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Report details teens' straits



 
 
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Old April 7th 05, 04:41 PM
wexwimpy
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Default Report details teens' straits

Report details teens' straits

Foster children forced to strike out on their own are ill-prepared for
adulthood, a judicial panel concludes.

BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER



With no place to live, no money and no place to turn for help, many
teens who leave Florida's troubled foster care system at age 18 face
obstacles that ''are almost insurmountable,'' a report by a
court-appointed panel has concluded.

The Independent Living Advisory Panel, appointed in August 2004 by
Miami-Dade County's chief juvenile judge, said in an eight-page report
that the Department of Children & Families routinely discharges foster
children with a poor education, few skills and often no place to live.

The young adults seldom know where they'll live or go to school or
what financial resources are available. ''Many, as we know, end up
homeless, unemployed or incarcerated,'' the report said.

The 12-member panel was appointed by Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman
after she became frustrated watching older foster kids graduate from
her jurisdiction with few hopes for a successful life. Members
included a former DCF district administrator, a former child welfare
attorney, a school official, and the head of Miami's Guardian-ad-Litem
Program.

The panel represented about 80 teens preparing to exit the state's
foster care system and begin their lives as adults. The group attended
hearings before Lederman, interviewed the foster kids, read their
records and attended other meetings on their behalf.

''Even children not in the foster care system have difficulty at age
18 suddenly facing the world alone, but hopefully they have a support
system that can ease them through that process,'' said Katherine
Ezell, a Miami commercial litigator who volunteered to serve on the
panel. ``Unfortunately, in most cases, foster children do not have
that kind of support system.''

According to the report:

• Affordable housing is the single greatest challenge facing foster
kids who leave state care. Few transitional housing programs exist,
and most foster kids lack money for rent and security deposits.
``Youth do not have a credit history or guarantors, so apartment
managers are hesitant to accept them.''

• Most children leaving foster care are behind their peers
academically, and many suffer from undiagnosed learning disabilities.
''Youth are confused about passing the FCAT, taking the SAT, applying
to colleges and/or enrolling in GED classes,'' the report said.

The state's most significant financial program for adult foster kids
requires them to enroll in college or a vocational education program.

• Foster children typically lack basic life skills most kids learn
from their parents. They don't know how to open a bank account or
balance a checkbook. They have no transportation to interviews or
jobs. Once employed, many do not know how to act or dress in the
workplace.

''Three of the youth reviewed had a bank account,'' the report said,
``but only one knew how to access the funds.''

Broward civic activists, at the state capital Tuesday as part of
Broward Days, have called the plight of older foster children one of
their most important issues during this year's legislative session.

The delegation is calling on lawmakers to allow foster children to
remain under the jurisdiction of juvenile judges for at least a year
after they turn 18, and to provide subsidized health insurance.

''They should be allowed to stay in the same home they've been in,''
said Howard Talenfeld, co-chairman of Broward Days and president of
Florida's Children First, a statewide child advocacy group. Currently,
foster parents can kick foster kids out as soon as they turn 18 -- and
often do.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/11320531.htm

"Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, For
you are crunchy and taste good with catsup."
 




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