Joy, 17, will be aging out of foster care soon. But thanks to a new program, her transition into adulthood should be easier than most.
Joy (who had to keep her full name confidential because of Department of Social Services guidelines) is one of 200 teens in the St. Louis Aging Out Initiative, a program geared toward youth between the ages of 16 and 18 who are in State custody and approaching release from State-supported care.
Without the program, it is estimated that almost half of St. Louis teens who age out of foster care become homeless at some point. Only about one-third to half have a high school diploma or GED, and about 80 percent of young women in the program become pregnant before the age of 21, organizers said.
Julie Reed, director of community services, said the program is designed to help them acquire life skills and make their own decisions about finances, school, jobs, housing, and even health insurance. The idea is to piece together services and let youth choose from there.
“We’re really pushing youth for self-advocacy,” Reed said. “We want to teach them how to be independent, and part of that is learning how to speak up for yourself.”
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a New Jersey-based healthcare philanthropy, gave the initiative a three-year, $500,000 grant with nine other community agencies chipping in $600,000 in support.
If successful, the program could serve as a national model.
“The goal for us is that we follow these 200 youth over time and we demonstrate that this intervention works because there are a lot more youth out there who really need it,” Reed said.
About 20,000 young people “age out” of the foster care system annually in the United States, including 350 a year in Missouri. Missouri is among the states that can provide services up to age 21, but the Aging Out Initiative follows the child until age 25.
Joy entered the system at age 10. Her mother would leave her and her five siblings with their grandmother for days on end. When her grandmother died, things made a turn for the worse and Joy went back to her mother. She stayed there for only a short time before the State placed her in foster care.
“When our grandma died, it got really bad because she just felt like it was our grandma’s responsibility to watch us. So she left us off by ourselves,” Joy said.
At age 10, she started living with a foster care parent who changed her life.
“Every summer we went to a different state or went somewhere,” Joy recalled. “She treated me like I was a part of her family.”
When her foster care parent moved to Georgia, Joy decided to stay behind in St. Louis. So she stayed in a group home for two years before moving in with her sister and finally into Epworth Children and Family Services, the lead agency for the Aging Out Initiative.
Although Missouri already has resources available for teens aging out, the Aging Out Initiative is unique because it allows youth to decide what they want more information on and gets that assistance to them.
Former foster youth are hired as peer advisors to guide and mentor youth currently in the care system, and youth have individual and group meetings at least once month for ongoing support.
Joy has been in the program for over a year now, and she said she enjoys just having people to talk to and a place to go for leisure or for social support.
“It’s like another mother,” she said.
Program Manager Heavin Horn, 24, has been living on her own since she was 18. She said the biggest challenge for her after “aging out” of care at 21 was finding health care.
“Not really knowing where to get it or the steps to get it or knowing places to go get it at a reduced fee,” she said.
The skills she needed when she got her own place are among those she helps current foster kids learn in the Aging Out Initiative.
“Even though you’re going through a hard time right now, you can get through it,” Horn said she usually tells youth. “The people in Epworth and our program do the job because we want to, not because we have to.”
The program has grown significantly since its inception in January 2007. Last month, it had to relocate from the Youth Emergency Services building to its own edifice at 6900 Delmar Blvd. to accommodate its 200 participants. The new location even has a kitchen and a laundry room to help kids make a smooth transition into independence by learning how to cook and wash clothes.
Participants also create “life finders,” books that include their birth certificate, immunization record, Social Security card, family health history, school transcripts and family photos.
Joy admits that she may not be the smartest kid in school, but she is determined to make something of herself and her situation. She recently sent off her application for Southeast Missouri State University.
“Don’t give up,” she said.