CFK reports from: "The Road from Foster Care to Adulthood: Experiences and Insights of Former Foster Care Youth" & "Solving America's Child Welfare Crisis: Former Foster Youth Speak Out"
Events: Informational briefing, panel discussion, dinner discussion
Organized by: Orphan Foundation of America, Freddie Mac Foundation, New America Foundation
Where/When: Washington, D.C., June 22 & 23, 2004
Report by: Diana Strumbos

Children in foster care face long educational odds: Only about 50 percent graduate from high school, only 11 percent of those high school graduates pursue post-secondary education and only 4 to 7 percent finish college or vocational school nationally.

Improving those statistics is one goal of the Orphan Foundation of America (OFA). OFA has a program which awards foster youth and orphans scholarships and other support for post-secondary education. They also offer the OLIVER Project Intern Program which helps scholarship recipients find internships and invites the interns to Washington DC to speak out on foster care issues.

This year 18 of these interns talked about their experiences at several events, including: "The Road from Foster Care to Adulthood: Experiences and Insights of Former Foster Care Youth," an informational briefing and panel discussion; and "Solving America's Child Welfare Crisis: Former Foster Youth Speak Out," an evening reception and dinner discussion. The students told how they found out about the OFA scholarship, how the OFA programs have helped them get through college, and what they hope to do in their futures.

At the June 23rd reception, the students were asked what they would like to tell their senators and representatives if they had a chance. Some of the recommendations were:

• Greater accessibility of information and resources, so foster students could know what is available to them.

• Extended medical care for former foster students after they age out of the system. Currently, Medicaid is taken away at age 18 and teens are often left with no healthcare.

• A reworking of the foster care system to create greater educational stability for students—on average, foster teens attend 5 different high schools.

• A greater emphasis on the goal of allowing foster siblings to stay together, since in many instances the siblings are the only family they have.

• Tuition waivers for college, currently available in only 15 states, should be made available nationally.

• A critical look at the way foster care systems place variable "price tags" on children depending on their behavior, grades and disorders, with families who choose to foster the most troubled children receiving substantially more money. Also, the interns said social workers tend to pay less attention to students that are doing well, which again encourages students to act out to get the desired attention.

• Better research when gathering data that will be used to influence policy decisions, because the statistics are often skewed by bad collection methods.

These 18 students have all been able to pursue higher education and to work as interns in exciting fields. Now they hope that by educating others about their experiences, changes can be made that will improve the odds for others.

For foster care children and orphans:
Orphan Foundation of America programs and scholarships
State Voucher website apply for an ETV for post-secondary education