Children’s Square U.S.A. provides voluntary services and support to young people ages 18-21 who have aged out of foster care or other court-ordered placement. Aftercare services guide young people toward stability and self-sufficiency in six key areas: education, employment, housing, health, life skills, and relationships. Participants meet at least twice monthly with a Self-Sufficiency Advocate (SSA), who partners with youth to…
Project Care is a community-wide initiative to assist and empower foster care youth who are graduating high school or turning 18 and aging out of Iowa’s foster care system. They gather financial and in-kind donations to provide each graduate with the basic essentials for setting up a dorm room or apartment. They throw a graduation party each spring for these students,…
Foundation 2’s Fostering Futures program provide supportive services for youth (ages 17-23) located in the Cedar Rapids area. Services include Iowa aftercare services, Achieving Maximum Potential (AMP), Youth Transition Decision Making and more. The goal of Fostering Futures is to help young people transitioning out of foster care to have the support and resources they need to reach and maintain…
The Guardian Scholars Foundation works with the Department of Human Services to locate young adults who have spent time in the foster care system between the ages of 14-18 and wish to attend college full-time. The program helps to facilitate their dreams by working with the host college to create a support system of administration, professors, and financial aid associates ready…
Iowa Homeless Youth Centers’ Rooftop Gardens program will serve transition-age youth who are at-risk or currently experiencing homelessness, providing employment opportunities, access to healthy locally grown foods and nutrition education.
Foundation 2, a nonprofit human services agency based in Cedar Rapids, is one of nine agencies in the state subcontracted to support youth involved in the Iowa Aftercare Services Network. While the program is provided through all 99 counties in the State of Iowa, Foundation 2 is responsible for providing this service in Linn, Jones and Benton counties.
Transitioning out of foster care is a significant challenge—it requires you to grow up. Fast. We can help make that transition a little easier, and a little less scary, by helping figure out how to live independently.
The Iowa Aftercare Services Network (IASN) is available to help young adults who experienced foster care or other court-ordered placement as a teenager. We will help you reach your personal goals for: education, employment, housing, health, life skills and relationships.
The National Crittenton Foundation is the national umbrella for the Crittenton family of agencies, providing services and support to girls and young women. Crittenton agencies provide a comprehensive mix of gender & culturally-responsive, trauma-informed, developmentally-appropriate, strength-based services to girls, young women and their families impacted by childhood adversity, violence & trauma.
he Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth (Midwest Study) is a longitudinal study that has been following a sample of young people from Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois as they transition out of foster care into adulthood.