KINGSVILLE (April 8, 2025) — Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) will welcome foster liaisons and teams from three Texas A&M University (TAMU) System universities within the region for the South Texas Foster Care Summit on Thursday, April 10 at the Javelina Student Dining Room at 11 a.m.
The summit will feature representatives from TAMUK, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC), Texas A&M University International (TAMIU) and Texas A&M University-San Antonio (TAMU-SA) all of which participate in the Chancellor’s Foster Student Initiative.
Launched in 2018 by then-TAMU System Chancellor John Sharp and piloted by TAMUK and TAMU-CC, the initiative introduced the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services’ (DFPS)Supervised Independent Living (SIL) program to the department’s Region 11 where no SIL monies had yet been directed.
Since 2018 the A&M System’s SIL program has expanded to the TAMU main campus, Texas A&M University-Galveston, Prairie View A&M, Texas A&M University International, Texas A&M University-San Antonio, Tarleton State University and West Texas A&M. SIL programs are also in the offing at East Texas A&M and Texarkana.
The Initiative is the first, and only, partnership of a Texas public postsecondary system with the Texas DFPS. It is dedicated to students who Youth with Lived Experience in Foster Care (YLE) and allowed participating institutions to administer SIL services for eligible students who were in foster care and opted to stay or return to Extended Foster Care.
Most recently, the Chancellor’s Initiative grew to include the TAMU School of Law which received a Texas Access to Justice Foundation grant to provide greater access to legal and medical resources available to youth with lived experience in foster care (YLE) within the TAMU System and in a 7-county subregion of DFPS stretching from Tarrant County to Erath County. Plans are afoot for TAMUK’s Institute for Rural Mental Health Initiatives to join the Initiative as the project’s first healthcare participant.
This week’s Summit will consist of discussions, Q&A sessions and speaker presentations from the TAMU School of Law, the Texas Access to Justice Foundation Project, the DFPS, the TAMUK Institute for Rural Mental Health Initiatives, Education Reach for Texans and the WHIT Program.
The WHIT program — which was adopted by the TAMU-System shortly after the SIL partnership — is dedicated to helping children in foster care get up to speed with school with the help of volunteer university students. Volunteer students are trained by WHIT in tutoring, confidentiality and spotting abuse and neglect.
Currently, WHIT has recruited tutors at Texas A&M University-Central Texas, Texas A&M University-Texarkana, TAMU, and TAMU-SA, making the TAMU System WHIT’s largest participant since its award-winning inception in San Angelo.
Below is the Texas A&M Foster Care Summit agenda:
Javelina Student Dining Hall, Rm. 200
11:00 AM - Welcome and a Little History
Speakers: Provost James Palmer & David Halpern, Adjunct Professor, TAMU School of Law
11:15 AM - Samuel Molinar Sanchez
Speaker: Adjunct Professor, TAMU School of Law and Director of the Texas Access to Justice Foundation Grant Project
12:00 PM - Lunch Discussion, Q&A, and Remarks
Speaker: Todd Serpico, DFPS Administrator of Transitional Living Services & Education Reach for Texans, 2024-25 President
12:30 PM - Break
12:45 PM - Jennifer Lisson
Speaker: Founder and President, the WHIT Program introducing university students to tutoring K-12 YLE in the 3 Rs
1:15 PM - Dr. Renee Weiss
Speaker: Director of Student Counseling Services and Executive Director of the TAMUK Institute for Rural Mental Health Initiatives
1:45 PM - Kayli Lord
Speaker: Statewide Foster Care Coordinator, Education Reach for Texans
2:15 PM - Closing Comments and Goodbyes
2:30 PM - 1:1 Consultation Time for liaison teams with Sam, David, and Todd
