Aged out, put out, homeless and jobless. Welcome to adulthood
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- čas přidán 2. 01. 2020
- Every year, more than 4,000 kids who age out of foster care immediately find themselves homeless. For them, and other kids coming out of care, the transition to adult life is incredibly perilous. Story link: www.kansascity.com/news/speci...
Video by Reshman Kirpalani and Shelly Yang
Links to all the stories in the Throwaway Kids series:
Part One of Six: ‘We are sending more foster kids to prison than college’
www.kansascity.com/news/speci...
Part Two of Six: As U.S. spends billions on foster care, families are pulled apart and forgotten
www.kansascity.com/news/speci...
Part Three of Six: Frequent moves don’t just harm foster kids’ emotions - they hurt their brains
www.kansascity.com/news/speci...
Part Four of Six: Graduation rate of 35 percent? Many foster children ‘robbed of a good education’
www.kansascity.com/news/speci...
Part Five of Six: Aging out: Thousands of foster youth graduate to the streets every year
www.kansascity.com/news/speci...
Part Six of Six: ‘The state that neglected me as a kid is the
same state that wants to kill me’
www.kansascity.com/news/speci...
"Throwaway Kids" is a special Kansas City Star investigation published in December 2019:
A longtime advocate in Kansas City once told a reporter that foster care was “just a breeding ground for prison.”
That comment stuck with us and eventually led to this project. The yearlong investigation began with prisons and branched out into a more comprehensive look at long-term outcomes for children who age out of the nation’s broken, overwhelmed foster care system.
More from The Kansas City Star:
Subscribe: bit.ly/2FDe1zT
Twitter: / kcstar
Facebook: / kansascitystar
Website: www.kansascity.com/
Digital news subscription: bit.ly/2CDAZoD
Thank for taking the tome to listen to my story
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U welcome I'm too adopted
you go girl!!! you got this just keep your head up and just know you will make it :) I will be rooting for you
Keep making your videos full time. It will pay off as a source of income. God Bless!
Keep pushing girly !
When I aged out at 18 back in “09 catholic charities had a transitional living program that paid for my apartment including utilities, gave me a biweekly food stipend and clothing allowance, paid for school and a transportation card. I was set until I was 23, was a blessing for sure and they need more programs like it, I was allowed to make so many mistakes and try so many jobs to find what I wanted to do and not have to worry about rent.
I'm so happy you had support as a former foster care child in Baltimore city I was dropped off at a shelter no support nothing I pray that other kids aging out the system gets support and help God bless you 🙏
Nobodys telling kids today what options are so they wonder , when theyve worked so hard to be somebody and.change the world in a positive way...
I wonder how was this affordable. They had to have a lot of sponsors. I own a transitional home now and try to look for ways to support the youth I have.
The last thing these young people need is to become a parent
When I aged out, I enlisted in the Army. May not work for everyone, but it did for me.
The military doesn't accept people diagnosed with chronic physical and mental illnesses. Up to 80% of kids in foster care have a mental illness.
@@MalenkyGoblin yes, you're right. I didn't think about that.
Congratulations
I agree. I was able to get into the Air Force thanks to a classmate whose father was a career Air Force officer. I don't know where I would be if I didn't luck out and get help and some motivation to stay in school, graduate and study for the ASVAB . I left the group home I was in at midnight when I turned 18 and still had four months until I graduated where I could have ended up destroying my life. I really encourage foster youth aging out to enlist since it does provide a supportive environment with housing. Living in the dorms/barracks isn't fantastic, but it does provide a transition to adulthood..
@@KatTheo431 Yes, there is a structure there. A steady job, decent pay, place to live etc while I figured out what I wanted to do and a chance to grow up a bit more. Also, life long friends.
When I aged out of foster care I was dropped off at a shelter my kin wasn't there for me so I totally understand what they went through I pray that they succeed in life.
If the state is their parent why are they being tossed around from foster home to foster home? Children need stability.
Some foster parents see the children as simply checks and prefer the easier ones than not.
Either foster parents or sometimes even foster youth can request a child be moved. I was in foster care for 6 years and I was in 8 different foster homes. Twice I essentially forced them to me move me because I had issues with my foster parents. Most foster parents request kids be moved due to behavior issues. But it also could be that there is some issue preventing them from fostering. But mostly foster parents disrupt because of behaviors.
