Imagine being in the foster care system for years and, suddenly, on your 18th birthday, you’re expected to fend for yourself. Get a job, find a place to live and make good of yourself. It’s a tall order for any 18-year-old, all the more so when you’ve suffered abuse or neglect or drug dependency has been part of your world.
The odds are stacked against this group. Based on research by Ohio Fostering Connections, a coalition that advocates for foster youth, by the time these teens reach age 21 more than 20% will experience homelessness, 71% of women will be pregnant, only 36% will be working either full or part time, and 36% will have been incarcerated. Nearly half will lack a high school degree or GED.
Worse yet, they’re especially vulnerable to human trafficking. The National Youth Foster Institute reports that 60% of all child sex trafficking victims have been in the child welfare system.
Provide these 18-year-olds with extended assistance, however, and good things happen. School enrollment and high school graduation/GED rates increase, and homelessness and incarceration rates decrease.
The Ohio General Assembly addressed the problem in 2016 by passing the Fostering Connections Act, which authorized the Department of Jobs and Family Services (ODJFS) to implement a new service program known as “Bridges.” Now, those who age out of foster care are eligible for continued services until age 21.
ODJFS contracted with the Child and Family Health Collaborative to administer Bridges state-wide. The goal is to help these teens live independently. Financial assistance for room and board is available, as is coaching from social workers who help their clients create and achieve educational and employment goals and teach critical thinking, financial management and self-care.
Marc Mecum oversees the Collaborative and emphasis that Bridges is not an extension of foster care. “These are young adults we’re guiding. There’s no hand holding here. We want to empower these people and give them the tools to be successful.”
MeCum says that only 25 other states provide extended services for foster care youths. Ohio’s is the only state with a program administered by a non-profit.
Too new to evaluate fully, shortcoming in the program are apparent, says Lisa Brooks of Sojouners Care Network, a non-profit serving southeastern Ohio as a Bridges provider. For one, eligibility criteria—be enrolled in school or employed for 80 hours a month or be medically exempted from either—is a hurdle for many. So too is the date of emancipation. A candidate must have emancipated from foster care at age 18; no matter how many housing transitions a teen may have had, if he left the system at 17, he’s ineligible.
In addition, the paperwork is tough. “The eligibility documentation is detail-driven and difficult to obtain.” says Brooks. “It’s hardly an easy process.”
Adding to the problem is that foster care youth don’t get adequate life-skills training.
While always mandated, “there has been inconsistency in the state in how it’s administered,” says Marcus Games, Sojouners’ co-executive director. “Some counties were good; others not so good.”
The problem has been remedied in part by the new Comprehensive Case Management and Employment Program, which is funded with federal dollars and administered by ODJFS. CCMEP brings together teachers, case workers and other specialists to help prepare foster youth 14 years and older for the work force. “Finally,” said Games, “we’re seeing a coordinated effort in the state.”
The challenges these young adults face is largely based, according to Games, “on the absence of permanent relationships in their lives—sources of support they can fall back on.” Without the stability that comes from permanent relationships, these young adults are adrift, trying to make do with systems provided by the state.
Ohio is making headway, but it’s still a scary proposition for an 18-year-old who ages out of the system.
[This post was published in the Columbus Dispatch on April 23, 2018.]
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Jack ‘Aurora writes for Considerthisbyjd.com
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Also published on Medium.
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