Supporting the well-being of children in foster care and families means providing the whole-person health care they deserve statewide.
North Carolina’s children in foster care and their families have been subject to a regionally-managed, fragmented system of care, contributing to poor outcomes, placement instability and delays in achieving the security and permanency these families need. That is why it is time for our state to transition to a single source statewide plan, investing in more evidence-based treatments for youth and families, and leveraging resources from across North Carolina to alleviate lapses in care. We support the state’s effort to move away from the current regional approach (PDF), building out a robust program to support both youth in foster care and their families across the state.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC)’s Healthy Blue Medicaid plan already provides our families with integrated health care options that treat patients holistically, through a broad array of services and supports that meet their specific needs. We’ll bring this proven, collaborative, family-focused approach to youth in foster care, leading to better outcomes and reducing the burden on the child welfare system – all so families, no matter where they live in North Carolina, can get the care they need to stay healthy and stay together.
From Fragmented to Integrated – Improving North Carolina’s child welfare system through intensive, local coordination supported by a single statewide plan
Executive Director, Healthy Blue North Carolina
Chief Medical Officer, Healthy Blue North Carolina
Manager, County Engagement and Healthy Blue DSS Liaison, Healthy Blue North Carolina
Juvenile Services Liaison, Healthy Blue North Carolina
Program Manager, Healthy Blue North Carolina
Program Manager, Healthy Blue North Carolina
Benchmarks’ Center for Quality Integration (CQi) is highlighting our work with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina’s Healthy Blue Medicaid plan. Healthy Blue is one of the five health plans selected to provide Standard Plan services to NC Medicaid recipients. Standard Plans offer physical and mental/behavioral health coverage to individuals experiencing mild to moderate behavioral health concerns.
It’s one thing to read the data. It’s quite another to see it firsthand – or to hear stories from families and communities that have been affected. For nearly two years now, Blue Cross NC leadership have been on a statewide listening tour to do just that.
LIFE Skills provides safe, stable housing and comprehensive services to support the journey to independence. Blue Cross NC has been honored to partner with LIFE Skills to expand its footprint at properties in Orange and Wake counties.
Boykin has more than 30 years of health care experience in commercial and government operations. She is deeply committed to the people and communities of North Carolina.
An important and insightful conversation with Jan Elliot, the former director of Pitt County Social Services and recipient of North Carolina’s 2021 “State Director of the Year” award.
Building on its commitment to North Carolina’s long-term health and well-being, Blue Cross NC has invested in partnerships, programs and initiatives to support children, youth and families involved with the child welfare system.
Cooper presented the awards at the Children's Home Society's reTHINK Permanency Conference, recognizing social workers across North Carolina who work to strengthen, build and advocate for families.
On last week’s Extra Miles Tour stop in Hyde County, the Blue Cross NC leadership team heard powerful evidence of why North Carolina urgently needs a statewide approach to health care for children and families impacted by foster care.
Daniel Dunning shares his experience of aging out of the foster care system and the challenges he, along with many other young adults leaving the foster care system, faced.
Girl Scouts Carolinas Peaks to Piedmont (GSCP2P) and Crossnore Communities for Children partnered to launch a program called Healthy View, Healthy YOU! The program equips girls to care for their mental health and well-being.
Young adults leaving foster care can face difficult barriers to college enrollment and success. Working with community partners to close gaps in educational attainment helps North Carolinians get on track toward a life of prosperity and good health.
As part of National Foster Care Month, Blue Cross NC's Healthy Blue Medicaid plan and Comfort Cases, an international non-profit dedicated to providing hope and dignity youth in foster care, teamed up to host a packing party.
Innovative program provides career opportunities, wraparound support for young adults transitioning out of North Carolina’s foster care system.
The website helps kinship caregivers explore their legal options, whether working with child welfare or caring for children outside the child welfare system
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina has awarded the Crosby Scholars Community Partnership $500,000 to pilot a five-year Foster Care Youth Initiative
LIFE Skills offers a variety of services including independent living skills classes, transitional and independent housing and mental health support.
Foster care advocates in North Carolina are working towards coordinated statewide care for children in need of mental health resources.
The Children's Home Society’s Raleigh Family Picnic celebrated the Triangle's local foster care community and included a donation of 60 pre-packed backpacks for children entering the foster care system.
Eleven organizations awarded to improve access to behavioral health care services in North Carolina’s rural and marginalized communities.
Volunteers gathered for a “Packing Party” event, putting together over 700 packages to be donated to organizations that work with our foster youth.
Blue Cross NC and the Guilford Green Foundation & LGBTQ Center are funding a pilot program to help recruit and train foster families to serve LGBTQ youth in foster care.
Here in North Carolina, 69 of our 100 counties have no child psychiatrists; 27 have no psychiatrist at all. Failure to address this challenge now will have long-term consequences.
