Linda* (not her real name) was in foster care from her early teen years until she was 18. She bounced between a few different foster homes in that time, struggling to find a place that she really felt like she belonged. At age 18, Linda decided she’d had enough of foster care and wanted to make her own choices, so she asked the judge to close her case. The judge granted her request since she was 18 and let her begin making those choices she was craving.
Linda moved out to go stay with a boyfriend’s parents while she sorted out where she would go next. Living with the boyfriend’s family proved to be a challenge for the couple, and they really wanted to get their own place. They found it difficult to get an apartment as young adults because they had no rental history, and very little in the way of employment history. Getting an apartment required a steady job and steady income, two things that neither of them had.
The living situation started to turn bad for Linda, the boyfriend grew more and more controlling, but she didn’t really have any other options. She stayed with the boyfriend because at least that meant a place to live, even if it was only temporary.
Eventually they were able to get a family member to co-sign on an apartment and they moved in. The boyfriend went from controlling to abusive, but still he was central to their living arrangement, so Linda continued to stay. She put off her dreams of school in order to find jobs and try to bring home enough income to keep them afloat.
Linda would eventually be able to rid herself of the boyfriend, but it took a long time. She would find her next few years falling into a steady pattern of trying to work enough to make enough money to support herself while school took a back burner. She did continue to work on school, but found that she was really taking the long way toward a degree. At age 24, she feels like she is finally beginning to make some progress toward getting where she wants to go.
Linda’s story is one of the better outcomes for youth who age out of foster care. She did eventually find herself and her self-worth enough to kick the abusive boyfriend out. She eventually prioritized school and her own financial stability to make some changes and pursue her long term goals. And during that time, though she would struggle to pay her bills, she supported herself and never became homeless. This makes Linda a success story, one that she can and should be proud of.
Many, many aged out youth are not as lucky and not as successful. By the age of 21, only 59% of aged out youth in Michigan have stable housing. Without stable housing, every other life goal becomes more complicated. Only 41% have full or part time income, and only 2 out of 3 have graduated high school.
If you track Linda’s trajectory in life, she is definitely headed in the right direction. But what if we could have intervened sooner, at age 18 when she left foster care, and helped her get her first place on her own? How much could that have impacted the trajectory of her life if she:
– didn’t have to rely on the boyfriend for a place to stay
– didn’t have to worry so much about housing and could focus more on educational goals,
– was in a financial position to be able to save money while she worked and went to school instead of just trying to not fall further behind?
Linda is one of the resilient ones, but for many kids who age out of foster care the obstacles are just too overwhelming.
Maggie* (again, not her real name) is one of the 20% of aged out youth who became immediately homeless. The day her case was closed she went to stay in a hotel where she could only afford 2 nights. She finds help from a local community action agency who sets her up in another hotel when her money runs out. Now she’s trying to get to work from a different part of town, but without transportation it’s difficult. The job is only part time and might help her buy food, but living in a hotel means no access to cooking, and takeout will drain her bank account as fast as she earns it, never mind being able to save for a security deposit. She didn’t finish high school, so she still needs to make time for the adult education classes to try to get her GED, but the workload is hard and she was never that good at school to begin with. Now between the hotel, lack of transportation, insufficient income (when she can actually get to work), she finds herself without the energy to put much thought into school. She might be one of the 33% of aged out youth who never graduate or earn a GED.
At the same time, she’s looking for an apartment. She connected to a local agency that will help short term with as much as $700 per month for rent to get her started. But where are the apartments that are available for less than $700? She can’t find any. Any places that she has found anywhere near that price don’t have openings and have long waiting lists. Where is she supposed to go in the mean time? How will she get herself established with work and income so that she can eventually sign a lease if she doesn’t have anywhere to stay between now and then? Her focus is on surviving with food and a roof over her head. School will have to wait for now.
How much different would her story be if she had stable housing in a supportive environment that would help her to finish school and attend college or begin working after she got her diploma? What kind of a difference could it make in her life if she could move into an apartment now and then start paying a low rent while she started earning some money, building up the amount over time until she is eventually able to pay that $800 on her own?
These are only two stories, there are so many more. 23,000 youth age out of foster care in the United States every year. Their success rates in terms of gaining stable housing and gainful employment are very low compared to their non-foster care peers. This is a population that is hard hit with homelessness, drugs, and incarceration rates.
We believe that we can put better outcomes within reach for Linda, Maggie, and so many others. Research has shown that the more supports we offer to aged out youth and the longer they take advantage of those supports, the better their outcomes are.
In Muskegon we are going to help aged out youth find their First Place, and we are going to use it to launch them into a brighter and more sustainable future.
Find more information at kidsbelong.org/firstplace