How You Can Help: 3 Major Ways To Provide Support to Foster Youth Aging Out

We are an ailing nation suffering from wealth in the midst of poverty. In 2014, close to 600,000 people were homeless. This number is just continuing to grow. At least 10% of the recorded homeless population are individuals who were once in foster care. Less than 20% of the nation's wealth is distributed to this population of people. 20% of the wealthiest of Americans own 84.6% of the distribution of wealth. So, one fifth of the population owns more than four fifths of the wealth.

The biggest problem with this country is that we are handing all of our money to the wealthiest people and giving little to those who need it. We don't suffer from poverty, but from the lack of distribution of wealth to a starving nation. How can we change this? Ideally, we could redistribute the wealth so that is is far more even, as can be seen in the graphs above. However, this likelihood of this happening is slim. So where do we go from here?

Unfortunately, a majority of those who wish to help do not have the funds to do so, but there are many other ways that can benefit those in need. Let's start by focusing on the 10% of the homeless population that are aging out of foster care. There are so many ways that people can help young adults as they make their transition from being supported by the system to being dropped at the doorstep of a homeless shelter on their 18th birthday. One way many do not even think about is adoption. Even though these individuals are technically adults, they can still be adopted and most of the time it is free. 

If adoption isn't for you, also consider being a surrogate family for a young adult aging out of the system. This would include being a mentor to the teen as well as providing a place for them to stay when they have nowhere else to go. It would be like being their family, but without the legal documents stating the child as your own. Similarly, you can provide a job. These are both ways that lack a sort of commitment, but focus more on being a friend and confidant to someone who most certainly needs it. 

Finally, you can support a foundation that is working to provide transitional housing, mentoring, or therapy for such individuals. Most times, foster kids do not leave the system unscathed, and need support as they make their transition. They lack the necessities needed to survive. By giving not only funds but also materials to foundations who already provide services, you can give back to those who need it the most. 

(To find a group to support, click this link. Resources for aging out.)

Some foundations provide therapy and counseling,  others are looking to provide housing or just funds in general. There are so many ways to give to those who are in need. Make the sacrifice. Help redistribute the wealth by giving what you can.

When They Are Giving Back

Foster care is a concept that has been around since the beginning of times. Orphaned children during the Bible times were placed with widows, who were paid by the church to care for the child. Since then, this practice has been passed along from country to culture to governments. In 1853, the Children's Aid Society and the orphan train system was formed. There are now several different agencies that help place foster children and encourage adults to help care for them, as well as three ways children in the foster system can be cared for.  These ways include single foster family, group home, or kinship care. The world has continued to develop and brainstorm ways to improve the system and better care for children who have been orphaned or are just unwanted.

However, the same attention and diligence is not given to the very same kids once they exit the system, which happens on their 18th birthday. They are legally adults and sent out into the world with nothing more than what they have collected over the years. Some live on the streets and struggle to survive each and every day. Others manage to improve their lives. Some handle their new found freedom with care, nurturing their ability to finally make decisions for themselves. Amy and Amber Haskill are two such individuals. Twin sisters, they spent years separated as they were moved around from foster home to foster home. They often left their previous "home" with just the clothes on their backs. When they were reunited through adoption, the twins found they wanted to help foster kids who had suffered through the system.

Closet2Closet began two years ago. It is a program started by the Haskill sisters with the help of their adoptive family. It gives donated clothes to foster kids, age 10-18, for free. They are currently doing quarterly shopping days. Case workers, foster parents, and foster kids come to receive clothing as well as care packages. The care packages include toiletry items, socks and underwear, and other personal items. All of the clothes are given to the girls and they are laundered before they present the items to children in need. Recently, they have begun reaching past their community by sending out care packages to other parts of the state through the Center for Youth and Family Solutions.

It is not uncommon for past foster kids to reach out and try to make a difference in the system that shaped their life. If they can move past the obstacles that are placed in their lives, what more can we do? What more could we provide with the fortunes that come with privileged lives? When they are giving back, we should be too.