Dr. Jacqueline McKnight shares her thoughts on the pressing issues facing youth in foster care.
Investing in prevention and treatment is crucial in building stable communities and protecting children of those dealing with substance abuse.
From working through complex trauma to skill-based programs for parents, youth in foster care and their families have a broad range of individualized needs. A single statewide health care plan can best manage the full range of benefits and services meant to address them, including crisis intervention, treatment and placement coordination.
Through our Healthy Blue plan, we support the state’s vision to transform the existing fragmented health care delivery model for youth and families involved with local Departments of Social Services (DSS) into one that offers seamless, integrated, and coordinated physical and behavioral health care – including care management and placement coordination for children and youth in foster care.
Ultimately, a single statewide plan will provide consistent, streamlined services that:
- Offer care coordination in collaboration with county DSS caseworkers.
- Ensure timely and seamless authorizations for treatment and placement.
- Improve placement stability and crisis response, mitigating the risk of re-traumatization for vulnerable youth.
- Create connections and build relationships throughout North Carolina.
- Eliminate the need to screen services and assessments from other plans.
- Reduce the excessive administrative burden on local DSS.
- Integrate and centralize information with consistent standards.
- Coordinate care effectively across providers to ensure continuity and ease transitions for youth and families.
- Measure outcomes for every youth and family who receives care.
Blue Cross NC has an established statewide network of integrated services and programs that has served generations of North Carolinians, strengthening families and communities across the state for more than 80 years.
We know our state’s communities because we’re in them, providing localized solutions that meet their needs. Our extensive network of resources, programs and expertise allow us to deliver coordinated, evidence-based treatment to families across every region of the stat – and makes us uniquely qualified to reach more of them.
In partnership with DHHS, DSS and local providers, our Healthy Blue program will reach out to future generations of children and families before they enter the child welfare system, focusing on:
- Quality and outcomes
- Responsiveness
- Simplicity and reduced administrative burden
Foster Family Alliance of North Carolina
The Foster Family Alliance is spearheading a three-part effort to support foster parents across NC, which includes regional support groups for foster parents, resources, services and training for foster families, and "The Love Fund" to support foster parents with sudden practical needs, like childcare or food.
Statewide
Focus Area: Keeping Families Together
The Intercept program by Youth Villages is an integrated, intensive in-home parenting skills program used to safely prevent children from entering out of-home care or to reunify them with their families. Family Intervention Specialists work with both the children and their families to address issues impacting the stability of the home.
New Hanover County, Pitt County, Craven County, Martin County, and Nash County
Focus Area: Keeping Families Together
Parenting Path provides a home visiting program that delivers information, referrals, parental coaching, and case management services to families that have been screened out of DSS intervention in Forsyth County.
Forsyth County
Focus Area: Keeping Families Together
Thompson Child & Family Focus Services
This endeavor by Thompson embeds a team of clinicians specializing in Family Centered Treatment (FCT) into the healthcare system of Cumberland County, NC. FCT's home-based treatment reduces the need for costly and often ineffective out-of-home placement for families and youth in the foster care system.
Cumberland County
Focus Area: Keeping Families Together, Behavioral Health
Alexander Youth Network’s Therapeutic Foster Care Program for LGBTQ youth aims to recruit and train foster parents in Guilford County to provide LGBTQ youth in foster care with housing stability and resources to better cope with trauma and manage their mental health challenges.
Guilford County
Focus Area: Accessible Care
The Lumbee Tribe is increasing its recovery services for American Indians within the tribal territory, providing peer support, post-overdose emergency response, and a non-emergency hotline for information and resources.
Robeson County, Scotland Country, Hoke County
Focus Area: Behavioral Health, Accessible Care
Center for Child and Family Health
The trauma-informed training program by the Center for Child and Family Health provides training to mental health and child welfare providers and allied professionals throughout North Carolina, prioritizing counties with high numbers of children in the foster care system.
Mecklenburg County, Guilford County, Wake County, Durham County
Focus Area: Behavioral Health
Symmetry is a mobile health tool and platform by the Duke University Health System that standardizes opioid screening, prescribing and monitoring. The mobile app engages patients and their caregivers and helps address the complexities surrounding opioid treatment and misuse processes.
Statewide
Focus Area: Behavioral Health
UNC School of Medicine's Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) Group Visit project integrates primary care, behavioral health and group therapy into a combined program, enabling researchers to train more providers and launch additional MAT programs across North Carolina.
Statewide
Focus Area: Behavioral Health
Rowan Country Health Department
The Rowan County Health Department has developed a Post-Overdose Response Team to offer emergency medical care and coordinated support to address the opioid epidemic affecting high-risk communities.
