A difficult path. Here’s what some say is needed to help those aging out of foster care.
Jessica Cawthorn’s father died by suicide when she was 3 years old. When Cawthorn was 10, she found her mother dead one Sunday morning. Her mother had suffered from heart disease.
Cawthorn and her siblings went to stay with extended family. When Cawthorn was 12, she and her siblings were placed in a children’s home run by a private agency. Two years later, she was formally placed into the state’s foster care system.
“Generally, I would say foster care is unstable,” Cawthorn, now 33, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “Especially when you are an older child or teenager, you don’t have that permanency.”
She lived in temporary foster placements, shelters and group homes as a teenager. An adoption fell through, leading her to age out of the foster care system in 2006 at age 18. Before she left foster care she had to begin the process of being an adult. She quit high school extracurricular activities to work and save for her future.
“I remember that being hard,” she said. “I struggled with that idea back then. ‘But why? Why do I have to give up one more thing? Why does life have to be so hard? Why do I have to be the one that sacrifices things?’”
Over 23,000 children age out of foster care each year in the U.S., and 20% will become instantly homeless, according to the National Foster Youth Institute. There were 8,523 children who were 14 years and older in Texas’ foster care system in 2018, according to the Anne E. Casey Foundation. Many will have to tackle the transition of adulthood on their own.
In addition to homelessness, youth aging out of foster care are less likely to graduate college, more likely to be on government assistance and are at-risk for human trafficking, entering the criminal legal system, having a substance use disorder and being unemployed.
Advocates say more needs to be done to help foster youth have an easier transition into adulthood, including more funding for services, mentorships and better access to benefits for foster youth such as health services, college funding and more.
Nick Little, transitions program manager at ACH Child and Family Services, said many people only think of young children being in the foster care system and don’t typically think of older youth. ACH Child and Family Services provides adoption and foster care programs to residents in Tarrant County and surrounding areas.
“It is really important that we look at them as individuals and know that they need help,” Little said.
Legal help and access to benefits
Cawthorn said she didn’t have a candid conversation with anyone about what life would look like for her when she left foster care. She felt unprepared for such things as paying her own bills and getting health insurance.
She was homeless for a time and slept on the couches of friends and coworkers while she worked as a waitress.
“I didn’t think I realized how hard it was going to be,” she said.
The state of Texas started its Preparation for Adult Living program in 1986 to address such needs. It targets youth between the ages of 16 and 18 who are in the foster care system. Youth learn skills they may need when they are independent. The program provides services, which are optional, such as driver education, GED classes and counseling.
Cawthorn took the classes years before she hit 18, which affected her ability to put them to use.
Texas has programs that help youth in the foster care system seek higher education, employment and other services. However, experts say some youth don’t get the help they need because they don’t understand their rights or know about the services for which they qualify.
Mary Christine Reed, director for the Texas Foster Youth Justice Project, said leaving the foster care system can be complicated for many. The organization, which started in 2007, provides help to youth and adults on several issues, including obtaining identification, name changes, criminal legal help, accessing benefits, and connecting with siblings.
Reed said there is a state law that requires foster youth to have access to their identification documents: ID, birth certificate and social security card. Even so, Reed and other attorneys have many clients having issues gaining access to such documents.
Cawthorn wasn’t able to receive a driver’s license, birth certificate and social security card until after she left foster care.
“Not only is it inconvenient, those young adults cannot get employment,” Reed said. “They cannot get apartments, they cannot access public benefits. Their life is just on hold.”
The organization also helps clients gain access to their child protective services records, which can help them understand what happened to their family, why they were separated and their medical history.
Reed said some clients have trouble finding stable housing and maintaining a phone number.
Finding independence
Leeroy Trevino, 23, entered foster care with his younger brother at the age of 14. Trevino said his mother made mistakes that led to them being placed in the foster care system.
“It was a sudden change,” he said. “We wanted to be with our family and then coming into a system where we didn’t know what was going to happen.”
Trevino and his brother were placed together in a foster care home. He said his foster mom made the transition easier for him and his brother.
“She made sure to not make us feel like we were outsiders,” Trevino said. “She tried to do the best that she could to make us feel like we were one of hers and not foster kids.”
When Trevino was a sophomore in high school, his brother went to live with family members. The younger brother was placed back into foster care after six months, but did not rejoin Trevino.
As Trevino became older, he met with caseworkers who explained the benefits he could receive after aging out of foster care and what he needed to be able to live on his own. He decided to stay in extended foster care, which allows young adults to stay in their placement and receive guidance after they turn 18.
