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Former foster youth have more resources for assistance, but many unaware A week before Porche Harris turned 18, she was freed
from the foster care system that had been her guardian for four years.
Elated by her new freedom, she left San Antonio, Texas, and enrolled at
the University of Houston. Staggered by the burden of paying for
textbooks and rent, she took two full-time jobs. In most states, foster
youth are automatically discharged from the foster care system on their
18th birthday. More than 19,000 youths aged out of the foster system in
the fiscal year of 2001, according to the Adoption and Foster Care
Analysis and Reporting System. To try to tip the scales in favor of foster youth, state and independent programs have stepped in to offer support and scholarships ― and these have seen an increase in support. Programs affiliated with the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, a leading independent support program for older foster youths, have been getting increased local attention and funding through local businesses and United Way. The Orphan Foundation of America, which provides scholarships to former foster youth, was able to give out more than $250,000 in scholarships in the fiscal year 2002 ― more than four times the money it had to distribute in 1998. To students supporting themselves, the difference these scholarships can make is huge. Before Harris found out about an Orphan Foundation scholarship, she was working 80 hours a week to support herself while taking 18 credits at school. The scholarship let Harris, who had been in foster care since she was 14, drop one of her two jobs. "It was like a weight lifted off of my shoulders," Harris said. As more money goes into programs for foster youth, it also develops an expanded base of mentorship and non-monetary support. For example, local agencies working with the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative help teach foster youth money-management and job skills; The Orphan Foundation of America gives former foster youth internship opportunities and connects them with mentors to provide role models to youth who may never have had them. "We try to be real people to the kids, so they know we care for them," said Eileen McCaffrey, executive director of the Orphan Foundation. Beltran, who has been in and out of foster care since he was a toddler, said he feels the difference between himself and his classmates with families most acutely on holiday breaks. "At the end of the day everyone's car is packed and they're saying their goodbyes, and then they leave, and you're the last one left in the parking lot," Beltran said. But care efforts by the orphan foundation have given him a part of the joy his friends get from their families. Care packages sent by the Orphan Foundation ― which include homemade cookies ― are the only mail he gets besides credit card statements, Beltran said. "It really makes my week when I go and there's that little yellow slip that says, `You have a package,' " he said. Organizations like the Orphan Foundation can also step in when someone needs extra help. When Harris was injured in a car accident in 2002, foundation employees communicated with her school, took care of her rent while she was in the hospital, paid her co-payments through months of physical therapy and provided emotional support. "When you think of scholarship, you think of school, but this scholarship has helped my therapy, my apartment," Harris said. "(Foundation employees) let me know they were there for me no matter what happened." Efforts supporting foster youth are growing across the country, McCaffrey said. Former foster youth as well as and those with stable families are joining together to create programs for those without families, such as college tutoring programs. Now, some of the greatest unmet needs are those colleges and universities must address themselves, said Gary Stangler, executive director of the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative. For example, institutions cannot assume students have parents who can co-sign for an apartment and a home they can to go to if dorms are closed on school breaks. "Where do you go over Thanksgiving?" Stangler asked. "... Kids sleep in cars over break." Additionally, college financial aid officers need to learn the rules governing new scholarships and vouchers meant for foster youth, said Robin Nixon, director of the National Foster Care Coalition. It will be years before private and federal agencies have collected data on whether increasing resources are making an impact on the lives of foster youth. In the meantime, Stangler said the future looks bright for foster youth because people are more aware of their situation. "It's just something people don't think about on their own, but once confronted with it, people go yeah, you've got to have some supports between (ages) 18 and 25," Stangler said. "... We all just take those things for granted." But Beltran, who frequently speaks publicly about foster care issues as a representative to the Washington state legislature, said that he does not think any increases have yet been significant. "Most people just have no idea what's going on," he said.
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