Sociology > Education > After aging out of foster care, over 50 percent of former fosteryouth are unemployed, 40 percent are homeless, and 20 percent will be incarcerated.
| Topic: |
Sociology > Education |
| User: |
"fx" |
| Date: |
08 Aug 2007 03:09:58 PM |
| Object: |
After aging out of foster care, over 50 percent of former fosteryouth are unemployed, 40 percent are homeless, and 20 percent will be incarcerated. |
Emancipated Foster Youth Face Stiff Challenges
Final Call, Q&A, Charlene Muhammad, Posted: Aug 08, 2007
http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=6bcb7659e053cdee1d6436ad8d6cd0fb
Editor's Note: A bill sponsored by California Assemblywoman Karen Bass
would have provided funding for the Transitional Housing for Foster
Youth Program. Many foster youth face homelessness, unemployment and
incarceration after they age out of the system.
Recent studies, according to Assembly Majority Leader Karen Bass,
indicate that in California, disturbing percentages of foster care youth
who graduate from the system at age 18 face increased homelessness,
unemployment and incarceration unless corrective measures are taken.
“Within two to four years after aging out of foster care, over 50
percent of former foster youth are unemployed, 40 percent are homeless,
and 20 percent will be incarcerated. If we do not take care of these
children as they exit the Foster Care System, this can result in their
future involvement in the prison system.
The average young person does not leave home and become fully
self-sufficient until age 26, yet at age 18 the state of California
expects foster youth to become entirely independent without any
assistance,” she wrote in a recent press release. For her part,
Assemblywoman Bass co-authored a bill (AB 845) to appropriate $10.5
million to the Department of Social Services to supplement funding for
the Transitional Housing for Foster Youth Program, which was rejected in
June by Senate Republicans. On July 19, the California State Assembly
authorized a 5 percent budget increase for foster care homes and group
homes, which was being debated in the Senate at Final Call press time.
Assemblywoman Bass, Chair of the Select Committee on Foster Care, spoke
to Final Call Staff Writer Charlene Muhammad about the bill’s status,
the plight of foster youth and reasons for the conditions awaiting them
upon emancipation.
FINAL CALL (FC): Given the bill’s rejection, what alternatives are there
for reducing the homelessness among foster youth?
Assemblywoman Karen Bass (KB): I am very hopeful that in spite of the
fact that they defeated the bill, that money for transitional housing
for foster youth will be put in the budget, which is in its final stages
right now.
FC: Can our communities develop programs that mimic what works for the
percentages of emancipated youth that fare well, and probe factors such
as whether certain conditions exist in some foster homes versus others?
Does the success vary by neighborhood or city— Compton or South Central
compared to West Los Angeles or Beverly Hills?
KB: One of the things is that the majority of foster youth in our city
are concentrated in South Los Angeles, but one of the fundamental
problems in the Foster Care System in California is that every county
has a slightly different system—58 counties and 58 ways to deliver
services. An example is that in some counties, there is a bigger
emphasis on placing young people with relatives; in others, a bigger
emphasis is on getting them adopted right away. In some cities the
number is not so high and they are able to provide better services. Los
Angeles has more youth in foster care than many states combined and we
have significantly reduced the number of youth in foster care. The
positive thing about having one system is that we can take all of the
best practices and make a state system. The negative is that every
county is different and we don’t necessarily want to dictate to them. I
would suggest that we’re too far in direction of letting everybody do
what they want to do.
FC: To what do you attribute the high rates of unemployment of
emancipated foster youth?
KB: First and foremost, the fact that a large percentage of foster youth
don’t graduate high school. Second, the way you find jobs is not so much
by looking in newspapers, but it’s through who you know; your network of
family members. Many have been displaced so many times that they don’t
have a network like most of us do. One young woman has been in foster
care since she was two and moved 66 times. That’s an extreme number, but
even if she moved half that, what kind of social network could she
possibly have?
FC: How could anyone have moved a child that many times?
KB: Foster youth are not allowed, as most children when they hit
adolescent years, to act out. Most children can be obnoxious; it’s part
of growing up. If they act out they just get kicked out. We don’t do
that to our children. We try to do everything we can to modify their
behavior.
FC: And the incarceration rate?
KB: It’s the same, especially for Black males. Many are in group homes,
and if you’re in a fist fight, the police are called. Young children in
the foster care system are not allowed the normal stages of development
that all of our children go through and you can imagine that many of
them grow up very angry. If you’re angry to begin with, you get into
situations where you wind up crossing over from the foster system to the
juvenile justice system.
FC: Do you believe that this crisis can be averted?
KB: Yes it can be averted. Some issues we need to look at are that the
number of youth in foster care exploded with the introduction of crack
cocaine. This was the first time during a drug epidemic where women used
the drug almost equal to men—in prior drug trends, that didn’t happen.
Twenty years into the crack epidemic, the number one reason today for
children being removed from the home is child neglect, not necessarily
child abuse. Any time one moves a child from the home, that child is
thoroughly traumatized.
The good news is that the foster care system has been studied to death.
Everybody knows what’s wrong; what’s needed, but unless we have a
groundswell of support; of people calling, faxing, emailing, and unless
we have political will from legislators, nothing will change. I believe
we have both of those things required to change this.
CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NSA / CIA
WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....
CPS Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.
every parent should read this .pdf from
connecticut dcf watch...
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com
Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS
*Perpetrators of Maltreatment*
Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13
Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12
Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5
CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING HUNDREDS OF INNOCENT
FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON...
BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...
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