Gaps in foster care draw legislators' attention

Gaps in foster care draw legislators' attention

By Jennifer Peltz
Staff Writer
Posted July 6 2005


Jessica Ward worked hard to make the grade at the competitive Dreyfoos
School of the Arts in West Palm Beach. And her classes weren't the
hardest part.

The state had taken Ward and her four younger siblings away from their
mother, whom Ward describes as abusive. She spent her last two years
of high school on the move, living with acquaintances, even a teacher,
often, she says, making calls herself to arrange accommodations.

Still, Ward kept up her schoolwork. She had her eye on a state-paid
college scholarship for former foster children.

But shortly before graduating this spring, Ward found out she wouldn't
qualify.

The state encourages its wards to live with people they know, as Ward
did. But state law limits the scholarship to children living in group
homes or with the official definition of foster parents, total
strangers licensed to take in kids.

Child welfare officials say they are tapping private money to help
Ward, 19. But she joined two local legislators on Tuesday for a news
conference to press the state to do a more consistent job of helping
foster children get on their feet.

"I'm not saying that I shouldn't help feed myself, but I'm just a kid.
It's not like I can go out into the business world and just become
something without having any training," said Ward, now living with a
central Florida woman who adopted two of her siblings. Ward is working
at a church but wants to become an English teacher.

Florida used to allow children to stay in foster care until age 23 if
they were in school, college or other education-related programs.
Foster care now automatically ends at 18, but state law includes some
provisions for help, including the scholarship Ward sought. It
includes a stipend of up to $900 a month for living expenses.

But child welfare advocates have said that limited resources and
unclear rules are preventing some youths from getting help.

"We have to have a plan to help these young folks who, through no
fault of their own, are falling through the cracks," said state Rep.
Shelley Vana, D-Lantana, who pressed the issue Monday with Rep. Susan
Bucher, D-Royal Palm Beach.

Meanwhile, the Children's Home Society, a private charity, has agreed
to pay Ward the stipend for a year, according to child welfare
official Robert Barker.

He oversees Child & Family Connections, which runs state foster-care
services in Palm Beach County.

Kids@Home, an organization that helps former foster children, is
providing a counselor to help Ward seek other grants and assistance,
Barker said.

He agrees that the state and federal governments should help former
foster kids equally, regardless of their living arrangements.

"Regulations should be much more flexible," Barker said. "[But Ward]
is being given an opportunity."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/loc...,7343865.story

Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age 18