I aged out in Allen County Indiana. In 5 weeks, I am graduating from one of the most prestigious universities in the nation. My advice is to keep going and pushing even when you’re struggling. It’s hard but it’s going to be worth the fight.
Congratulations.
Congratulations
@@bethmcgill5944 Thank you.
@@v.a.993 Thank you
im still suffering from being a foster child i was adopted and i still feel robbed of my childhood i spent most of it depressed and alone i had no one to trust to vent to and i still feel like i dont .....my foster mother did nothing but further the abuse mentally and physically but im left with healing myself and its really unfair
So sorry to hear that
Suffering here too in ways, I lost my adopted mom recently (the mother I never had)💔 I feel more lonely than ever, no other parent too turn to for guidance or support. The abandonment I feel is deep the wounds and scars to a degree of my foster care journey. Aren’t fully absolved for sure, it’s painful to be parentless. One of the greatest life pains, I often too wonder what my life could’ve been like if I had parents and somewhat of a family stability I’ve even felt like I simply just want to disappear.😞🚶🏽♂️😢
I pray blessings and healing and restoration for all your hurt and wounded hearts Michael and Ashley in Jesus name amen❤
Have you ever thought about suing the state? I am hearing more and more cases where wards of state are suing the state agencies that allowed more abuse/neglect to happen to them while in state "care."
at 17 and a half the state of oregon dropped me off at a park in downtown eugene with what little possession's I had. My PO asked me where I wanted to get dropped off, and I'll always remember me telling him where would I go, Ive been kicked from home to home for 14 years, and he said "i don't care, but im not taking you to juvenile hall". He dropped me off under that bridge and Ill always remember sitting on a bench with my few possessions and seeing a family in a ford explore laughing and have a good time. I never wanted to die more in my life. I'm 41 now and still don't have a family, and at this point I figure I never will. I just focus on the world around me and try not to let the depression eat me up. I was lucky and decided that jail wasnt for me and once I got off probation at 27 ive never been back. I dug myself quite the hole but im chipping at it day by day.
I'm sorry you had to go through that, tonight I will pray for you so God can bless you with a family 🙏. I don't feel alone anymore more because I have God in my life, but I remember I felt the same way. Please always remember you have a Heavenly Father that's a prayer away.
Damn man, I can relate to seeing the family when I was young having a good time and just being lost in my misery of nothingness at that point in life. And although I've gained a daughter I'd not consider 2 a family . So I get still not really having one. More just like parental duties.
Life if sure a shit show sometimes.
@@Gshkent So sad you see your daughter only as parental duty instead of your family.
As I read the statistic about aged-foster girls becoming pregnant before the age of 19, it made me think of several young women that I personally know. They were in the foster care system and they aged out. Some were kicked out of their foster homes because the paychecks stopped. Some were removed from their group homes. They all ended up being used for sex. They ended up being sheltered by men, who knew that they were at a disadvantaged. As long as they were willing to do so, they were allowed to stay in those environments.
And there is just so much sexual abuse against foster children too. It's sickening
Predators are scum.
Every needs a friend like Heather.
This was a touching story. It is sad to see that kids are being thrown to the wolves without real support. Give them a place, give them a job, give them hope!
I second this comment. This is exactly how I feel. The exact words of being thrown to the wolves. The state can do better than this. I would even support a hike in my taxes of it meant to pay for transitional support for your people aging out of foster care.
Even wolves would do better job raising these kids than the foster care system, believe me. With cases of homeless children being raised by animals like wolves, dogs, apes, etc. it sound better than the system.
I'm so glad dc had Keys for life and independent living because I was able to learn a trade, get a job, and an apartment before aging out of foster care. I aged out with enough money in my bank account to live off for six months. DC also referred us to a neighborhood collaborative to help us with rental assistance and furniture.
Yes, seems like they are doing more such things. I'm glad you had all that!
The 'system' should have mandatory life skills programs: cooking, self-care, job-skills (resumes/interviewing). They act like they think fostering family will teach the stuff-we know a lot do not, so the kids do not have the necessary skills when they move out. They also should have dinners for holidays and at least once a month. (and everyone says the church should do it, the birth family, the foster family, the gov't, , the foster system....and so no one does it and the kids suffer)...
I would support a tax hike if it meant paying for a transitional program for young people aging out of foster care.
