Photo credit: Joseph Schell/Special to The SF Examiner

“Timajae Evans spent his teenage years in foster care, moving from one group home to another. When he aged out of the system at 19, he had to grow up fast.

‘It kind of threw me off for the first month,’ Evans said, recalling the sudden responsibility of having to pay his own bills and shop for his own groceries. Evans, now 20, lives by himself in a Daly City apartment. He is taking general studies courses at City College of San Francisco and hopes to become an auto mechanic.

But while he said he was thriving on his own, he was happy to hear about a new law that will let current foster children stay in the system until they turn 21…”

Source: Amy Crawford, San Francisco Examiner, January 8, 2012

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“They [foster youth "aging out" at 18 years old] will finally benefit from the type of financial and social support that most of their peers receive from their families during young adulthood…

However, to ensure that the funds behind the new law are leveraged to their full potential, more needs to be done to figure out what types of assistance work best for which types of youth…” Read full article here.

Source: Thomas Byrne, Dennis Culhane and Stephen Metraux, Los Angeles Times, January 2, 2011

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The Y.O.U.T.H. Training Project seeks 10 new Y.O.U.T.H. training consultants. Consultants will assist with delivering trainings to social workers throughout California on the needs of transitioning foster youth and positive youth development principles. These trainings focus on how to better serve the needs of Transition-Aged.

The Y.O.U.T.H. Training Project is a youth development program, which works with current and former foster youth ages 16-24. The Project trains youth in facilitation skills and curriculum development, preparing them to develop and deliver trainings to child welfare professionals and the greater community.

These are contracted on-call positions for current and former foster youth between the ages of 16 and 24. The APPLICATION is due January 10, 2012.

Source: Y.O.U.T.H. Training Project, January 3, 2011

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Starting January 1, 2012, youth are allowed to remain in care after 18, enabling them to maintain a support system. That includes assistance in being better prepared for education and employment training opportunities, as well as developing and maintaining important relationships with caring adults.

Join the After 18 campaign to spread the word about the new choices available to youth, and how a community of support will be by their sides to ensure better futures.

Recognizing that 18 was too young for most youth to be without support, a bill was signed into law in 2010 giving eligible foster youth in California the option to remain in foster care and receive services and supports until age 20. The bill is called the California Fostering Connections to Success Act, and may also be known as Assembly Bill 12 (AB 12)

Source: After 18 California, January 2, 2011

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“California is home to more than 55,000 foster kids – the largest population in the country. And, the one place in the state where most of those kids come together is in public school. Jetaine Hart, a former foster youth and current educational mentor in Alameda County, argues that’s where we should be putting resources to help foster kids – kids who often shuffle from school to school and have unstable home lives…”

Read full article here.

Source: Holly Kernan, KALW Crosscurrents, November 29, 2011

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“I just started to not really care about high school because I figured I’m just going to move anyway — why does it matter?” said Sommer, who was told it would take an extra year and a half to graduate to make up for credits he lost changing schools.

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“In what is widely seen a as major step forward in improving education for foster care children in America, an amendment to the No Child Left Behind education bill passed in a 15-7 vote by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee last week.

The amendment, which was offered by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), requires school districts to assist foster children in staying in their home school despite being placed in foster families outside that district when it is in their best interest…”

Source: Andrea Poe, Washington Times, October 25, 2011

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“So, what’s the typical outcome for those foster youth transitioning from adolescence to independent adulthood?

The data is horrific — 40 percent of persons living in homeless shelters are former foster children; 14 percent of youth reported being homeless at least once since leaving foster care; and 65 percent exit foster care without a place to live.

In addition to the threat of homelessness, more often they suffer from mental health and substance abuse problems and become involved in the adult prison system — 70 percent of San Quentin inmates grew up in foster care…”

Read full article here.

Source: Andre V. Chapman, San Jose Mercury News, October 18, 2011

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“Child advocate Gary Stangler is the executive director of the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative. He’s hoping to use research about the incomplete brain development of 18-year-olds to extend services for foster children up to age 21. He and guest host Tony Cox discuss how the emerging science about brain development may affect foster care.

Also joining the conversation is Sixto Cancel, a college student who’s been in and out of foster care since he was 11 months old…”

Source: NPR, October 11, 2011

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Photo credit: Lea Suzuki, the Chronicle

“The onset of the new school year in San Francisco comes with a new and relatively affordable attempt to help improve education for children entangled in the state’s troubled foster care system.

The San Francisco Unified School District is the latest in California to participate in Foster Focus, a Web-based service that allows school officials and social workers to track and share crucial records that often fail to follow foster children as they transfer to new schools…”

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