Imagine that because you've been abused or neglected as a child, you've spent the first 21 years of your life separated from your biological family, bouncing from one foster home to another and changing schools every few years. At 21-years-old, you have never paid rent, bought your own groceries or managed your own expenses.
With an education that's spotty at best, and no family or other support systems in place, you're told that you're now an adult and responsible for functioning in the world on your own. Would you be able to do it?
That is precisely the situation facing many young adults who age out of our child welfare system. And while outgoing ACS Commissioner Mattingly did a tremendous job on many fronts, he would probably agree that the "aging out" population is one that still requires urgent attention. As new Commissioner Richter takes over the agency, this would be an excellent time to take a fresh look at how we serve - or fail - these young people.
While local statistics are hard to come by for a population no longer under the city's care, nationally, one in four of the 20,000 foster care youth who age out of the child welfare system each year are incarcerated within two years; one in five become homeless, only half graduate from high school. With more than 900 young people aging out in New York each year, these numbers reflect a real problem.
Under the current system, when young people in foster care turn 21, they have the rug pulled out from under them. They must sink or swim. But if they sink, we all pay a price. Unable to manage on their own, with none of the support systems in place that we all take for granted, all too often, they end up homeless, or turn to drugs and crime - all of which take a toll on government budgets and the quality of life in our communities.
Because of their life experiences some kids need more support than others - and they may need it for longer. A 21-year-old who has lived most of his life in either the child welfare system or a dysfunctional family setting is not at the same level emotionally or cognitively as other 21-year-olds. And as every parent knows, you can't set an arbitrary schedule for maturity.
As nervous as we may be to send our own children away to college, for example, we recognize that we could not have gotten them more ready simply by training them better or earlier. Most of the kids we're talking about are not going away to college; they may not have graduated high school. There are no teachers or mentors or parents they can call when run out of money or get into trouble. They're on their own and, for many of them, 21 is simply not old enough. And no amount of training or better programming by the child welfare system could have hastened their readiness. Because of their many pressing needs and challenges, they have not been the beneficiaries of structured or guided exposure to life experiences that naturally facilitates the maturation process.
What's the solution? First, we need more and better programs to prepare these kids for life on their own. Once they are on their own, they are likely to still need help with housing, jobs and enrolling in some form of academic or vocational higher education. They may also need social work or mental health assistance to deal with issues like parents coming out of prison or siblings with drug problems. For those kids, providing this kind of support until age 23 could mean the difference between a productive life and a life in the corrections system or a homeless shelter. These age appropriate programs that work beyond the system are a very good investment indeed.
At the same time, we need to make it clear that this support for young adults is temporary, and that the recipient must ultimately bear responsibility for his or her own success. These young people must stay enrolled in school and hold a job, even if part time. There must be high expectations, no free rides, and a path toward independence in a relatively short term.
For Hispanic youngsters today, we're seeing particular challenges, at least partly due to changing immigration trends. Many young immigrants, coming here from a variety of countries, do not have the generational, family and community support that has existed for previous immigrant groups. Whatever extended family they may have to fall back on may already be stretched thin. Combine lack of family with language barrier and overall cultural differences, and that child is at even greater risk.
Critics may argue that at some point we need to stop supporting these kids and cut them loose, and that 21 seems like a logical age. After all, we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on each of these kids up until that point - When is enough enough? If release from the child welfare system is no more than a path toward a homeless shelter or a jail cell, what have we accomplished? If by creating short term programs to teach the necessary skills prior to turning 21 and by providing some additional support for a limited period of time afterwards, we can put that young adult on the path to a successful productive life. Isn't that worth it?
Rep. Lloyd Doggett: The Death of Even One Child Due to Abuse and Neglect Is Too Many
Thank you!
But all of this presuposes the Business and greedy Stock Traders get on board with the betterment of mankind and not accumulation of wealth and cash
We both would have fun dong that. The worker is TAPPED OUT.
I think not. Truely Motivation is a missing link just like how to study in our over spent Education system.
