Unite to Support Young Adults Transitioning from Foster Care
Imagine you are eighteen years old, and just graduated from high school, the day you both looked forward to and dreaded. Because you live in foster care you “age out,” time to live on your own. Your foster caregivers no longer receive county funding; they may want to maintain a relationship with you but cannot afford to financially support you. What will you do? Have you lined up a place to live, transportation, and housing? Can you get a job, even if it is low paying? Is college or a trade school possible?
Aging Out
Approximately 24,000 young people in the United States “age out” of the foster care system annually. In some states eighteen is a hard limit, other states allow these young people to stay in foster care until they are out of high school. What happens to those young people when they no longer have a stable home?
Unfortunately, the odds for a person aging out of the system are against them. The reports of young people leaving foster care are dire. The National Foster Youth Institute reports what happens when they leave foster care:
- Twenty percent become instantly homeless
- 50 percent will have gainful employment by age 24
- Less than three percent will earn a college degree at some point in their life
- Seven out of ten girls will become pregnant before the age of 21
- Twenty-five percent will suffer from the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome
Government Assistance
The good news is there are federal and state programs assisting kids aging out of foster care. Here are two:
Chafee Program
The John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It provides funding through the states to support young adults in foster care as they transition to adulthood. Services include education, employment, fiscal management, housing, emotional support, and connections to caring adults.
Medicaid
The Support Act requires state Medicaid programs to cover former foster youth up to age twenty-six if they were in foster care at age eighteen and enrolled in Medicaid at the time.
Extended foster care
Certain states also provide special legislation targeted to young adults aging out of the foster care system. For example, my home state of Minnesota allows young people to stay in foster care until their 21st birthday under prescribed circumstances.
Federal and state programs are a big plus to young people leaving foster care. But are they working? The statistics suggest not enough young people know how to tap into these benefits. I can attest to how difficult the applications are for government benefits. There must be processes in place to ensure these programs are known and accessible.
What Else Can We Do?
Do you know a foster care child aging out? A family at work, in your faith community, or in your neighborhood have foster kids who are close to completing high school. How can we support these young people?
- Give them graduation gifts to help with a transition such as setting up their first home
- Become a mentor
- Educate them about the benefits outlined above
- Help them explore post-high school educational options
- If you have an extra room offer low-cost housing
- Could you donate a vehicle, or transportation passes like transit cards or contribute to a rideshare fund?
- See if they have a place to spend the holidays
If your heart is stirred, and you do not know an older kid in foster care, check with the local county. You may be able to get involved in person or help anonymously. There are also non-profits around the country designed to help these young people; I am certain they could use financial or volunteer support.
Conclusion
Think about what the best-case scenario could be for a young person aging out of foster care. He or she enrolls in a post-secondary education program, they have health insurance and food support. A family rents them a room on a bus line so they can get to school or work. There is community support to help the young person transition successfully into adulthood.
In this article, and the two previous ones, I hope to inform and inspire people to reach out to these youth in need. Are you able to help? Do you take this need seriously? Let us all work together to help these forgotten youth become the next scientist, restaurant owner, or computer programmer, making our world a better place.
Nancy R Poland, Grace’s Message
With grace and hope, Nancy Poland provides written and spoken communication on caregiving, loss, and other valuable topics. She owns what she calls a “micro-business” named “Grace’s Message,” however she has many years of experience in the business world.
In December 2022, Nancy retired from NMDP (previously National Marrow Donor Program/Be The Match) after nearly 28 years of employment. She most recently worked as a Contracts and Compliance Manager and spent over 18 years in management as a people-leader. Nancy has a Bachelor of Arts in social work and a Master of Arts in Health and Human Services Administration. She has authored two books on caregiving, issues a quarterly newsletter, and offers both in-person and virtual presentations.
A life-long resident of the Twin Cities in Minnesota, Nancy and her husband John raised two sons and continue to contribute to their communities, travel, and work on solving British detective shows.
As a working caregiver, Nancy encountered dilemmas such as the following, with no good choices.
- The phone rings, an ambulance is bringing her mom to the hospital (again). Does Nancy stay at work for the rest of the training session, or should she race to meet the ambulance and mom at the hospital?
- Dad is in the care home, in the later stages of dementia. The only day they schedule monthly family conferences is Thursday, no later than 2:30. Should Nancy take a half day off work, leave work and come back, or dial in, and miss out on a face-to-face conversation.
Working caregivers struggle with job obligations, caring for their loved one, and often other family responsibilities. The one they are caring for may be a child with special needs, an aging relative, or an unexpectedly injured spouse. None of us know when we will be called upon to care for another, and trying to balance each facet of life can be a recipe for disaster. When a caregiver has a crisis, it affects not only the ones involved, but also the company.
Studies show caregivers often have increased absenteeism or reduced performance while at work. They often need to cut down work hours or quit. As this is especially true for caregivers of older adults with significant care needs, for this talk I will focus on ways companies and caregivers can partner together to address the ever-increasing needs of caregivers for our aging population.
Website: https://nancyrpoland.com
Connect with Nancy Poland on social media:
Twitter (now X): https://twitter.com/nancypoland
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nancyrpoland
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancy-poland-a4632632/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nancypoland/