Exactly
@@ecclairmayo4153 I would. Are you following how much $ the trudeau gov't gave away...We don't need taxes to pay for this we need to keep the money in Canada. We need to use our resources so we can be the rich country we are.
@@Lkn6789 - i meant i "would"
I don’t foster that age group but I know it’s not always simple to keep a foster child after 18. Especially if you’re fostering other kids also, in my state they now are a adult and can’t share a room with the other kids. So now if you do want to keep housing them, you need to figure out a room as well as have them go through the screening process.
Just saying it’s not always as simple as let them stay. But in every state they should make it to where they help them go from living in a foster home to living independently.
And then not to mention the behaviors. Thats what I see most of in the foster system I work. Kids don’t go to school getting kicked out fighting staff running away.
And we inform them on real life situations that’s bound to happen if things don’t change. And this is sometimes the reality some of them are met with. It’s unfortunate
🙏🙏🙏🙏 I pray divine protection over your lives and your futures.
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The system needs to teach life and how to get a job to those foster 16 year olds
Terrible ....breaks my heart ....can't the foster families let children stay ? I could not put a child out
once the state stops paying them most don't want you around anymore. I spent 16 years as a ward of the state and can think of 1 foster that treated me like one of their own. I hope they're doing well in life.
Often times foster homes are abusive or just in it for the $500 to $1,000 per month they receive for each child. When you turn 18 they stop pretending to care or when the state doesn't want to provide them with money. Case workers don't care either. You're just a number
Thank you for telling our story! When they tell their testimony it’s mine as well
Im a former foster kid i graduated high school and attended college
Thanks for sharing. I got apartment at 16 due to a great foster mother with a good plan.
Aren't foster parents supposed to be teaching life skills? If I were a foster parent, I would invest the money the state would give me each month, and then use it to send the kid to college.
16 years as a ward of the state, and I had no idea what credit was till I had bad credit. Most foster parents are in it for a check, and know you'll be gone soon so they don't bother teaching things.
In the US most foster kids qualify to go to state college for free. It still can be very difficult for a child who has never stayed in a place for more than a year, to commit to learning a degree for 4 years. But I encourage you to look into fostering or helping out with foster families as it sounds like you have a kind heart.
the foster care system in every state is broken. too many "foster parents" are bottom of the barrel people who should never be trusted to raise and teach anything.
So although I can’t say I’ve been through the system... I lived with bio parents or just mother mostly but poverty or poor financial management and mother having mental challenges sure the hell made my childhood similar to the system. I had a roof, crap for available food but still got fed, at least a mattress if not a bed to lay down and no threat of physical violence or harm but the family was consistently unstable moving ~ every year (at one point 3 moves in a year) but ping ponged back n forth between 3 states and causing me to switch schools more times then # of places moved. Also, me and siblings didn’t get prior warning.... ability to choose what we liked or wanted to keep and lived in chaos of no discipline, no communication, no concern for well being... and eventually abandoned by parent @ age 16. I view education the same damn way. It was the only way up! I started college when I was 22 and had a 1 yr old daughter as well as a job... worked my fucking ass off, graduated with a transfer degree to a university and worked towards my bachelors until Having to deal with my daughter being sexually abused from her dad.... between the court system and the trauma memories flooding back into my awareness I flunked my term, had developed PTSD, lost my job and within a year We BOTH became homeless. I want nothing more then to finish my degree but seeing as I owe money before allowed to reenroll in classes... I have to find a job and hope to high hell it’s enough to budget a payment for my debt that’s holding me back from a legit degree in community health education..... The odds are always stacked against the people that have faced chronic adversity and the only support system is through the state.
I hope so much for your life to get better. You sound like a wonderful, strong person.
You have been through so much! How are you and your daughter now?
😭😭😭
@@debrawooding9842 we are surviving. Covid really put a tailspin on things as I haven't found work yet and dealing with some health things. But my girly is super fiesty and growing up strong. Starting 7th grade. Still haven't made it back to college but that's still in my plans. Just have to pay off some debt before going back... hopefully. Shoot honestly I'd rather work towards moving to a different country at this point. Sometimes it can feel like an endless battle here in good ol USA to feel like you're actually making it rather than struggling through it.
