step.
00:04:15 Athena Cordero
That's awesome.
00:04:16 Paul Durham
And then connecting, the child welfare system and probation system, which is where our two groups of foster youth come to, they're so big.
00:04:23 Paul Durham
There's no way you can know all those social workers, all those probation officers, but we have those relationships.
00:04:28 Paul Durham
So we're really that middle person that can really connect and make sure that our educational systems and our agency partners are able to work together effectively.
00:04:36 Athena Cordero
Okay, so you guys are a liaison.
00:04:38 Paul Durham
Yes.
00:04:38 Athena Cordero
Okay, awesome.
00:04:39 Athena Cordero
And
00:04:41 Athena Cordero
You have been a coordinator for this program for how many years?
00:04:44 Paul Durham
This is my 17th year.
00:04:45 Athena Cordero
17th year.
00:04:46 Athena Cordero
And you've been with the county for how many years?
00:04:48 Paul Durham
27 years.
00:04:49 Athena Cordero
27 years.
00:04:50 Athena Cordero
Okay, so you know what San Bernardino County looks like.
00:04:55 Paul Durham
Absolutely.
00:04:55 Athena Cordero
Okay, and you know trends from however many, you know, 20 years ago to today.
00:05:02 Athena Cordero
the differences, the need, you've seen all of that.
00:05:06 Paul Durham
Absolutely.
00:05:07 Paul Durham
And I came out of the foster care system myself.
00:05:09 Paul Durham
So I have a real life experience and a shared experience with the youth that a lot of other adults don't have, which really helps in making that connection when you're working with the youth themselves as well.
00:05:20 Paul Durham
And it's not something that you always share right away.
00:05:23 Paul Durham
But once you've reached out and had those initial conversations and you can share, you know, I've been through this similar experience,
00:05:31 Paul Durham
that you're going through now, and here's how I navigated that, and let's make some connections for you to get you on the right path.
00:05:38 Athena Cordero
Was it, were you always comfortable sharing that you were a foster kid?
00:05:43 Paul Durham
I wasn't, and actually it was just, I guess, divine intervention that I ended up in this position.
00:05:50 Paul Durham
So I taught community day school, and then I went to juvenile hall, and I taught maximum security at juvenile hall.
00:05:57 Paul Durham
And my ambitions were always to become a principal.
00:06:00 Paul Durham
So I worked on my admin credential and received that.
00:06:03 Paul Durham
And then the first admin position that opened up was this thing called Foster Youth Services Manager.
00:06:07 Paul Durham
I had never heard of it.
00:06:08 Paul Durham
I didn't know what it was.
00:06:11 Paul Durham
And so yeah, Divine Intervention put me in the right place at the right time.
00:06:15 Paul Durham
And then that's probably where I'll end up retiring.
00:06:18 Athena Cordero
That's cool.
00:06:19 Athena Cordero
That's very cool.
00:06:21 Athena Cordero
And I mean,
00:06:22 Athena Cordero
You did, I hear you, Divine Intervention, but it sounds like, too, that your interest was to help in some capacity to give back or to do for kids things that you felt like would really matter or make a difference.
00:06:37 Paul Durham
Education was always my passion.
00:06:39 Paul Durham
I knew that's where I was going to end up.
00:06:40 Paul Durham
I thought maybe it would be a basketball coach.
00:06:42 Athena Cordero
Okay.
00:06:42 Paul Durham
Turned out I didn't like playing.
00:06:44 Paul Durham
I didn't like coaching as much as I like playing.
00:06:46 Athena Cordero
Playing, okay.
00:06:47 Athena Cordero
There is a difference.
00:06:48 Paul Durham
There was.
00:06:49 Paul Durham
Yeah.
00:06:51 Paul Durham
And so I knew education was going to be where it was at.
00:06:55 Paul Durham
I couldn't, I'm so thankful that I ended up in this position, particularly working with the students that are by far the most at risk or at promise youth, the youth that the outcomes just aren't there compared to other groups.
00:07:12 Paul Durham
And they need all the support that they can get.
00:07:14 Athena Cordero
Yeah.
00:07:15 Athena Cordero
Well, I'm not going to say that I'm surprised to play basketball.
00:07:20 Athena Cordero
And just for everybody who can't see, you're about how tall?
00:07:23 Paul Durham
I'm 6'7.
00:07:24 Athena Cordero
6'7.
00:07:25 Athena Cordero
I'm gonna just let that go away now.
00:07:29 Athena Cordero
Okay, so you've been in this position for 17 years.
00:07:34 Athena Cordero
Can you talk to me a little bit about some changes that you've seen just from when you first got into
00:07:42 Athena Cordero
this particular position to now?
00:07:43 Athena Cordero
Has there been much change?
00:07:45 Paul Durham
Yeah, so I'll share with you two huge changes.
00:07:50 Paul Durham
One is...
00:07:53 Paul Durham
You can't help a foster youth if you don't, if you're not able to identify them.
00:07:57 Paul Durham
So it's only been in the last 10 years that we have a statewide system through CALPADS where we can actually run reports and I can share with districts, here are your exact foster youth, here's the schools they're in.
00:08:09 Paul Durham
You can share this with your school site admin, you can share this with the district, with your teachers.
00:08:15 Paul Durham
Not that we're, you know, trying to
00:08:20 Paul Durham
but we understand that these youth need supports, and we want to make sure that the people that need to know are going to know.
00:08:29 Paul Durham
So it's not every teacher at a school site, but only the teachers that those kids have.
00:08:32 Athena Cordero
Gotcha.
00:08:33 Paul Durham
But we never had that until about 10 years ago.
00:08:35 Athena Cordero
Is that because of the confidentiality?
00:08:38 Athena Cordero
Like, why wouldn't we have that?
00:08:39 Paul Durham
I think it's just the sheer number.
00:08:41 Paul Durham
So California has the most foster youth.
00:08:44 Paul Durham
I'm not sure, maybe New York.
00:08:45 Paul Durham
We're one or two in the whole nation of number of foster youth.
00:08:48 Paul Durham
So there's about a million foster youth in the United States and 50,000 of them are just LA County and us.
00:08:57 Paul Durham
Wow.
00:08:58 Paul Durham
And so when you're talking that sheer numbers, how do you have a system that identifies 7,000 youth that are scattered all over the place?
00:09:04 Paul Durham
Gotcha, yeah.
00:09:05 Athena Cordero
Okay, that makes sense.
00:09:07 Athena Cordero
Okay, so because of the need, and now we are able to look at that data, how has, you know,
00:09:14 Athena Cordero
support and services, how have those changed because of the need that we're seeing?
