USA
A growing crisis in Virginia shows that an increasing number of people are aging out of the Foster Care system.
23-year-old Devin Hubert's grandparents put him into the foster care system as a young boy.
"My dad wasn't able to take care of me, because he wasn't where he should have been mentally, and then my mom was struggling with finances and really couldn't afford me at the time," Hubert said.
Patrick Henry Family Services moved him into a boys group home.
"It was hard at first, but then as you're around the boys more, you're like, 'OK, I'm around guys, this is going to be alright, because we're all struggling with similar things,'" he added.
Like others, he's endured some major losses.
"My grandfather and my mom have unfortunately passed away, but I know where they are," Hubert said.
Hubert aged out of the program when he was 18-years-old, he now shares an apartment in Lynchburg with another age out and he stays active at church. He also had a job and is now headed to college to pursue an IT career and coaches football.
Devin credits his smooth transition to Patrick Henry, where he still checks in from time to time.
"I hear back from them after they leave all the time, whether they've got a new job or they got a new place," said Brett Pettinger, a Step Forward counselor, with Patrick Henry Family Services. "So those are encouraging stories that I get to hear once they move on."
But, not all age-outs have a successful story to tell.
"The numbers of these folks that are homeless or couch surf after they age out of foster care is just a huge problem," Pettinger said.
State data shows Virginia has the lowest foster care rate in the nation with 2.5 of every 1,000 children in the system, yet the state has the highest percentage of youth who age out of foster care at 21-percent.
A national survey is even more staggering, showing 20-percent of the people who age out of foster care are homeless within two years, 25-percent are incarcerated, 42-percent drop out of school, and 71-percent of women are pregnant by the age of 21.
Many of those who age out don't have family or resources to help them.
"There's not as many programs as we need for this type of demographic to help them," Pettinger said.
19-year old Twanee Sabb knows the challenges all too well.
"We were living in a really bad situation, which someone ended up reporting to the Department of Social Services," she said.
Sabb said she and her two brothers were placed in foster care when she was three-years-old and she aged out in 2017, lost her medical insurance, and struggled to find a job.
"At first I was scared I wasn't going to have a home," she said. "I was scared I wasn't going to be able to continue to continue my education."
She now works at a daycare, is working toward a degree in early elementary education, and a church member is helping with tuition.
Her older brother said he's shared the same struggles and now her younger brother is about to age out.
All of this motivates her to become part of the solution, so she started the process of launching her own non-profit organization called Aged Out, which she said will help age out further their educations and find jobs and housing.
"Aged Out would basically be like a family for that person," she said. "I think it will let them know that there's someone out there willing to help you, and you don't have to do it by yourself."
Beyond the data and statistics, she says there's the potential for success.
"Foster kids could actually be something more, and they shouldn't be put into this category," Sabb said.
Sabb said she hopes others will join in the effort and decrease the number of age outs in Virginia and she plans to have her organization up and running in the fall.
27 February 2018
By Valencia Jones