Rowan County
Focus Area: Behavioral Health
National Center for the Advancement of Prevention
This partnership between the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) and Stanly County EMS will enable first responders to assist opioid overdose survivors in seeking Medication-Assisted Treatment beyond immediate resuscitation.
Stanly County
Focus Area: Behavioral Health
Together for Resilient Youth's Forward Together initiative supports programs, systems, states, territories and tribes with effective recovery services for children, young adults, adults, seniors, families and other populations with mental or substance use disorders.
Durham County, Vance County, Granville County, Edgecombe County, Yadkin County, Craven County
Focus Area: Behavioral Health
Thompson Child & Family Focus Services
This endeavor by Thompson embeds a team of clinicians specializing in Family Centered Treatment (FCT) into the healthcare system of Cumberland County, NC. FCT's home-based treatment reduces the need for costly and often ineffective out-of-home placement for families and youth in the foster care system.
Cumberland County
Focus Area: Keeping Families Together, Behavioral Health
ECU's NC-STeP program expansion aims to increase access to behavioral health care services for students at Elizabeth City State University. The project embeds psychiatric providers at ECSU's student health center in an effort to provide integrated care.
Northeastern NC
Focus Area: Behavioral Health
TROSA is an innovative, multi-year residential program that empowers people struggling with substance use by providing comprehensive treatment, vocational training, education and continuing care. TROSA’s program expansion improves access to services in Western NC.
Forsyth County, Guilford County
Focus Area: Behavioral Health
Through specially trained paraprofessional mentors, Reintegration Support Network is lessening the gaps in continuum of care in behavioral health treatment of youth ages 13 to 20 with challenges related to mental health, substance abuse, and involvement with the juvenile justice system.
Orange County, Chatham County, Durham County, Alamance County
Focus Area: Behavioral Health, Accessible Care
North Carolina Central University
North Carolina Central University’s community counseling clinic, through its Counselor Education Program, will enhance access to counseling services for Durham and surrounding communities. The clinic will also serve as a training site for counselor education students and a research site for faculty, which will teach the principles of wellness, multicultural counseling, and social justice.
Granville County, Durham County, Person County, Vance County
Focus Area: Behavioral Health, Accessible Care
Blue Cross NC Apprenticeship Program
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC) has launched an innovative employment solution designed to provide career opportunities (PDF) for youth aging out of the North Carolina foster care system. The selected young adults will have full-time employment in our Blue Cross NC Centers and receive a wide array of social, educational and financial support to help them successfully transition to adulthood.
Wake County
Focus Area: Whole-Person Care
The Open Table provides youth who are aging out of the foster care system with a network of support through relationship building among "tables" of volunteers. The Open Table model ensures that youth in foster care are equipped with the skills, knowledge and resources they need to start an independent life when they age out of the child welfare system.
Statewide
Focus Area: Whole-Person Care
Wake Tech's Fostering Bright Futures program assists young adults making the transition from foster care by eliminating barriers to their educational goals. The service has doubled in size and expanded its core services since 2019.
Wake County
Focus Area: Whole-Person Care
The YVLifeSet program by Youth Villages serves roughly 80 NC counties, providing evidence-based transition services to youth who have been or are currently in foster care, juvenile justice or behavioral health programs. Trained LifeSet specialists meet with program participants weekly to assist with securing safe housing, getting a job, continuing education, coping with past abuse and neglect, building healthy support systems, and developing life skills.
New Hanover County, Brunswick County, Columbus County, Onslow County, Pender County
Focus Area: Behavioral Health, Whole-Person Care
SaySo - Children's Home Society
SaySo's Housing Flex Fund helps youth transitioning out of foster care avoid homelessness by addressing barriers to obtaining housing, including helping youth in need with deposits, short-term or partial rental assistance, rental and utility arrears, and acquiring essential furniture.
Statewide
Focus Area: Whole-Person Care
Blue Cross NC and Healthy Blue won’t stop until health care is better for all, including the most vulnerable among us. We want to help build a system of care and well-being for youth and families across our state that delivers accountable care through localized support and accredited treatment. We know the value that home, family and community have on health and well-being. We see it every day, and we are committed to creating opportunities for every child and family across each of our communities to thrive.
Fran Gary
Senior Vice President, Core Insurance Group
As part of National Foster Care Month, Blue Cross NC's Healthy Blue Medicaid plan and Comfort Cases, an international non-profit dedicated to providing hope and dignity youth in foster care, teamed up to host a packing party.
Innovative program provides career opportunities, wraparound support for young adults transitioning out of North Carolina’s foster care system.
The website helps kinship caregivers explore their legal options, whether working with child welfare or caring for children outside the child welfare system
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina has awarded the Crosby Scholars Community Partnership $500,000 to pilot a five-year Foster Care Youth Initiative
LIFE Skills offers a variety of services including independent living skills classes, transitional and independent housing and mental health support.