00:09:18 Paul Durham
So that's the other change that we've seen.
00:09:20 Paul Durham
And California is the front runner in the whole United States.
00:09:22 Paul Durham
So we go to some national conferences and the things that California is doing for our youth, we're about 10 years ahead of the game compared to everybody else.
00:09:30 Paul Durham
So even ESSA, the Every Student to SETAC, and some of the provisions and some of the
00:09:35 Paul Durham
The educational entitlements that relate to foster youth under ESSA, California's had those on the books for over 10 years already.
00:09:42 Paul Durham
Gotcha.
00:09:43 Paul Durham
So we understand that because of the transient nature of our foster youth, they're going to move from school to school to school.
00:09:48 Paul Durham
We need immediate enrollment.
00:09:49 Paul Durham
They're not always going to have their transcripts and the birth certificate and all that other paperwork.
00:09:53 Paul Durham
They might get taken last night and go to enroll in school the next morning.
00:09:57 Paul Durham
So our youth have immediate enrollments.
00:09:59 Paul Durham
They don't have to have any paperwork.
00:10:01 Paul Durham
We'll get the paperwork.
00:10:02 Paul Durham
But we know the safest place for them to be is in school.
00:10:05 Paul Durham
So if a kid shows up at our districts, we know get them in right away.
00:10:08 Athena Cordero
So there's no
00:10:09 Athena Cordero
There's no lag, right?
00:10:11 Athena Cordero
I might have been at this school yesterday and I'm over here today, but this team of people is going to take care of the paperwork to make sure I can stay where I am for as long as I can.
00:10:21 Paul Durham
So in the past, we know, research shows that any school change was about a three to six month learning crisis.
00:10:30 Paul Durham
So within immediate enrollment, we've helped alleviate some of that learning loss.
00:10:35 Paul Durham
And a lot of our youth, we have a transiency rate of over 60%.
00:10:39 Paul Durham
So only 40% of our foster youth stay in one school for a whole year.
00:10:45 Paul Durham
And it's getting a little bit better now that our agencies and our educational are working closer together and we have that understanding.
00:10:54 Paul Durham
that school stability is one of the biggest factors for our youth being successful or not.
00:10:59 Paul Durham
So now that we're having those conversations, we're starting to see it a little bit better.
00:11:02 Paul Durham
But I myself that came out of foster care, I went to 33 schools between kindergarten and 9th grade.
00:11:07 Paul Durham
I stayed in one school from 9th grade on, but 33 schools between kindergarten and 9th grade.
00:11:11 Athena Cordero
So, and I hope you don't mind, but in what area, like geographically, what are we talking about with these 33 schools?
00:11:17 Athena Cordero
Were they in the same county, state?
00:11:20 Paul Durham
Mostly Riverside County and San Bernardino County.
00:11:24 Paul Durham
also Florida as well.
00:11:25 Paul Durham
So my mom and dad were both in prison.
00:11:27 Paul Durham
And when my mom got out of prison, the child welfare system sent me to live with her in Florida.
00:11:33 Athena Cordero
Okay.
00:11:33 Paul Durham
And that was a short time.
00:11:35 Paul Durham
We were there about four months.
00:11:36 Paul Durham
I attended 3 high schools.
00:11:38 Athena Cordero
In the four month period.
00:11:39 Paul Durham
In the four month period.
00:11:40 Paul Durham
And then moved to California and did three more high schools in my 9th grade year.
00:11:45 Paul Durham
So I did 7 high schools my 9th grade year.
00:11:47 Athena Cordero
What kind of...
00:11:49 Paul Durham
And that's not uncommon.
00:11:50 Paul Durham
That is very common for all of our youth.
00:11:53 Paul Durham
So I share a little bit of my story, but it's so many of our youth stories.
00:11:57 Athena Cordero
Yeah, I mean, and I'm thinking right now too, just even in middle school and high school is already an interesting time, for kids.
00:12:06 Athena Cordero
And so to start over,
00:12:09 Athena Cordero
that many times.
00:12:10 Athena Cordero
Am I saying that right?
00:12:11 Athena Cordero
Like, is that what it feels like you're starting over?
00:12:13 Paul Durham
And as educators, we always talk about the learning loss part of it.
00:12:16 Paul Durham
But there's so much more to that, friendships.
00:12:19 Athena Cordero
Exactly, yeah.
00:12:20 Paul Durham
And a sense of belonging and having some reason to want to go to school, whether that's a club or a sport or a connection you made with a coach or a teacher.
00:12:32 Paul Durham
Right.
00:12:32 Paul Durham
When you've moved that many times, you miss out on all that.
00:12:36 Paul Durham
And it's hard to get up and say, I get to go to school.
00:12:39 Paul Durham
Except for they have food there.
00:12:42 Paul Durham
In an unstable environment, you get to go eat.
00:12:44 Paul Durham
That's one positive.
00:12:45 Paul Durham
But other than that, there's nothing to get excited for.
00:12:47 Athena Cordero
Yeah, because I mean, and I'm thinking about, just the little things that teenagers overthink or think about, which is like, what are the kids wearing at this school?
00:12:58 Athena Cordero
What, are the groups?
00:13:00 Athena Cordero
What are the crowds?
00:13:01 Athena Cordero
What are the trends right now?
00:13:02 Athena Cordero
Like having to just pay attention to all that
00:13:05 Athena Cordero
want to fit in, not stand out too much, not, and then not know if you're really, how long you're going to be there.
00:13:11 Athena Cordero
That seems like, it just seems like so much more weight on a time in life that is already weighty.
00:13:18 Paul Durham
Exactly.
00:13:19 Paul Durham
And then in addition to those school changes, you're having home placement changes.
00:13:23 Athena Cordero
Right.
00:13:23 Paul Durham
So now you have a new family.
00:13:24 Paul Durham
It might be a different religion.
00:13:26 Athena Cordero
Right.
00:13:26 Paul Durham
They have different expectations and rules.
00:13:31 Paul Durham
And at the school site on the learning loss too, they have different textbooks, different pacing guides.
00:13:37 Paul Durham
So this school might have already did fractions and now you move to this school and they haven't done fractions yet.
00:13:44 Paul Durham
So they need to establish all these gaps just by moving because the curriculum is different and the pacing guides are a little different.
00:13:50 Athena Cordero
Man, that is, that's a lot to deal with.
00:13:54 Athena Cordero
So, okay, I mean.
00:13:55 Paul Durham
And when you get to high school, now you're talking about credits.
00:13:57 Athena Cordero
I was just going there.
