Critics: Foster-kid policy needs fix

Critics: Foster-kid policy needs fix
This is somthing else the state did thats not working but it is saving
money.
By Rich McKay Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted February 23, 2005

Kids who grew up in state foster care once had a guaranteed roof over
their head, food, clothes and medical insurance until they
turned 23.

But money-saving changes since 2003 -- called the Road to Independence
Act -- force them to leave their foster homes at 18, with a
monthly check to live on as long as they're in school.

Child-welfare advocates, who call it the "Road to Homelessness," say
it shortchanges thousands of youth.

"Florida never did very well with foster children," said Richard
Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child
Protection
Reform in Alexandria, Va. "Now it's doing even worse. They're throwing
them out at 18. It's like amputating someone's legs and
telling them to run a race."

State auditors are reviewing the program's effectiveness. A report is
due in March.

Under the state's program, stipends up to $892 a month are given if
the youths enroll in college or a trade school after high school.
But often that's not enough to cover rent, food, clothes,
transportation and school needs.

The new foster system also leaves many college students without a
place to call home during holidays and weekends when dorms
are closed, said Sarah Jane Turner, senior program manager of Great
Oaks Village, an Orlando group home for foster children.

Dorcille, whose full name isn't being used to protect her privacy, and
some other former foster kids stay in the homes of their former
social workers -- who don't get paid for that care.

If the social workers didn't provide that backstop, many of those
former foster kids would be on the streets, Turner said.

And not all foster kids are cut out for college or trade school,
Turner said. One boy she knew had lived on the streets of Orlando for
two years. Just getting him to shower and wear clean clothes was an
accomplishment, she said.

Compounding the problem is that only about 1 in 5 foster youths in
Florida tap into the Road to Independence money, leaving the rest
largely on their own at age 18.

Proponents of the program, including Rep. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, who
sponsored the legislation, said she's tired of the critics.

"Here's why I get annoyed," she said. "We had nothing before this
[specifically for former foster youths]. And now people are saying
it's not doing enough."

"I did this bill at the request of foster kids," she said. "We tried
to build a program that deals with their needs."

Before the rules were changed, foster youths had to stay in the
foster-care system until age 23 to receive benefits. But many wanted
more independence, so they left the system and went out on their own,
she said.

Under the changes, foster kids as young as 13 started learning basics
such as cooking, cleaning and how to handle money.

On paper, the new system isn't bad, said Gerard Glynn, a professor at
Barry University School of Law in Orlando and chairman of the
Independent Living Services Advisory Council.

But of the 5,000 former foster youth younger than 23 in Florida who
could be eligible for the Road to Independence -- only about 1,000
tap into it, according to a recent report that Glynn's council
prepared for state lawmakers.

The report asks the Legislature to give Medicaid benefits to more
former foster youths, especially those with disabilities and
mental-health problems, regardless of whether they are in school.

And Glynn also contends that even those who are in the program need an
adult mentor to help them make decisions.

"We do know that when a child turns 18, he or she still needs help and
guidance," Glynn said. "What we're offering them is a check."

A second report on the program, voted into law in 2002, is being
completed by the state's Office of Program Policy Analysis and
Government Accountability. That report is expected to be finished in
early March and will go to lawmakers, including Sen. Walter
"Skip" Campbell Jr., D-Fort Lauderdale, chairman of the Children and
Families Committee.

Campbell was blunt: "The system is not working. The situation is that
we have kids on the streets. We have some kids who turn 18,
and they need to stay in the system. They're not mature enough. But
what we're doing is telling kids at 18 to tough it. You're out on
your own."

To those who say the state is spending enough already on foster
youths, Campbell points out that 80 percent, or $16.6 million, of the
money comes from the federal government, with the state paying $2.2
million.

Locally, in District 7, which includes Orange, Osceola, Brevard and
Seminole counties, the Department of Children & Families has
about $1.7 million budgeted and 169 youths receiving money or services
from Independent Services programs.

Professor Mark Courtney of the University of Chicago is studying
youths who age out of the foster-care system nationwide, and he
agrees that just giving youths a check each month isn't the right
answer. Courtney said that a combination of programs and mentoring
might be better.

Dorcille has an unofficial adult mentor who goes over her finances
with her and helps keep her grounded. But she knows that some of
her fellow foster youths went "crazy" when they got that first check
and didn't manage their money well.

"It's hard because all of a sudden, you don't have all the rules," she
said. But she thinks that continued funding of the program is
crucial for fellow youths to stand on their own feet.

"I don't know what else should be done," she said. "But don't cut off
that check."
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