Foster care advocates in North Carolina are working towards coordinated statewide care for children in need of mental health resources.
UNC Pembroke’s ASPIRE Program is providing homeless students mentorship, community, and support to keep them on the path to success.
Dr. Jacqueline McKnight shares her thoughts on the pressing issues facing youth in foster care.
A new statewide plan for youth in foster care and their families must include the entire child welfare population. From providing support services to biological families to reduce the need for placement, to post-placement support services for young adults up to age 26, the plan should meet the needs of both foster and biological families at every stage of care with an emphasis on continuity, even post-reunification.
Blue Cross NC draws from decades of experience working with North Carolina’s families to determine – and meet – their health care needs through family-centered, Medicaid managed care. With our Healthy Blue plan, families have access to a coordinated care team who can help design personalized health plans that address their specific needs at every stage of treatment, setting long-term goals and working toward the eventual re-unication of families.
By treating trauma and addressing behavioral health in an evidence-based, family-centered way, children can achieve optimal health and well-being.
Dana Marie Hagele, MD, MPH
Chief Medical Officer, Healthy Blue North Carolina
Collaborating with local DSS partners and our statewide provider network, the Healthy Blue team will focus on strengthening families, providing proactive interventions and enhanced crisis response with family-centered accountability.
Mark Washington
Executive Director, Healthy Blue North Carolina
Strong communities support strong families through whatever they're going through. Let's support North Carolina's most vulnerable youth and their families too!
Carmelita Coleman
Program Director, SaySo
An Alexander Youth Network therapeutic foster parent shares her experience caring for LGBTQ youth in foster care.
Every child should have a safe place to get outdoors and stay active. That’s why we help build play spaces for all kids to get the full emotional and physical benefits of outdoor play.
Gail Osborne is working to fix our foster care system, recruiting new foster and adoptive parents and providing assistance and training to existing families.
A new initiative aims to provide eligible youths with housing assistance as they age out of foster care.
Trent Taylor reflects on his foster care experience and his plans to assist other foster youths in making the transition to independent adulthood.
It’s about more than just health care. A statewide plan must provide comprehensive, whole-person care that addresses both physical and behavioral health needs for youth in foster care and their families, recognizing the complex trauma that many of these individuals battle each day. It needs to provide adequate crisis support that works locally but coordinates closely with providers across the state. And it needs to offer an accessible, holistic array of services based on trauma-informed and evidence-based treatment models.
Youth in foster care often have a history of adverse childhood experiences and complex trauma. The statewide plan should ensure that all youth have a trauma-informed comprehensive clinical assessment utilized across the system. This informs a culturally competent service plan that supports both child and family.
Therapeutic foster care helps ease the severe instability and challenges that threaten their well-being.
In placements or after family re-unification, it’s important that the plan creates stability that prevents re-traumatization for youth involved with the child welfare system. It’s not just about youth in foster care, but those who have been and those that might be vulnerable. The plan should include proven, community-based programs that strengthen families and reduce the need for foster care placement.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina has partnered with Open Table to develop a model program to help youth in foster care as they transition into life as independent adults.
Trent Taylor reflects on his foster care experience and his plans to assist other foster youths in making the transition to independent adulthood.
A statewide plan means that all available resources and programs will be accessible for youth in foster care and their families, no matter where in the state they live. We’re committed to eliminating barriers to care that all participants, regardless of background or geography, receive the comprehensive care they need to thrive.
The Flex Fund is working to provide assistance for youth who have aged out of the foster care system and need housing support.
UNC Pembroke’s ASPIRE Program is providing homeless students mentorship, community, and support to keep them on the path to success.
Dr. Stephen Friedhoff shares his experience on the importance of integrating behavioral health into primary care, making it easier for young patients to access.
Young adults can face significant hurdles when transitioning to independent living without the right resources. Healthy Blue is collaborating with SaySo and Open Table to provide supports to help young adults thrive.
East Duplin High School is putting the focus on youth mental health. The school’s “disconnectED” program gives students the opportunity to break down stigmas and connect with local resources.
The Foster Care Advisory Council is a valuable resource that helps ensure foster youth and their families receive the highest quality of coordinated, trauma-informed, family-centered care.
Chief Executive Officer, Alexander Youth Network
CEO, Thompson Child & Family Focus
Retired County Director (Pitt County)
Deputy County Director, DSS Child Welfare Division, Mecklenburg County
Chief Medical Officer, Health Blue North Carolina
Founder and CEO, Watch Me Rise
Executive Director of Council for Children’s Rights
Guardian ad Litem for the NC 2nd Judicial District
Former Vice Chancellor and Chief of Staff at Elizabeth City State University
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability in its health programs and activities. Learn more about our non-discrimination policy and no-cost services available to you.
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