00:13:59 Athena Cordero
I was just going there.
00:14:00 Athena Cordero
So now I'm hearing you, you're trying to get, trying to make sure that there's no, really no days between a transition for a student.
00:14:09 Athena Cordero
However, there's bound to be a transitional period when they get to high school and now they're going to become adults.
00:14:16 Athena Cordero
What does that look like?
00:14:18 Athena Cordero
And how is that, what does that support look like for a child in the foster system now in high school and getting ready to, what is the term, age out?
00:14:25 Athena Cordero
What is it, what is that, am I saying that right?
00:14:28 Paul Durham
Yeah, they were called aging out.
00:14:31 Paul Durham
There has been some provisions in California for extended foster care, so our youth can stay, it's voluntary.
00:14:38 Paul Durham
When the law originally passed, they thought that maybe 10 to 15% would be interested in staying in extended foster care up until age 21.
00:14:47 Paul Durham
because a lot of the youth, once you've been in the system for a certain amount of time, you're like, I just want out of the system and I'll navigate, I'll find my way.
00:14:55 Athena Cordero
I'll get a job.
00:14:55 Paul Durham
I'll do it.
00:14:56 Paul Durham
I can do this.
00:14:57 Paul Durham
They realize that life's tough and the competition out there, especially when you may have a lack in some skills, that you still need some recovery, whether it's academic recovery, social recovery.
00:15:12 Paul Durham
And
00:15:14 Paul Durham
About 75 to 80% of our youth are choosing to stay in extended foster care up until age 21.
00:15:20 Paul Durham
And now the difficult part is the housing.
00:15:22 Paul Durham
There just isn't enough housing to accommodate that number of youth.
00:15:25 Paul Durham
So when you have 7,000 school-aged youth in foster care, and then you have these youth aging out, and so you have another three years of
00:15:36 Paul Durham
that 18, 19, 20, about to turn 21 year olds, and then finding the number of houses that could sustain that amount of kids.
00:15:43 Athena Cordero
So what does that, what does housing look like for an 18, 19, 20 year old, foster, I'm saying kid, but what does that placement look like?
00:15:53 Paul Durham
So there's different options.
00:15:54 Paul Durham
Some of our youth will go straight to a four-year university.
00:15:57 Paul Durham
That makes it real easy.
00:15:58 Paul Durham
They stay in the dorms.
00:15:59 Paul Durham
They continue to meet with a social worker maybe once a month, a couple times a month.
00:16:03 Paul Durham
The benefits go straight to that kid.
00:16:05 Paul Durham
They're able to sustain, you know,
00:16:08 Paul Durham
buying food or whatever the daily obligations are.
00:16:13 Paul Durham
They have some extended foster care homes that are licensed to do older youth that look a lot like foster care, except for maybe some of the rules are a little different.
00:16:22 Paul Durham
The household's still going to have rules.
00:16:23 Paul Durham
Like, you're not even under my house.
00:16:25 Paul Durham
I don't care if you're 20.
00:16:25 Athena Cordero
Don't come walking in here at 2:00 in the morning.
00:16:27 Athena Cordero
Right.
00:16:28 Paul Durham
Yeah, it may be the same household that they were 18 or 17.
00:16:32 Paul Durham
They've been in that household a while.
00:16:33 Paul Durham
It may be a new home.
00:16:35 Paul Durham
We have some community partners that
00:16:39 Paul Durham
are really experts in the housing field.
00:16:42 Paul Durham
So they might buy small apartment buildings and then they use those apartment buildings.
00:16:46 Paul Durham
And they have other things that some life skills classes and stuff to go with it.
00:16:50 Paul Durham
They teach them to do laundry and teach them to cook and teach them financial responsibility, all as part of that housing component.
00:16:57 Paul Durham
There just really isn't enough of that.
00:16:59 Paul Durham
And I wish there was more.
00:17:01 Paul Durham
Yeah, because it's got to be super expensive.
00:17:03 Paul Durham
I don't know the monetary, but it has to be super expensive.
00:17:05 Athena Cordero
It sounds like it, because in my mind, I'm thinking right now, I mean, that's kind of what my kid living on campus is doing.
00:17:10 Athena Cordero
You know, they're just trying to learn, but they're with other, you know, other students her age.
00:17:15 Athena Cordero
It sounds more like dormitory life than foster care when they're at that age.
00:17:20 Athena Cordero
But you're right, it does sound like it's very expensive to try to keep that up or sustain it.
00:17:25 Paul Durham
Absolutely.
00:17:26 Paul Durham
And, you know, our kids, they come with behaviors that other kids don't.
00:17:30 Paul Durham
They're more susceptible to drug abuse.
00:17:32 Paul Durham
They're more susceptible to maybe that boy girl drama.
00:17:36 Athena Cordero
Yeah.
00:17:38 Paul Durham
And when you're in that kind of apartment situation, there's going to be rules.
00:17:43 Paul Durham
And so there's always that risk of them losing housing just because of some of the behaviors that come with it.
00:17:48 Paul Durham
And of course, they're a little generous in what they'll accept as far as behaviors, but there's the point where our kids will push the boundaries.
00:17:57 Athena Cordero
Oh, of course.
00:17:58 Athena Cordero
I mean, they're still kids.
00:18:00 Paul Durham
They're still kids.
00:18:02 Athena Cordero
Okay, so you just mentioned that you guys have some really good partnerships, local agencies and community partners.
00:18:09 Athena Cordero
Can you talk to me about what those partnerships are, who they are, what that looks like?
00:18:13 Paul Durham
We have dozens of partnerships, all of our agency partners, of course.
00:18:18 Paul Durham
So we have a system of care that's really built around the concept of we know families are struggling.
00:18:25 Paul Durham
And we want to give them the support of whatever agency they touch when they first enter the overall quote system.
00:18:33 Athena Cordero
Yes.
00:18:33 Paul Durham
Whether that's probation, DBH, child welfare, education, whatever that family touches, if we realize that they need some supports, because we all know each other and we're part of this bigger network and we meet on a regular basis, we can make those referrals.
00:18:48 Paul Durham
Hey, this family is needing assistance with this.
00:18:51 Paul Durham
I'm going to do that direct handoff to you because I know that, and really being intentional about giving them the services and the interventions that they need before it ever becomes a removal and how to remove kids.
00:19:04 Paul Durham
And so it's really turned from a system of.
00:19:08 Athena Cordero
It sounds like it went from response to prevention somewhere.
00:19:11 Paul Durham
Exactly.
