Reply to comment

Printer-friendly versionSend by email

By Sokhom Mao

The beginning of a new year should be filled with hope for the future. It’s a time to make better choices for ourselves, focus on improving skills and relationships, and make plans for a better life ahead.

Yet, for foster youth who are reaching the age of 18, the New Year has traditionally come with confusion and fear rather than hope. That’s because when foster youth “age out” of the system, we don’t get the same opportunities as youth with loving parents. Often our connections are lost and our hope for a brighter future goes unlit. Sadly, the year we age out, is the year when we find ourselves alone – no financial support, nowhere to go and no wining chances for us to succeed in life.

But that will change this year because of an important new law providing new opportunities to support foster youth as we transition into adulthood.

The California Fostering Connections to Success Act (AB 12) took effect January 1 – giving foster youth the choice to stay connected to foster care services through age 20.  The new law empowers youth to make their own decisions about their futures, and gives them the tools they need to succeed.

California is among the first states to extend foster care services under a federal law that provides funding to help foster youth stay connected after 18.  Foster youth who turn 18 this year will have access to additional educational and employment training opportunities, support finding consistent and safe housing, and improved ability to make permanent connections with caring adults, including relatives, mentors and community members.

The law also contains important provisions that help former foster youth take on the responsibilities of adulthood: foster youth who chose to stay connected to services must keep commitments to meet with social workers, and stay in school or on track to employment.

As a former foster youth who now helps social workers become trained to work with at-risk young people, I know how difficult those first few years after aging out of the foster care system can be.

Many foster youth who turn 18 are ill-equipped to take responsibility for themselves.  We have been placed in foster care after experiencing neglect or abuse.  While in the foster care system, we experienced no control over the most basic decisions in our lives.

It’s for these reasons that foster youth enter the ranks of the homeless, incarcerated, and unemployed at disheartening rates.  Changing these statistics – and giving the youth after them a real shot at success – is what the new “After 18” law is all about.

My own experience after 18 speaks to what a difference continual support and relationships make in helping foster youth beat the odds.  I was among some fortunate foster youth who were able to participate in San Francisco State University’s Guardian Scholars Program, which gave me the support I needed to graduate college, obtain a fulfilling job at UC Berkeley, and serve as an Alameda County Juvenile Justice Commissioner.

Now, I’m able to advocate for my fellow foster youth, talk with legislators about why the new law is needed, and represent youth throughout Alameda County.

I am hopeful that the California Fostering Connections to Success Act will enable many of the 5,000 foster youth who age out in California every year to benefit from the support of social workers and state and county agencies, so they can avoid the pitfalls of being on their own, aim high, and achieve their own ambitions.

It only takes one person to provide that critical support and prevent foster youth from slipping through the cracks. This New Year, California’s new “After 18” law will fulfill that role. Now, foster youth can make plans beyond 18, and rest assured that they’ll have people by their side to help them achieve their goals.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Visit www.after18ca.org for more information about the new law. Sokhom Mao is a data specialist with the California Social Work Education Center at UC Berkeley, and a commissioner on the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Commission of Alameda County. The commission coordinates the work of the county’s organizations that are designed to prevent juvenile delinquency and inspects the publicly-administered institutions that house juveniles.