But rushing student into work is a longer life UNDER the YOKE to me.
I prefer letting the student HAVE FREE CHOICE to work when they are young and go to school when they are ready and motivated. Or have work be part of ecuation too.
In the mean time Education is like the MIC to me. Paying teacher to create their own wealth. Just like retired Military and Energy industries.
"For each child removed from an abusive home, SEVENTEEN are stolen for no good reason at all".
Then comes the character assassination done on the accused parents by the cps "investigator" (validator), where the accusation is the proof, "evidence" is created from the thin air, and EVERYBODY but the accused has immunity, even when caught bald faced lying.
Parents are held responsible for "Thought Crimes"- of the CPS agent. Whatever the CPS agent IMAGINES becomes a FACT when written up in her report. The colluding mental illness clinicians write reports that have no relationship to whatever "test" the accused might have taken.
This soap opera ends up in Family Court, which is neither Criminal court, nor is it Civil court. (See http://exm.nr/hfjvl9 ) Here, the accused enjoy none of his Constitutional Rights, nor Due Process.
The accused end up bankrupt, homeless, unemployed, and unemployable due to being put on the state Abuser List.
The children have NO FAMILY left.
The "state as parent" (parens patriae) has been a 100% failure- because bureaucracy isn't good at anything.
This is "The System" that lives in four year authorizations by Congress. Various pieces come up for "renewal" every year, and much as we try to get this Monster defunded, the Ultimate Pork Barrel Project passes with no resistance.
Leonard Henderson, co-founder
American Family Rights Association
http://familyrights.us
"Until Every Child Comes Home"©
"The Voice of America's Families"©
Mr. Baccaglini hides the failure of his and the other private agencies, of course, by stereotyping every parent who loses a child to foster care as having abused or neglected that child, with all of the horrors those words conjure. Far more common are cases in which family poverty is confused with “neglect” or in which an ACS caseworker tore apart a family just because she was terrified (for good reason) of what would happen to her if she left the child at home and something went wrong.
The only way we’ll ever really solve the problems of children “aging out” of foster care is by stopping so many from ever aging in. Yet, Mr. Baccaglini doesn’t mention the 50 percent surge in removals of children after the death of Nixzmary Brown, which only further overloaded the system, leaving less time to find children in real danger. There is much more about this on our Child Welfare Blog here: http://bit.ly/nBDNYU
Richard Wexler
Executive Director
National Coalition for Child Protection Reform
www.nccpr.org
In New York City, almost everything that happens to a child after he is removed from her or his parents is controlled by the private agency to whom that child is assigned. Though their power has, thankfully, waned somewhat in the last 20 years, these agencies still are the “permanent government” of New York City child welfare, to use the late Jack Newfield’s wonderful phrase. They are well-connected to the city’s business, civic, political and religious elite and, typically, they are paid for each day they hold a child in foster care. None of these agencies is more powerful than New York Foundling.
Yet now, having admitted the extent to which his agency and others have loused up the lives of the children who were their responsibility, the only solution Mr. Baccaglini can come up with is: Give us more money to try to fix what we did so much to break in the first place.
Richard Wexler
Executive Director
National Coalition for Child Protection Reform
www.nccpr.org
Back to your article and argument: The 'graduation' age in California was eighteen last time I checked and is seventeen in Texas. I had it on good authority that most foster kids who 'graduated' in LA County who had not been adopted by a family were dead within two years. As you said, they do not have the life or job skills to support themselves, especially in an America that has exported most of its semi-skilled jobs, and usually have unresolved serious emotional and mental issues. The situation is worse, if anything, in Texas, where the youth 'graduating' at 17 are largely at sea intellectually and emotionally. Most of the boys end up in prison. If you haven't read 'Texas Tough' about the Texas criminal justice system and its historic focus on punishing minority behavior I commend it to your attention. If you are interested in the systems in California or Texas please contact me at jon@eddison.us and I will be happy to put you in touch with people working with this population every day. It is only one of many ongoing national tragedies.