Foster Youth - Prevention is Key to Helping Foster Children

In some ways it's easy to talk about the plight of foster children. Pull up foster child education statistics and photos, and you'll get some people's attention. Once awareness has been achieved, many caring adults will engage in thoughtful and thought provoking conversations. Some will ask why the status quo exists while others will propose ways to help foster youth have a better life once they age out of the foster care system.


Here is the recent foster care statistic that generated so much commentary.

Robert Callesen of The Car Lot commented:

"Thanks for the info, but what solutions are available?"

Nick Huntington, owner of Sweet Cakes Café, followed with:

"What is the solution. . .? Seems like this is an epidemic not only for Foster Children but for many children of varied backgrounds."

Barbara Loraine, Founder of Be Irresistible offered:

"Prevention is key... once kids have aged out, "working hard" isn't enough. They each need to be given training, a break and support along the way. What happens that they "can't keep a job more than one year?"

To understand the disastrous results that occur to foster youth once they age out, you first have to know what happens to these children while in foster care and leading up to the day these foster teens are forced out of the system.

As we wrote in our recent blog, "Foster Children - Not Finding a Foster Child's Relatives May Open a New Door," about half of the 400,000 U.S. foster children in the system this year will be returned to their parents or legal guardians. Thousands more will get adopted. Some foster teens will run away, and 24,000 foster youth will age out. Let's focus on those foster kids who will remain in the foster care system and will age out within the next few years.

We agree with the many comments we received including those of Terri Levine, marketing consultant, and Carly Fanguy of 57 Degrees that there needs to be a solid support system to help foster teens transition from being in the system to being on their own.


The largest federal program to help these children is Chafee. We highlighted this foster youth program recently. Foster children are taken through training to prepare them for being on their own. However, from the foster kid statistics, such as the one above, clearly this program has only limited success.

Educational programs have been established to help provide funding and scholarships for foster teens who want to go to college such as Just in Time. This San Diego-based organization is dedicated to helping these children get into universities. Actor and activist, Eva Longoria, has created a foundation that helps Latina get into college. It's unclear if this successful organization has a specific focus on helping Hispanic foster children who number close to 84,000 kids.

There are many community-based programs popping up around the country to help these children. In our blog, "Foster Children - Foster Kids Receive Support from Organizations," we highlighted the success of Epicenter that is helping California foster kids better transition into society once they age out. The organization was established ten years ago and has spread out into other communities in Northern California.


Ana Hawk of Instant Barter LLC had commented, "Prevention is the best cure. However, reality demands that new programs be put in place." Clearly you can see that new non-government programs have been created to help foster teens with their transition to independence.


Unfortunately, the majority of the preparation given to foster youth approaching age out appears to be coming from foster care agencies. Until more successful programs come on line and at a national level, it's probable that former foster kids will continue to suffer a dismal life.

As I wrote at the beginning, many people including Misty Morgan of Rental Matchmaker and Suzy Marmis Owen of Suzy Q Help wonder how they and others can help these children. Just as Barbara and Ana said, the best solution is prevention.

It's so important to repeat that foster children who are able to stay with a relative perform better at school. This higher level of performance means that these kids generally feel better about themselves. Their scholastic success helps them integrate with their peers. With family support, these foster teens graduate and more often go on to college or get vocational training. Armed with a solid educational background and family support, these kids can go on to live successful, productive lives.


One of the best and proven ways to help these children is for them to be placed with family. For this to happen, family members first have to be located and notified which is exactly what our organization does. Want to help foster children before they age out? Support our foster children efforts through a variety of ways.

If you decide to help another organization, more power to you. No matter which organization you support, you can make a lasting impact on the life of one or many foster youth. You don't have to wait for new programs and a reboot of existing government programs. All it takes to change the outcome for foster children from negative to positive is for you and those you know to step up and take action.

As Liz Harris of Liz Harris Realty said, "Let's lend a helping hand." What more needs to be said?

Regards,


  Richard

Richard Villasana
Find Families In Mexico
760-690-3995

PS. As Tony Robbins says, "Take immediate action." Leave a comment below and share this blog post with others.

Get a PDF copy of this blog about helping foster teens transition out of foster care.

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Foster Youth Savings Through Relative Placement Can Equal Millions

Since 2008, most state agencies have bemoaned their slashed budgets and the growing cost to maintain services. A case in point is the $7.2 billion bill to taxpayers for social services for foster teens who age out. This estimated cost is based on the 24,000 foster children who aged out in 2013 and the social services they will incur over their lifetime. However, millions in tax dollars could be saved while much more is done to help foster youth.