Its really pulling my heart strings
When I was in foster care and lived in a group home. We were forced to be independent. We took the bus everywhere had to cook meals and be self sufficient. They had the community housing assistance program where you rented an apartment the state paid the rent and gave you money to live on you had to go to school full time and have a job part time you had a caseworker who helped you balance your checkbook and assist you with finances, paying bills etc. so when you turned 21 you had a job, school diploma and you could be self sufficient. This was in CT 1993-1998
That’s the way it should be but what happened? Everyone started to get lazy? and not to care?? These poor kids… never stood a chance.
But to be honest
Not just in foster care kids have to teach themselves how to pay bills etc
Its the same for some kids that even have parents
Its the same concept
Because some parents don't teach their kids either
So i feel this
Omg they get assistance and grants and money, . I grew up in foster care before they passed all the assistance laws.
Foster Care is not about those poor children. Social workers have to make money too to pay their bills. Government agencies are not very efficient and make a lot of mistakes.
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People can blame the system. They can blame the foster parents and everyone and everthing else. But let's be honest here, the real blame goes to the parents that are reckless bringing a life into the world and not living up to his/her responsibility to begin with. The solution isn't so much with the foster system. It should be gear toward educating people to be more respectful of their body and making wiser choices. I personally wouldn't bring a life into this world if I know I couldn't take care of it. This world is harsh. Even some people with biological parents can still be abused if they are unfortunate enough to be born to bad crazy parents. 😢
Parents with inter-generational trauma dysfunctional family systems who don’t have the awareness or capacity to understand this. They are raising their children how they were raised because that’s all they know. This doesn’t excuse neglect or abuse in anyway but it is a much bigger picture and on a much larger scale. Our society knows very little about complex early childhood trauma and how it affects people as adults and caregivers. Very little time in training for psych is spent on trauma which is the root cause of most mental problems there is also a lack of resources, and is very expensive to get the proper help. But you need to be aware there is a problem first. There was no therapy in my grandmother’s generation she had to bury it and through osmosis passed it down to her children who kept passing it down to different generations until someone decides to get help. This is a society problem as well
Rest in heaven, Mr. Chenoweth.❤
Here in nj what one youth did is went to mental helath program got on ssi for disability then got into a group home just.before his 21st.bday lotterally days before becomming homeless cause its the only option he had to avoid homeless ness
I want to be a foster parent but am so scared. You get a chuld with all these issues that makes it so hard for you, it only makes sense to send the child back to where they feel like they want to be at right? But then its not good for the children because they feel like all this moving around is not good for their development but what can the foster parent do? What is the best way forward?
6:15 - he's talking about me. I do have outrage for shelter animals, cruelty to animals, animals in general because animals are innocent and it's humans who normally put them in these situations. I love animals and care for them deeply.
Well let us share that compassion for homeless animals with foster children if we can. When I get place I would be happy to take in foster child.
Foster children are innocent too. They are not responsible for the irresponsible adults who bring them into messed up situations.
Why don't all 50 states pass a law that makes foster parents put some of the money they get for raising their foster children in a trust fund or 529 college plan. I feel that many foster parents just want the money which they spend frivelously.
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Because that is pay for household expenses, and, I'm sure in some states, the person's time. (Not all foster homes break even, and not all foster stipends are designed to even cover all expenses.) What each state should do is put additional money aside for its own wards, above what it justly pays to those who care for the wards the state considered necessary to take on. And set and enforce standards of life skills education for the kids in question.
We have all this money for education linked to the millions of dollars made off lottery,, they should put this in thr same pot
States should support kids through college or trade school up to age 22,,,,these kids would qualify for Pell Grant aid but that’s only $6000 a year for school.
A lot of foster parents are only in it for the money. I agree that a special fund should be created for the children, but the foster parents should never be responsible for it---they can' be trusted.
I wanted to Foster so bad as an RN and we had space. Our daughter is GROWN and gone. I guess we aged out although I work 2 days a week and still run 5 days a week.
You’re never too old to foster
I'm still trying to find myself.
Hes right people have a passion about shelter animals dont gove 2 fs about foster kids its sad no humanity 6:17
Only proves that the foster parents didn't fully do their job knowing that they're not going to adopt them before they age out their job is to prepare them for the real world especially before they finish school not just take them in for the money.
Expect more in foster care thanks to the supreme court and we will have to take care of them...which isn't fair. I say drop them all of at the judges'mansions and let them live there and give them a livable salary or stipend per month to make it.
