![]() ![]() Hart is concerned because the first day Mendoza was on his own, in his new apartment, he didn't come to school. ![]() "You've been in the hot seat before, so let's start by getting an update on your progress." "All right, so Josh, you know we do this once a month," says Sarah Hart, the program coordinator. ![]() Two weeks after his 18th birthday, Josh Mendoza meets his advisers at a GED program for those aging out of care. "I would argue that we have no business taking them into care and then keeping them until they're in the transition to adulthood, unless we're going to try to do a good job of that." "Those children are our children, the children of society, of the state," says Courtney. Almost a quarter were homeless at some point after leaving foster care. Nearly 60 percent of the males have been convicted of a crime. More than two-thirds of the young women have children. In fact, by age 24, only 6 percent have two- or four-year degrees. They're much less likely to have finished high school, less likely to be enrolled in college or have a college degree." "Many of them are faring poorly," says Courtney. Over the past eight years, Courtney and colleagues from Chapin Hall have been following the progress of more than 600 former foster kids. Mark Courtney is with Partners for Our Children, a policy center at the University of Washington. The new study - from Chapin Hall, a policy research center at the University of Chicago - finds that those who age out of foster care are not exactly falling off a cliff, but they are desperately clinging to the edge. "We need to offer something for these young people other than, 'Here's Option A: Fall off the cliff,' " she says. Zambito says things have come a long way since 10 years ago, when some foster kids here turned 18, put their belongings in a plastic bag and were taken to the nearest homeless shelter because they had nowhere else to go. "We go from 'you're in foster care, where you may handle $10 a month' to 'you're responsible for everything.' " "We have an abrupt cutoff, like most states," says Diane Zambito, who runs Connected by 25, a Tampa nonprofit that is trying to smooth the transition for former foster care youth. Uneducated - Only 6 percent had a 2- or 4-year degree. Pregnant - More than 75 percent of young women had been pregnant since leaving foster care.Ĭonvicted of a crime - Nearly 60 percent of young men had been convicted of a crime, and more than 80 percent had been arrested. Homeless - Almost 25 percent had been homeless since exiting foster care. Unemployed - Less than half were employed. The report finds that at age 23 and 24, former foster youth are more likely than their peers to be: And that was his first night."įor eight years, researchers have followed about 600 young adults who aged out of the child welfare systems in Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois. "And then after that, Josh and I, we pretty much just cleaned the apartment up, wiped down the counters, wiped down the cabinets and set up his house. "The day he turned 18, we went to pick up his check, went grocery shopping, went over a list of what he needs, what his budgets are," says Reschke, who also helped Mendoza pick up some donated furniture and supplies. He helped Mendoza find his apartment, sign the lease and move in. Nick Reschke is Mendoza's transition specialist, a kind of big brother/parent provided to foster youth in the Tampa area. "With the burgers, it kind of got burnt."īut unlike many foster care teens, Mendoza has been getting some help. "Yesterday, I was trying to cook, but I don't think it turned out too good," Mendoza says. The bottom is covered with congealed fat. He looks at a frying pan on top of his new stove. His only cooking experience in foster care was heating soup in the microwave. It's kind of lonely and a challenge, he says. Living on your own is a little weird, says Mendoza.
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