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As part of the New York State Child Welfare Training Institute, the Adolescent Services Training Program provides training and technical assistance to 17 local districts and agencies with contracts to provide independent living services and self-sufficiency training to foster care adolescents in Western New York. Regions I and II Adolescent Services staff serve the following counties in Western New York: Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Ontario, Orleans, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Wayne, Wyoming, and Yates.

This train-the-trainer program provides life-skills training, curriculum development assistance, as well as an array of training resources for staff, foster parent, and youth training. With experience in newsletter production, staff development training, foster parent training (especially with regard to issues pertaining to foster parents of adolescents), and conference planning, Adolescent Services Training Program staff also present an array of training programs that include 2- and 3-hour foster parent and staff trainings, as well as multiple-day training offerings for the NYS Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS) Bureau of Training.

Training and technical assistance are offered in our Buffalo and Rochester offices and are also available on-site at agency and local district offices throughout the counties served. Based on new developments in youth services throughout New York State, the CDHS Adolescent Services Training Program staff also develops new training topics as requested by agency staff and foster parents.

Since 2003, Adolescent Services staff have assisted New York State Office of Children and Family Services in the development of the statewide foster care youth leadership group, Youth in Progress (YIP).  Regional groups meet monthly to provide feedback to NYS OCFS on issues related to foster care and adolescent services, assist in planning our annual Youth Speakout, and conduct workshops on a variety of topics.  For more information, consult the YIP website, www.youthinprogress.org.