The young lady @7:00 is absolutely right. There are scores of yt chanels devoted to squawking about "the homeless problem." Where do you think all of these homeless people come from? A broken system where the foster parents heap even worse abuse on the kids than their parents did. Then they live on the street rather than put up with the abuse. On the street, they learn all kinds of ways to survive. It's only natural.
Natalie Zarato!
I love u and u look such a happy person
Are you on the Plunders?
It's a shame.
When aging out of foster care, people need direction as to what to do now in the future. When people have no direction, no family backup and no future, they become jobless, homeless, grifters and engage in criminal activities. They would also become involved in drugs, alcohol plus sex trafficking, prostitutes, pimps, predictors and pushers. After awhile people get tired of being less than period😮
Bc, Me.. personally.. I have always had to have my own 💰. My daddy taught me that. He went to work EVERYDAY!! I had or was taught life skills in Jr. High and then after a graduated.we had programs in our city that to make children into thri ing productive Independent citizens!
oh come on natalie!!
u left heaps of leaves 🤣
bellevue dental has medicaid dental, 1st ave nyc w 27 st
"Got money for war but can't feed the poor"
Pac
People nedd to think twice before having unprotected sex and having kids that land in fostet care cause they cannot care for them
Some of those abuse those children and they will not avoid having them because they are narcissistic.
Its silly to use one size fits all logic. Not everybody just had unprotected sex snd didn't care. Parents could have been dead in some cases. They may not even be aware they have kids. Every situation is different.
Where is the life skills...that would teach these young people..just like when I was living in my parents home 🏡..it was understood that: I take my social security card and gomy birth certificate and go apply to get me an ID if I didn't have 1. Then go get me a job. I ended up living w/ my boyfriend..got a job..got my own ace..got married 👰. ( Divorced now) I mean.not just a job..if these young people want to better themselves they can seek out going to school. Some work and go to s hool. What's the motivation , what's the an?
I lived it everyone fails u!
i have equal amount of feeling for shelter animals as well as shelter kids.
Why don't they just give life sentences for the parents who made the children and use the money fron their labor in prison to help the child with lifelong services?
Because that doesn't make sense. Let's suggest viable ideas. 🤦🏾♀️
@@tdm3301 It makes perfect sense. Abuse your children and they grow up with a lifetime of mental/emotional difficulties= Life sentences for who raised them.
@@realhiphop216 Because pro-life incentives encourage the foster care system. It's a way to punish the poor. First you slash funds to sexual education, blame poor kids for getting knocked up "too early", then keep them in poverty with the new child they have to take care of. Most people who give up their children don't often want to, but have to because they can't afford taking care of it. If there's anyone to blame, it's the politicians and supporters who enact these cruel policies.
But thank God they can still afford a smart phone and service.
There's cheap android old generation phone.. basically need a phone this day and age
i'm aged out but I'm living in a Foster home because its better then living at a staffed apartment, staff are Unprofessional, Toxic, Ridiculous, i was my guardians 51st guardianship at Once to himself, he's Never given me a shot at life to live in a staffless apartment ! next month is his 71st month !
These are adults. They chose themselves not to prepare for adulthood.
Vote Yang2020. Let's make this Freedom Dividend of $1000/month for life a foundation for every adult American citizen a reality. Homeless people can vote too. Register to vote now. Right now. We can't afford to wait. Register as a Democrat. Vote Andrew Yang as the Democratic President Nominee in your state. And vote again for Andrew Yang to be our President of the United States.
And a place to live will cost a minimum of 1500. Unless most people commit to keeping their necessary expenses below their minimum base income, the market will adjust to absorb the average person's total income, because landlords, grocery stores, farmers, etc., will charge as much as consumers are willing to pay, and many consumers are willing to spend 80 to 100 percent of their available money on just the basics each pay period.
I like the idea of everyone having financial security, but, if most Americans living in two income houses aren't secure against the loss of one of those jobs, how will we do better by giving every individual an extra source of income?
Burden to tax payers
Please talk to military recruiters! Coast guard, army, navy or any other recruiter! You’ll be amazed at where you can go!
Nothing funny about home less. I was home less 32 years ago.i have an.apt now
Taking.meds. vat
my handle is skkrrrttt{ bbblll}
I go in now. 10.05 should be in lobby xact
i just have lemon squash..
i wait it out 10.05 xact- if u show or not. is up to you
I in Australia- i think maybe i adopted too. cant tell.