The Mentoring and Oversight for Developing Independence with Foster Youth (MODIFY) program provides ongoing services and resources specifically to meet the education and training needs of eligible former foster youth of West Virginia interested in furthering their education. MODIFY also provides technical assistance to the Department of Human Services, foster care placement facilities, specialized foster care agencies, youth, foster parents and the community on the program and educational benefits available to eligible youth transitioning out of the foster care system.

MODIFY Spotlight

MODIFY client Shannon Ward graduated with a bachelor’s degree in social work from Concord University in May of 2024. She would like to one day work at the Department of Human Services as a Child Protective Service Worker and obtain her master’s degree in social work. Shannon’s dream is to become the woman that her younger self needed. Her advice to future foster youth wishing to pursue their education is to follow your dreams, never give up on yourself or settle for less, and always stay determined to complete any goal you set for yourself.

The MODIFY program has the following purposes:

1. To ensure that youth who are likely to remain in foster care until 18 years of age are provided education, training, financial support and other needed transitioning services.
2. To support and serve these former foster care recipients between 18 and 26 years of age to complement their own efforts toward self- sufficiency and to ensure that program participants recognize and accept their personal responsibility for preparing to make the transition from adolescence to adulthood.
3. To provide youth who exit foster care at age 18 or older with Educational and Training Vouchers for the purpose of attending a West Virginia post-secondary educational program. The funds may be used to cover the costs of attending a college, university, or some vocational training, including expenses related to a course of study such as tuition, books, dorm housing, computers, special clothing, transportation assistance and other related educational expenses (limited to up to $5,000 per school year).

MODIFY is being presented with financial assistance as a grant from the West Virginia Department of Human Services.