As the 86th Texas Legislative Session winds down, we are excited to report that it has produced some important policy changes that will have a big impact for youth. TNOYS’ legislative agenda for this session addressed multiple issues, including increasing foster care reimbursement rates, strengthening the Preparation for Adult Living (PAL) program for youth transitioning… Read more »

This spring, TNOYS and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) co-hosted the training session “Building Alliances with Youth to Prevent Runaway and Other Challenging Behaviors” in three cities across Texas. Young adults with experience in the foster care system and youth currently in care helped present much of the material on how… Read more »

TNOYS and our partners Texas Homeless Network, and Texas Homeless Education Office have been hard at work moving the Safety Nets for Students and Families project forward, hosting dozens of training events and awarding over $600,000 in grant funding during the past school year. It is all part of an effort to support schools and community-based organizations… Read more »

Our Friends Place has been in operation in Dallas for just over 30 years, helping young women in its transitional living centers (TLC) learn the self-reliance and life skills they need to lead successful adult lives. Now, thanks to a new non-residential outreach and education program launched two years ago, the organization is bringing the… Read more »

The TNOYS Young Adult Leadership Council (YALC) has been making an impact since it began in 2018. Read more about its work so far here. These accomplishments would not have been possible without strong and dedicated members. Get to know a little more about YALC member Justin Hayward in this recent interview. Why did you… Read more »

The TNOYS Young Adult Leadership Council (YALC) has been making an impact since it began in 2018. Read more about its work so far here. These accomplishments would not have been possible without strong and dedicated members.Get to know a little more about YALC member Charles Batiste in this recent interview Why did you join… Read more »

TNOYS has a longstanding commitment to elevating youth voice and developing youth-adult alliances so that youth and young adults can have a say on the issues and decisions that impact their lives. TNOYS’ Young Adult Leadership Council (YALC), launched just last year, has already provided its members with dozens of opportunities to do just that.  … Read more »

Thanks to a grant from the Office of the Texas Governor, TNOYS is launching a collaborative new project this month with the Texas Center for Child and Family Studies (The Center) to reduce the risk of youth becoming victims of child sex trafficking (CST) and to facilitate recovery for survivors. Through the project, TNOYS will build… Read more »

For over 30 years, PEAKS Adventure Camp has provided an opportunity for teens in foster care to have a traditional camp experience, learning to overcome challenges and build partnerships with adults as they prepare to enter adulthood. This year, a last-minute budget shortfall threatened to keep TNOYS from hosting PEAKS Camp, but thanks to a… Read more »

In 2017, 1,700 youth in foster care in Texas ran away, and for many it wasn’t the first time they had done so. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) has launched an effort to better understand why youth run from care and how they can better support these youth to prevent them… Read more »