00:19:12 Paul Durham
And really trying to build up the families so that the families are able to have the tools that they need to keep their families intact.
00:19:20 Paul Durham
And we know that's going to be, that's good for all society.
00:19:22 Athena Cordero
Yeah, of course.
00:19:24 Paul Durham
So of course, all of our agency partners, all of our community college partners, all of our districts and charter schools, every district, charter, community college, for a university in the whole state has a foster youth liaison.
00:19:37 Paul Durham
And we have direct contact with all those liaisons.
00:19:40 Paul Durham
We know them by name.
00:19:41 Paul Durham
They have our telephone numbers.
00:19:42 Paul Durham
They call us when they need anything.
00:19:43 Paul Durham
That's awesome.
00:19:44 Paul Durham
We have numerous, we have about a dozen youth events yearly.
00:19:48 Paul Durham
Next week we're having a dinner for our female group home youth.
00:19:53 Athena Cordero
Okay.
00:19:54 Paul Durham
And so our partnership with the University of Redlands, Probation, and then a couple of Children's Fund, Children's Network,
00:20:04 Paul Durham
Each of those girls are going to get a care package that'll have some hygiene products.
00:20:08 Paul Durham
They'll get a Christmas gift.
00:20:09 Paul Durham
They're going to get some clothing.
00:20:11 Paul Durham
They're going to learn how to do makeup the right way.
00:20:14 Athena Cordero
Okay.
00:20:15 Paul Durham
And then we're going to feed them and really celebrate them and let them know that we care about them.
00:20:19 Paul Durham
We have a similar next Thursday for our boy group home.
00:20:23 Paul Durham
And then we have a homeless education where 100 of our youth are living in shelter situations right now.
00:20:29 Paul Durham
107.
00:20:31 Paul Durham
And we're having a big dinner to celebrate those families.
00:20:34 Paul Durham
Again, every kid gets gifts, face painting, balloon, and close-up magic, and really just letting them know that our county office is here.
00:20:42 Paul Durham
We want you to understand that we see education as the way to stop some of these cycles, but we're here to support you and your kid to make sure that your kid's gonna be successful.
00:20:53 Paul Durham
And we're here every step of the way.
00:20:55 Athena Cordero
I love that because, I mean, for one, of course,
00:21:01 Athena Cordero
No, I don't think any family or any, kid is gonna remember all of the services or supports that they can access.
00:21:07 Athena Cordero
However, the way you guys are offering, delivering it, they will absolutely remember how they felt in that moment and just know to come to you when they need something to keep coming, you know, like to keep asking.
00:21:20 Athena Cordero
They know that there's a place that they could reach out to for information just because of the feeling you created, you know, in the space, the dinner, the, are you going to be helping the girls apply
00:21:30 Athena Cordero
to make up the correct way.
00:21:31 Paul Durham
I will not be, but our team will.
00:21:34 Athena Cordero
Got you.
00:21:35 Athena Cordero
Okay, perfect.
00:21:36 Athena Cordero
That's perfect.
00:21:37 Paul Durham
And we understand the importance of youth voice.
00:21:39 Paul Durham
We're really intentional about
00:21:42 Paul Durham
getting youth to tell us what they need.
00:21:44 Athena Cordero
Yeah.
00:21:45 Paul Durham
And part of what they share is you got to tell us four or five, six times.
00:21:48 Paul Durham
You have to use different platforms.
00:21:49 Paul Durham
You can't use Facebook.
00:21:50 Paul Durham
We're not looking on Facebook.
00:21:52 Athena Cordero
No.
00:21:52 Paul Durham
So if you want us to know some of this stuff or remember some of this stuff, you have to tell us multiple times.
00:21:56 Paul Durham
And I've seen that with my own daughter as well.
00:21:58 Paul Durham
Yeah.
00:21:58 Paul Durham
I tell her three or four times.
00:21:59 Paul Durham
It goes in one ear, out the other.
00:22:01 Paul Durham
It takes a while for it to settle.
00:22:02 Athena Cordero
It does.
00:22:03 Athena Cordero
I can tell with my own kids, I can watch it.
00:22:05 Athena Cordero
I feel like I can watch it go in and come out right after I've said it.
00:22:10 Athena Cordero
It's funny sometimes, and sometimes it's absolutely not funny.
00:22:14 Athena Cordero
Okay, so that's interesting, though.
00:22:16 Athena Cordero
I love that you guys consider student voice.
00:22:19 Athena Cordero
I remember in a program I worked in years ago, that was really important to us, too.
00:22:24 Athena Cordero
And we did have opportunities where we can do things for the community, and we had a chance to provide some things to kids who didn't have as much.
00:22:35 Athena Cordero
We asked them, what do you think kids your age would want?
00:22:39 Athena Cordero
And the stuff that they suggested, surprisingly, was not the crazy off-the-wall stuff that we thought.
00:22:45 Athena Cordero
It was like,
00:22:48 Athena Cordero
Practical stuff.
00:22:50 Athena Cordero
it was really practical stuff.
00:22:51 Athena Cordero
Or maybe like a body spray, something like that.
00:22:55 Athena Cordero
It wasn't, like high tech.
00:22:58 Paul Durham
Technic cream is.
00:22:59 Athena Cordero
Yeah, but it was really practical, things that they felt like a kid would benefit from, which made me feel better, I think, that they were thinking about it like that.
00:23:09 Athena Cordero
But then it also, it also lets
00:23:13 Athena Cordero
that they're aware that kids don't have those practical things.
00:23:16 Athena Cordero
And how important it is and what a difference that can make, especially when you're being moved around a lot and having to adjust multiple times in your life.
00:23:25 Paul Durham
Absolutely.
00:23:26 Athena Cordero
Okay, so I do, I'm interested into how this looks
00:23:32 Athena Cordero
with your program, because you're within SBCSS, San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, with our districts.
00:23:38 Athena Cordero
Do you guys meet frequently?
00:23:40 Athena Cordero
Are there events that you host that they come to or that you are invited to?
00:23:44 Athena Cordero
What's that relationship look like?
00:23:46 Paul Durham
So we do about 125 professional development opportunities every year.
00:23:52 Paul Durham
We have about 7,000 attendees.
00:23:54 Paul Durham
That's been pretty consistent over the last 10 years.
00:23:56 Paul Durham
So we track everything that we do, log sheets and
00:24:00 Paul Durham
So the biggest ones are our county-wide.
00:24:03 Paul Durham
We have our dual county summit, which is always in March.
00:24:06 Paul Durham
This is in partnership with our Riverside County Office of Education.
00:24:09 Paul Durham
So Riverside and San Bernardino, we come together.
