Redesigning the LA County quarantine housing program for foster youth as an immediate response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Foster youth in Los Angeles County who tested positive for or were exposed to COVID-19.
To provide and reduce costs for youth-centered housing for COVID-19 quarantine.
In Los Angeles County, the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) began using hospital settings to quarantine foster youth who were sick or had been exposed to COVID-19. The need to preserve community health and safety compromised the ability of the child welfare system and nonprofits to deliver supportive interventions for transition aged youth in foster care. A strategy was needed to replace the use of isolated hospital settings that cost more than $3,000 per youth, per day with a more youth-centered, trauma-informed, and cost effective intervention to meet youth’s basic needs.
Think of Us partnered with LA County DCFS and youth with lived experience in foster care to redesign the Foster Youth COVID-19 Quarantine Program. The resulting program provided AirBnB like settings for foster youth who were sick or had been exposed to COVID-19, facilitating an environment that was youth-centered, trauma-informed, met CDC guidelines, and significantly reduced costs.
Collaborated to design a youth-centered strategy that:
Collaborators with lived experience were compensated financially for their engagement.
Los Angeles County, California
$450K
April 2020-Fall 2021