One financial impact area is the placement of foster children. Once a child comes into foster care, the clock starts ticking for the social services agency to locate family members. The hope is for "relative placement," having a foster child cared for by a relative. The alternative is "foster placement," where the child goes to live with non-relatives. The difference in cost for placement can result in millions of dollars in savings for a state.

California presently pays $820 a month to a foster placement parent while allocating only $351 a month to a relative placement such as a grandparent of the foster kid. The difference in payments is $469.

For now we'll overlook the numerous studies that highlight that foster youth do much better when living with a family member or the glaring disparity in payments. Instead let's focus on the potentially large savings.

When one takes this difference in foster care payments, in this case $469, and multiplies it by each foster child, the savings are huge. California had 81,174 foster kids as of 2009. If each child had been in relative placement compared to foster placement, California would have had an extra $38 million to spend on supporting the economy, benefiting businesses and improving foster care services.

These savings are based on a perfect scenario and can never be fully realized. However, it should be clear that for the benefit of foster youth, taxpayers and the state, foster care agencies must have a goal to find family members so that whenever possible, foster kids are placed with relatives. To help ensure that as many foster children as possible are in relative placement, agencies must do their utmost to search out family members including those who still live in Mexico.

There's no denying that every state budget and agency took a hard hit because of the recession. However, instead of looking back, foster care agencies need to look for solutions that will allow for more and better care of foster children while saving millions in taxpayer dollars. It's time for the public to demand more from foster care agencies; otherwise, they will continue to waste resources while leaving foster youth with dismal futures and taxpayers with billion dollar tabs.

Regards,


  Richard

Richard Villasana
Find Families In Mexico
760-690-3995

PS. Like and follow us on Facebook for more information about foster teens.

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Foster Children Impact San Diego Businesses

San Diego Business Owner

We all know that companies are in the business of making money. Without profits, a business won't last too long. With all the activities of marketing, sales and operations, it's easy for companies to overlook other costs that can and do impact their bottom line as well as opportunities to generate more sales and profits.

A commentary in San Diego's The Daily Transcript provides more shocking statistics about foster kids and touches on their financial impact on businesses. "On any given day, 3,500 children are living in foster care in San Diego County. Some children enter the foster care system and... never leave until they come of age."

The cost to support one foster child in California for the average stay of three years is $190,000. That's tax dollars at work including those of companies. The commentary hits on several costs that impact businesses, both in California and nationally.

"The cost of supporting foster children carries through into adulthood, which means increased social services. Unfortunately, crime is a byproduct of foster care, as is an uneducated workforce, due to the poor academic performance and dropout rate correlated with foster children."

By the way, that cost for increased social services has been estimated to be $300,000 over the lifetime of just one foster youth. Reports say that nationally 24,000 foster teens age out each year. Crunching the numbers taxpayers will pay a staggering $7.2 billion. Next year, 24,000 more foster kids will age out for another hit of $7.2 billion.

Let's put this amount into perspective.

2014 budget: $2.8 billion 2014 budget: $4.1 billion

The cost to communities and businesses for the 24,000 foster kids who aged out in 2013 is more than the 2014 budgets for both San Diego and Houston with a combined population of 3,272,122.

The commentary gives many suggestions as to how businesses can support children while in foster care and once they age out. However, one critical activity was omitted, that of supporting efforts to find family members of foster youths.

Several studies reveal that foster kids do better when they are connected with family members whether a grandparent, aunt or adult sibling. Many of these children can be reunited with a birth parent who was not responsible for the child being placed in foster care.

The solution to helping foster children is not to simply feel sadness or pity for them. Businesses can and should take an active role in helping these children. Not only will these kids benefit greatly by the effort, but savvy companies can promote their efforts to develop and increase goodwill with consumers in the community.

Business involvement can help reduce criminal activity committed by aged out foster youth. Otherwise, companies can lose financially by having to pay for expensive security products, systems and personnel, increased insurance rates and the direct cost of vandalism and theft.

Businesses could do much worse that to help foster children and create a win-win for everyone.

Regards,


  Richard

Richard Villasana
Find Families In Mexico
760-690-3995

PS. Like and follow us on Facebook for more information about foster teens.

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