00:24:12 Paul Durham
We hold a one-day conference.
00:24:14 Paul Durham
We get about 500 attendees at that one.
00:24:18 Paul Durham
Looks like any other conference, there's breakout sessions, 10 breakout sessions, keynote speaker.
00:24:22 Paul Durham
But the intent is
00:24:24 Paul Durham
that because we're a very transient county, so on any given day, we have about 1,200 foster youth that are not dependents of San Bernardino County.
00:24:33 Paul Durham
They come and stay with us for a short time, between three and six months, from other counties, and then they're going to go back to those counties.
00:24:39 Athena Cordero
Can you explain what transient, and I get what you're saying, but just for folks listening, explain to me what that means when you say we're a high transient county.
00:24:49 Paul Durham
So
00:24:51 Paul Durham
Of our own dependents, youth that come through our dependency courts, through our San Bernardino County Children and Family Services, we have about 4,500 foster youth.
00:25:01 Athena Cordero
Okay.
00:25:02 Paul Durham
Altogether, we have about 7,000 foster youth in a year.
00:25:05 Paul Durham
So that means 2,500 foster youth are not from San Bernardino County.
00:25:08 Paul Durham
They come from other places.
00:25:09 Paul Durham
Gotcha.
00:25:11 Paul Durham
It looks a little different depending on what court the youth comes through.
00:25:15 Paul Durham
So through our probation, that's generally a group home.
00:25:17 Paul Durham
We have numerous group homes.
00:25:19 Paul Durham
We're the second biggest county as far as the number of group home beds.
00:25:23 Paul Durham
So they'll come through a dependency court or a delinquency court.
00:25:27 Paul Durham
Probably they committed some kind of a crime.
00:25:29 Paul Durham
The judge realizes that the family's not the best environment.
00:25:33 Paul Durham
I'm going to send you to this placement.
00:25:34 Paul Durham
We're going to teach you some skills.
00:25:37 Paul Durham
hopefully teach you a different way of life.
00:25:40 Paul Durham
And then eventually, yes, you're going to have to go back home or we're going to find some other.
00:25:43 Athena Cordero
Home for you to go to.
00:25:44 Paul Durham
Environment for you to live in.
00:25:46 Paul Durham
But for this three to six months, you're going to stay in this group home facility and we're going to wrap those services around you.
00:25:53 Paul Durham
We have a lot of those beds.
00:25:55 Paul Durham
We also have what's called foster family agencies, which is an agency that
00:26:00 Paul Durham
provides foster care separate from our county that provides foster care.
00:26:04 Paul Durham
A lot of these agencies will open beds for other counties.
00:26:09 Paul Durham
So we'll get kids from Riverside and LA and San Diego and even up north, a lot of the counties.
00:26:15 Paul Durham
Our biggest counties are obviously Riverside, Los Angeles and Orange County.
00:26:21 Paul Durham
But the importance of that is those are all border counties for us too.
00:26:24 Paul Durham
So depending on where you're at in the county, if you're a district that borders that other county,
00:26:29 Paul Durham
There could be a youth, so we talk about keeping school stability as one of our main priorities.
00:26:35 Paul Durham
So if the placement changes and they've crossed the county border, but it's still relatively easy to provide transportation, we want that kid to stay in their school of origin.
00:26:46 Paul Durham
So we'll work out transportation details.
00:26:48 Paul Durham
And that's one of the MOUs that we have with our child welfare and our probation officer, our probation agency.
00:26:53 Paul Durham
and all 33 of our districts.
00:26:56 Paul Durham
So we have a county-wide transportation plan that is specifically for school stability and transportation and keeping a school, a kid and their school of origin when it's determined to be in their best interest.
00:27:06 Athena Cordero
So you guys are not bound by the bus route boundary?
00:27:10 Paul Durham
We have to be very creative in making sure that the entitlements that our foster youth are entitled to are enacted.
00:27:18 Paul Durham
And some of that is transportation and school of origin.
00:27:22 Paul Durham
keeping the school stability is the main priority for them.
00:27:26 Athena Cordero
So just while Paul, just in a very short amount of time, I've learned A lot.
00:27:33 Athena Cordero
I do, I do kind of want to pick your brain though on the things that you've seen from, you know, beginning with San Bernardino County 20 some years ago to now that
00:27:46 Athena Cordero
for you would make the biggest impact today, for foster kids?
00:27:50 Athena Cordero
Like if we walked away from this conversation, what would help the most?
00:27:55 Athena Cordero
What are you asking people to be more curious about?
00:27:58 Athena Cordero
Like what are those things?
00:27:59 Paul Durham
So we know in the last five to 10 years, there's been a lot of research on what strategies are the most effective for increasing educational outcomes for our youth in foster care.
00:28:11 Paul Durham
There's a big
00:28:15 Paul Durham
statewide effort to make sure that our foster youth are cared for.
00:28:19 Paul Durham
And they understand that education is one of the strategies that is going to help them to be successful adults.
00:28:26 Paul Durham
So along those ends, some of that research has shown that engagement, school engagement is particularly important.
00:28:35 Paul Durham
That sense of belonging, relationships, how do we create systems
00:28:41 Paul Durham
or strategies or interventions or preventions, whatever we want to call it, how do we create opportunities for our youth to get all of that?
00:28:50 Paul Durham
So a couple of the partnerships that we've been really successful in.
00:28:54 Paul Durham
So one of the outcomes that our state tracks is graduation.
00:29:00 Paul Durham
Our graduation rates for our foster care has hovered around the 60 to 65 percent
00:29:05 Paul Durham
Some of that is because of the transient.
00:29:07 Paul Durham
We get a lot of 17 and 18 year olds that are not from our county.
00:29:11 Paul Durham
And so they'll stay with us for a short time and then they go back to their own county and then a lot of them drop out of high school.
00:29:16 Paul Durham
So that county gets a.
00:29:18 Paul Durham
So anytime you're looking at statistics, there's reasons for this, reasons for that.
00:29:23 Paul Durham
If we track only our San Bernardino County dependents, our seniors, we're at about the 75%.
00:29:29 Athena Cordero
Okay.
00:29:29 Paul Durham
Which is good, it's better than their overall, but it's still not the 85 to 94 that our general population is getting.
00:29:37 Paul Durham
So we know that there's still, there's a gap there.
00:29:39 Athena Cordero
Yes.
00:29:40 Paul Durham
And what do we do about it?
00:29:42 Paul Durham
So a couple of programs that we can really look close at, one is CASA, Court Appointed Special Advocates, was an 18-month mentorship program.
