There are approximately 424,000 forester youth nationwide. Despite child welfare’s efforts to prevent the removal of children from their parents, the number of children in forester care has been increasing. The median age of children in forester care is 6 ½ years old. While many people stereotype forester children as troubled teens, the truth of the matter is that most forester children are just that-children. 200,000 youth age out of the forester care system between the ages of 18 -21 annually. The exact time depends on where they live.
The Foster care system is designed to be a temporary home for children who find themselves unable to live with their biological parents due to abuse and neglect.
However, the system intended as a temporary solution has become a permanent solution for many, children (also known as kinship caregivers) often no more capable of caring for them than were their biological parents, some many of themselves victim to the foster care system. Many minorities already struggling and living in poverty are unable to provide adequate shelter for family member’s children who have become entangled in the foster care system. Viable adoptive parents are even less likely to adopt these kids, for a variety of reasons. So, again I ask why these children “unadoptable,” lost in the very system put in place to protect them.
I would like to create a program as a “haven” for young men and women aging out of the foster care system. Statics show that African American children are less likely to be reunited with their biological parents for whatever reason. The children remain in the system until age eighteen. Our youth are released into a world where they know nothing other than the survival of their past. These programs will provide a place of safety and balance for youth struggling in society. This house will serve as a refuge for knowledge, information, resources, and possibly temporary housing.
Source: Forbes.com