What happens to kids who are in foster care when they turn 18? Do you know?
Many of them will fall into problems with substance abuse, become instantly homeless or become pregnant by 21. The foster system is designed to care for these kids through age 18 but there are limited resources for them after “aging out” of care. The resources that are available (food stamps, HUD housing, Medicaid, etc.) are not teaching self-sufficiency. Many of these young adults have not been prepared for how to live independently and do not even have their GED, driver’s license, know how to do laundry or have any work experience. How can we expect these young adults to become productive members of society if we do not show them how?
Our program is designed to bridge the gap between foster care and successful, independent living. We have developed our curriculum from the ground up to work through a checklist of tasks and teach life skills necessary to have a successful transition out of care in small steps rather than the current all-or-nothing approach.
We are excited to announce the launch of our program to assist these young adults accomplish their goals and gain independence. They will set goals for themselves with our staff Case Manager and be actively working towards accomplishing these goals throughout the program. The goals we see regularly are: Gaining employment, obtaining a GED, saving for a car, learning how to manage health and appointments, getting a driver’s license, enrolling in college, learning how to cook, etc.
We will have weekly life skills classes for all our participating young adults, taught by members of our community. Our class topics are varied, including car maintenance, personal boundaries, self-defense, healthy living, cooking, cleaning, job readiness, budgeting, credit scores, etc. Case Managers also work on individualized life skills with these young adults.
Through community support, we will be able to serve these young adults and assist in their transition from foster care to independent living.