00:29:51 Paul Durham
We tracked their seniors, so they had 12.
00:29:54 Paul Durham
senior fall sheath last year, all 12 of them graduated.
00:29:56 Paul Durham
100% graduation.
00:29:57 Paul Durham
Oh, that's awesome.
00:29:57 Paul Durham
That's awesome.
00:29:59 Paul Durham
So we know that mentorship and having that one caring adult that's going to follow you unconditionally.
00:30:04 Paul Durham
I don't care what you do.
00:30:04 Paul Durham
I'm with you for the next 18 months.
00:30:07 Paul Durham
And most of the time it's lifetime.
00:30:10 Paul Durham
Yeah, we're together forever.
00:30:11 Paul Durham
Yeah, I signed up for 18 months, but we're together forever.
00:30:13 Paul Durham
That's beautiful.
00:30:14 Paul Durham
So critically important for graduation rates and making sure that they have that sense of belonging.
00:30:20 Paul Durham
The other is creating those opportunities at our school sites.
00:30:23 Paul Durham
So about four years ago, we helped our districts bring in an outside program called Give Something Back, which is a pre and post-college mentoring program.
00:30:34 Paul Durham
They've always focused on, they actually have a contract with Cal State San Bernardino, University of La Verne, and Chapman University to provide scholarships for youth in foster care, youth experiencing homelessness.
00:30:46 Paul Durham
and youth from incarcerated parents.
00:30:48 Paul Durham
So they have a certain number of slots that they can give full ride scholarships to every single year.
00:30:51 Athena Cordero
Okay.
00:30:52 Paul Durham
So I went to them.
00:30:54 Paul Durham
Dr.
00:30:54 Paul Durham
Amy Young is a forensics physician with Loma Linda.
00:30:58 Paul Durham
She is the director of Give Something Back.
00:31:00 Athena Cordero
She's awesome.
00:31:01 Paul Durham
So I said, Amy, we see what CASA's doing.
00:31:04 Paul Durham
We see the results that they're having.
00:31:06 Paul Durham
How do we bring something like that to our districts and create something grassroots
00:31:13 Paul Durham
that could potentially have the same effect that CASA's having.
00:31:17 Paul Durham
So we started school-based mentoring.
00:31:19 Paul Durham
We have Give Back going on to 6 districts, about 60 schools, once a month, pulling foster youth, homeless youth, and children with carcion parents with a lot of gray area, looking to include kids, not exclude kids, pulling them out once a month from classes, and meeting with Give Back, going through a year-long curriculum on resilience,
00:31:42 Paul Durham
leadership skills, but mainly connections.
00:31:46 Paul Durham
Letting you know, you're at this giant campus at 3,000.
00:31:50 Paul Durham
You're very tragic.
00:31:51 Paul Durham
You may have just came to the school, but there's other kids with similar lived experience.
00:31:57 Paul Durham
All these kids in this group are going through similar stuff.
00:31:59 Paul Durham
And we're going to be a team.
00:32:01 Paul Durham
We're going to be a family.
00:32:03 Paul Durham
And we're going to show you some skills and strategies, and we're going to be there for you every step of the way to help you be successful in school, because we understand the importance of that.
00:32:12 Paul Durham
But the main thing is now these kids have the support group of other kids with similar lived experience.
00:32:18 Paul Durham
And we've seen that program in the last three years increase attendance by 50%, decrease disciplinary actions by 30%.
00:32:26 Paul Durham
A lot of the kids aren't seniors yet, so it's hard to
00:32:30 Paul Durham
grasp on what if it's going to have a big impact on graduation rates.
00:32:35 Paul Durham
But at least chronic absenteeism, absenteeism, and discipline.
00:32:39 Paul Durham
We know that affects graduation rates, so you're, yeah, exactly.
00:32:43 Paul Durham
That's awesome.
00:32:43 Paul Durham
And now, so now we're at the point of we can't continue to keep funding it.
00:32:47 Paul Durham
They're looking for some philanthropic opportunities.
00:32:51 Paul Durham
The districts have this year put some funding in as well.
00:32:55 Paul Durham
But we're seeing from the state, the states in a
00:32:58 Paul Durham
with $30 billion deficit.
00:33:01 Paul Durham
And so the schools are a little afraid now and they're scaling back, which is so sad because we know that these kids are the kids that have the least outcomes.
00:33:10 Paul Durham
We've seen a program that is effective.
00:33:13 Paul Durham
We can prove it.
00:33:13 Paul Durham
We've gathered the data.
00:33:15 Paul Durham
Every district has worked with us to gather every individual student.
00:33:21 Athena Cordero
Which is what you do, right?
00:33:22 Athena Cordero
So you can replicate, sustain, that's what you do.
00:33:24 Athena Cordero
You gather the data and you guys have, you have.
00:33:26 Paul Durham
Exactly.
00:33:27 Paul Durham
And then how do we replicate that countywide instead of just the six big districts?
00:33:31 Athena Cordero
Right, You know, I love that there is a network that you're bringing to them.
00:33:39 Athena Cordero
Because when we were talking earlier, it was obvious to me as I'm trying to follow, as you were talking, I'm trying to follow like one kid, when they're having to transition, move from a different school.
00:33:50 Athena Cordero
I feel like that could be very isolating, even though you're around a lot of different people all the time.
00:33:55 Athena Cordero
I feel like that could be very isolating.
00:33:57 Athena Cordero
So to give them this group that they know have gone through things similar to what they've gone through, that they can talk to, reach out to, that seems like invaluable support.
00:34:08 Paul Durham
That's what we're hoping.
00:34:09 Paul Durham
And then so you asked about the transition piece of it too.
00:34:11 Paul Durham
So those youth that are part of the high school, school-based mentoring part, we also have college support programs called Next Up at all of our community colleges.
00:34:22 Paul Durham
We're bringing those, they could be in extended foster care, some of them are still in foster care if they're 20, 21, and they're in that community college environment.
00:34:30 Paul Durham
We're bringing them to our high school youth to really be that mentor.
00:34:34 Paul Durham
bringing our high school youth onto our college campuses to give them that feel of, this group of students did it.
00:34:42 Paul Durham
There's this college support program that's going to help me every step of the way.
00:34:45 Paul Durham
They'll help me with registration.
00:34:47 Paul Durham
They'll help me with the financial aid piece of it.
00:34:48 Paul Durham
They'll help me to get the counseling.
00:34:50 Paul Durham
They'll help me get the tutoring.
00:34:51 Paul Durham
So I won't feel like I'm alone.