Trevino attended Tarrant County College after graduating high school, but he dropped out. He realized he no longer wanted to be in his foster placement. His caseworker introduced him to the Life Project program at ACH Child and Family Services.
“It was kind of scary going from having a home with brothers to being on my own, but I think I knew this is what I needed. I just ran with it,” Trevino said. “I was able to get myself to understand that I was capable of being independent, and, once I realized that, I loved it.”
The Life Project provides support to teenagers and young adults through case management, counseling, financial and housing assistance, and life skills classes. The project’s goal is to help youth transition more smoothly into adulthood. The Project served 195 youth from 2016 to 2020 in Tarrant County and surrounding areas.
Edna Foster, transitions clinical case manager for ACH, said the Life Project works to provide stability and consistency to the youth and helps them understand what a healthy relationship can look like and how to handle challenges as an adult.
Trevino stayed in an independent living home directed by the Life Project and learned skills, such as building credit and budgeting.
“I did everything in my power to do the things I needed to do,” Trevino said. “I started working and started to try to discipline myself to be an adult.”
Seeking an education
Kwi Cha Myers, 21, aged out of foster care after entering the system at 16. She ran away from home a few times and went into foster care after being found by the police. Myers said her father did not pick her up from the juvenile detention center.
Myers said she was lucky. Her caseworker was determined to find her a placement where she would feel comfortable. She was placed into a group home overseen by ACH Child and Family Services. The group home made sure youth attended their Preparation for Adult Living classes.
Myers graduated from high school before entering foster care, which allowed her to work and save money. She was able to live in an apartment and own a car after leaving foster care.
“I realized that I did not know everything,” Myers said. “That was a really big shock.”
She made several mistakes, including picking the wrong friends.
“At first, it was, honestly, really hard because there’s not a support system,” Myers said. “You’re an adult and you don’t know what you’re doing.”
She was able to earn her associate’s degree and is working toward her bachelor’s.
Cawthorn, who entered foster care after he mother died, said she and her brother experienced problems when trying to complete college. For instance, they didn’t know dorms would close after each semester, and they had no place to go after their first semester. This led Cawthorn to drop out of community college.
“I didn’t realize when walking out that door, I became instantly homeless,” Cawthorn said.
Cawthorn, now married and with a son who was adopted, said she still has to explain to employers why it took a long time to earn a degree. She took classes on and off for 12 years so she could afford an education and manage other responsibilities. She graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington in 2018.
“I think the drive that I have in me is what pushed me to persevere through all of that and not give up,” she said. “Not everyone has that fire in them and that fight.”
A push for mentorships
There has been a push by advocates to provide more mentorship opportunities to young adults in North Texas who are transitioning out of the foster care system. Connection Homes, a Georgia-based nonprofit, expanded its services to Texas last year.
Kate Faggella-Luby, volunteer and mentor coordinator at ACH, said youth need good mentors who will be available and offer a stable support system. She said relationships can be a challenge for some youth due to trust issues and childhood trauma.
“Especially for kids who have been in care for a long time, their perspective on relationships is sort of ‘everything is temporary,’” Faggella-Luby said. “Their experiences have told them that there is really no relationship that they can count on for sure, forever.”
Unfaulted, a nonprofit organization created in 2019, provides case management, counseling, life skill classes and mentorships to young women who’ve aged out of the foster care system. Emily Walker, intake director for the program, said many of their clients were handed a trash bag with their belongings when turning 18 and asked to leave their placement. Some of the organization’s clients went on to be adopted as adults.
“A lot of them haven’t had the opportunity to dream and figure out what it is they want to do with their life,” Walker said. “We really help to allow an environment in which they can dream.”
Myers, who entered foster care after running away from home, wishes more people were aware of the issues facing foster youth.
“Even though I had a good experience, I know a lot of people who had terrible experiences,” Myers said. “ A lot of people who did not have help, no resources or anything; and ended up homeless and in all types of bad situations. They don’t have that support system, anybody to help, anyone to give them a ride somewhere.”
Resources:
ACH Child and Family Services: 817-335-4673 (Helpline)
Unfaulted: 817-898-9030
Connection Homes: 817-494-0918
Texas Foster Youth Justice Project: 877-313-3688 (legal helpline)
CitySquare’s Transition Resource Action Center: 214-370-9300 (crisis line)
Unbound’s youth shelter: 817-885-7735 (helpline)
This story was originally published January 7, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
CORRECTION: This story has been edited to correct the number of youth served by the Life Project.