00:34:54 Paul Durham
Really letting them know that the community college is kind of that cheaper option to start.
00:34:59 Paul Durham
You can really develop those skills, even if you have some gaps.
00:35:03 Paul Durham
That's where you can fill in some of those gaps before you go to the four year anniversary.
00:35:08 Paul Durham
And then we've also, so our county has a foster youth advisory council, which is all of our director level of all those agency partners, all of our community colleges, all of our districts.
00:35:18 Paul Durham
We get about 100 attendees every month.
00:35:21 Paul Durham
We've transitioned this year, this is the first year, to having those monthly meetings at our community colleges with those Next Up programs.
00:35:29 Paul Durham
And then having a monthly agenda item, being the youth of those Next Up programs sharing and bringing that youth voice to all the agencies so that our agencies are getting that youth voice every month.
00:35:40 Athena Cordero
That's very smart.
00:35:41 Paul Durham
Here's how you can support us in the college environment.
00:35:44 Paul Durham
Here's how you can support those high school kids that are going to be transitioning to the high school or to the college environment.
00:35:49 Paul Durham
And it's really important for our probation and child welfare in particular, where they have that post-high school support as well.
00:35:57 Paul Durham
But for all of those entities to be working together,
00:36:00 Paul Durham
And we've really been intentional about creating that opportunity for that to happen.
00:36:03 Athena Cordero
That's amazing, Paul.
00:36:06 Athena Cordero
I'm sitting here thinking, okay, you guys have done your part.
00:36:09 Athena Cordero
You've got a framework, you've got the data, you've got the voice from.
00:36:14 Athena Cordero
our youth, you, meet often, you keep talking about what's going on now.
00:36:20 Athena Cordero
And then at the same time, I'm sitting here now just a little nervous that there's some scaling back and that we're having to worry about budget.
00:36:27 Athena Cordero
Is there, is there anything, you know, for folks listening that just someone, you know, like me can do or
00:36:35 Athena Cordero
look up or figure out to try to support that work.
00:36:38 Paul Durham
They're always looking from our homes.
00:36:41 Paul Durham
So everybody's going to have a comfort level on how they can support.
00:36:46 Paul Durham
It may be something like supporting at Christmas time.
00:36:50 Paul Durham
We do, we send out a request for here's wish lists for kids that we want to give for our Christmas events.
00:36:58 Paul Durham
It could be as easy as that.
00:37:00 Paul Durham
What a great support.
00:37:02 Paul Durham
CASA,
00:37:03 Paul Durham
wonderful opportunity.
00:37:04 Paul Durham
If you have that time and you want to be a mentor for a kid for 18 months.
00:37:08 Athena Cordero
That is the program actually I worked with years ago to put together these gift bags and things for kids with where I was.
00:37:16 Athena Cordero
They are amazing.
00:37:17 Athena Cordero
We got a chance to go out there, meet with them.
00:37:19 Athena Cordero
It was a really, really good time.
00:37:20 Paul Durham
Not everybody can bring a kid into their house.
00:37:22 Athena Cordero
Right.
00:37:24 Paul Durham
Because that's, you're actually one of the rules of being a CASA is you're not allowed to introduce that kid to your family.
00:37:29 Athena Cordero
Wow.
00:37:30 Paul Durham
The intent of it is you're a one-on-one mentor and that's the relationship that they really want to hone in on.
00:37:38 Paul Durham
So they have some rules that go with it.
00:37:39 Paul Durham
Wow.
00:37:40 Paul Durham
But it's fairly easy.
00:37:42 Paul Durham
It's 10 hours a month.
00:37:43 Athena Cordero
Okay.
00:37:44 Paul Durham
But we've seen the benefits of having that 18-month mentorship and that regular check-in and somebody for the kid to feel accountable to and somebody that the kid could reach out and call anytime they just want to talk.
00:37:56 Athena Cordero
Yeah, like a sibling or a family member or friend.
00:37:59 Paul Durham
They don't have mom or dad to do that too.
00:38:00 Paul Durham
A lot of times they've been separated from their siblings and they're not allowed to have those conversations with siblings.
00:38:05 Paul Durham
They need somebody.
00:38:06 Paul Durham
Right.
00:38:07 Paul Durham
And if you could be that person, what a great opportunity.
00:38:10 Paul Durham
We always need more foster parents.
00:38:11 Paul Durham
If you have the extra room in your house and that's something that you're comfortable
00:38:15 Paul Durham
with.
00:38:15 Paul Durham
They'll give you the skill.
00:38:16 Paul Durham
They'll teach you how to manage behaviors and stuff.
00:38:20 Paul Durham
Most of the time there's going to be some behaviors that you're not going to see from other kids because of the trauma that they've been through.
00:38:26 Paul Durham
They'll walk you through those steps and their support to go with that.
00:38:29 Paul Durham
But there's such a lack of housing and which is a difficult part of school stability.
00:38:34 Paul Durham
Sometimes it's just not feasible if you're removed from a home in upland up to the high desert.
00:38:40 Paul Durham
you're probably not going to stay in your school of origin because it's a two-hour.
00:38:44 Paul Durham
Yeah, that's difficult.
00:38:45 Paul Durham
That would be very difficult.
00:38:46 Paul Durham
Yeah, it's not reasonable.
00:38:48 Paul Durham
But if we had more houses that were available in the area that the kid was removed from, then when openings came up, if they had that opportunity to make it way easier.
00:38:56 Paul Durham
So it's just their comfort level.
00:38:57 Paul Durham
Yeah.
00:38:58 Paul Durham
Anywhere from.
00:38:59 Athena Cordero
I mean, and we have, we talked to another guest about becoming a foster parent.
00:39:04 Athena Cordero
She kind of walked us through the process, you know, what she had to do.
00:39:07 Athena Cordero
But the mentor piece,
00:39:10 Athena Cordero
If you're not quite ready or you don't have the space, to make room for someone in your home, how does the mentor piece work?
00:39:17 Athena Cordero
Is there a certification or a class or?
00:39:20 Paul Durham
There is, and there's the Big Brothers, Big Sisters are different than the CASA.
00:39:25 Paul Durham
I know CASA because I sat on the board and I was a CASA for youth as well.
00:39:30 Paul Durham
So you're going to go through a one-week training that covers everything from here's a basic overview of child welfare,
00:39:39 Paul Durham
Here's a basic overview of trauma and what a lot of these kids have gone through.
00:39:43 Paul Durham
Here are some strategies for engaging the youth and really making that connection as a mentor.
00:39:49 Paul Durham
Here's an educational overview on the importance of education and some of the entitlements that they're entitled to.
00:39:56 Paul Durham
And then you have to go and get sworn in by the judge.
00:39:59 Paul Durham
So they make it a.
00:40:01 Athena Cordero
Official.
00:40:01 Paul Durham
Official.
00:40:03 Paul Durham
It's really heartwarming.
00:40:04 Paul Durham
You get to
00:40:06 Paul Durham
kind of what the process looks like in the courtroom.
00:40:08 Paul Durham
Sometimes they're going through some cases while you're there.
00:40:12 Paul Durham
And then the next 18 months, you're that one person.
00:40:15 Athena Cordero
Right.
00:40:16 Athena Cordero
That's very cool.
00:40:18 Athena Cordero
I wanted to make sure we talked a little bit about what that looks like for some who maybe want to do something, but they don't have the space, the home, you know, that type of...
00:40:26 Paul Durham
A lot of times they think that the time is going to be overbearing.
00:40:30 Paul Durham
A lot of the training is virtual now.
00:40:33 Athena Cordero
Okay.
00:40:34 Paul Durham
So you can do it from the comfort of your own home.
00:40:36 Paul Durham
on a laptop.
00:40:37 Paul Durham
Of course, you have to go to the court for the swearing in, but I think they have full virtual trainings now.
00:40:42 Paul Durham
So do that.
00:40:44 Paul Durham
It's one week.
00:40:44 Paul Durham
I think it's about four hours a day.
00:40:47 Paul Durham
So it's relatively quick.
00:40:49 Paul Durham
And then the mentorship part of it is a minimum and you have to submit monthly.
00:40:53 Paul Durham
Like here's the days that I talk to the youth and here's kind of, you can take them out to the parks or take them places and really have that bonding experience.
00:41:01 Paul Durham
But you're logging like 10 hours a month.
00:41:03 Athena Cordero
Wow.
00:41:03 Paul Durham
So it's not overbearing.
00:41:05 Athena Cordero
No, and I mean, I don't know about you, but just as a mom, I know how fast 10 hours a month can go, especially when you're trying to find time, right?
00:41:13 Athena Cordero
It does go really fast.
00:41:14 Athena Cordero
So for anyone who's interested in that, I would encourage them to look into it.
00:41:18 Athena Cordero
sounds like a really awesome opportunity.
00:41:21 Paul Durham
Particularly for our retired folks.
00:41:23 Paul Durham
They're looking for something to do.
00:41:24 Paul Durham
I have an empty nest.
00:41:26 Paul Durham
I got some extra time.
00:41:27 Paul Durham
We got something for you to pick up some of that time.
00:41:29 Athena Cordero
No, that's awesome.
00:41:30 Athena Cordero
I love that.
00:41:31 Athena Cordero
I love that.
00:41:33 Athena Cordero
Okay, Paul, I have
00:41:35 Athena Cordero
I mean, I have a really, like a new appreciation.
00:41:38 Athena Cordero
I already did, and just working with kids for as long as I had, but I have a new appreciation for the work that your department does, your team does, the Mighty 13 that you just shouted out earlier.
00:41:50 Athena Cordero
And I do hope that, you know, for those listening, that they look into maybe mentorship or consider becoming a foster parent, especially because we know things are getting kind of hairy, you know, with budget and
00:42:03 Athena Cordero
policy and I would hate for that to jeopardize all that you guys have put forward to support.
00:42:08 Athena Cordero
So I thank you so much for coming and sharing with us.
00:42:12 Athena Cordero
If anybody wanted to get in contact with you, had any questions, how could they do that?
00:42:18 Paul Durham
Through our county website.
00:42:19 Paul Durham
Our Children's Reserve Success team is on there, has my e-mail.
00:42:22 Paul Durham
I'm always willing to share my cell phone number.
00:42:27 Paul Durham
Lots of people do, that's probably the easiest way.
00:42:29 Athena Cordero
Is your cell phone.
00:42:30 Paul Durham
Is my cell phone.
00:42:31 Paul Durham
I'm rarely in the office.
00:42:32 Paul Durham
If I'm in the office, I'm not doing my job.
00:42:34 Paul Durham
I need to be out in the community meeting with our partners and attending meetings and visiting our districts and visiting our support programs.
00:42:41 Paul Durham
So if you're really needing to get a hold of me, my cell is always the best way.
00:42:44 Athena Cordero
Okay, so we're going to go ahead and put your contact info on the landing page for this episode then.
00:42:49 Athena Cordero
Is that okay?
00:42:49 Paul Durham
Absolutely.
00:42:50 Athena Cordero
Okay, perfect.
00:42:51 Athena Cordero
Thank you so much.
00:42:52 Athena Cordero
This has been great.
00:42:54 Outro / Ad
Before we wrap up, we want to remind you that if you or someone is facing a crisis, help is available.
00:43:02 Outro / Ad
You are not alone.
00:43:04 Outro / Ad
If it's an emergency, please call 911.
00:43:08 Outro / Ad
For immediate support, you can reach out to the Crisis and Suicide Hotline by dialing 988.
00:43:15 Outro / Ad
Remember, taking the first step to ask for help is a sign of strength.
00:43:20 Outro / Ad
Stay safe, take care of yourself,
00:43:23 Outro / Ad
take care of each other.
00:43:25 Outro / Ad
Until next time, be well.
00:43:50 Paul Durham
See you next time.
00:43:53 Outro / Ad
Before we wrap up, we want to remind you that if you or someone you know is facing a crisis, help is available.
00:44:01 Outro / Ad
You are not alone.
00:44:04 Outro / Ad
If it's an emergency, please call 911.
00:44:08 Outro / Ad
For immediate support, you can reach out to the crisis and suicide hotline by dialing 988.
00:44:15 Outro / Ad
Remember, taking the first step to ask for help is a sign of strength.
00:44:20 Outro / Ad
Stay safe, take care of yourself, and take care of each other.
00:44:24 Outro / Ad
Until next time, be well.
00:44:28 Outro / Ad
After growing up in the foster care system herself, Tani knew her story didn't end there.
00:44:34 Outro / Ad
It became her purpose.
00:44:35 Outro / Ad
In this episode, she shares her journey from navigating the system as a youth to becoming an administrator for a foster agency, driven by a deep desire to give back and create change from the inside.
00:44:47 Outro / Ad
Her story is one of resilience, growth, and using lived experience to make a difference for the next generation.
00:44:54 Outro / Ad
Tune in for an inspiring conversation about perseverance, purpose, and rising beyond circumstances.
00:45:02 Outro / Ad
See you next time.
