Michal Czerwonka for The New York Times
College students in
California's Guardian Scholars program for foster youth include,
clockwise from top left, Bianca Boccara, Marcellia Goodrich, Angel
Gabarret, Shamir Moorer, Randy Davis, Kaleef Starks and Manny Roque. More Photos »
By MICHAEL WINERIP
Published: October 30, 2013 103 Comments
BY definition, foster children have been delinquent, abandoned,
neglected, physically, sexually and/or emotionally abused, and that does
not take into account nonstatutory abuses like heartache. About
two-thirds never go to college and very few graduate, so it’s a safe bet
that those who do have an uncommon resilience.
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In a society where many young men and women live with their parents well
into their 20s, foster children learn quickly that they are their own
responsibility. To find someplace to live in 10th grade Kaleef Starks,
now an A student at the University of California, Los Angeles, but back
then (to use his words) a gay, effeminate, abused teenager, went to the
local library, logged onto a computer and Googled “homeless shelters for
youth.”
His closest friend at U.C.L.A., Bianca Boccara, had parents who made her
go panhandling with them because they knew passers-by would be more
likely to donate if they saw a young child.
By the time he was 18, Manny Roque, now a student at Los Angeles City
College, had lived in seven foster homes and attended five high schools.
He was raised by a mother who was a crack addict and prostitute,
growing up in such chaos that he did not go to school until sixth grade
and only then did he understand how abnormal it was for a boy his age
not to be able to name the letters of the alphabet.
One of his classmates, Shamir Moorer, “born with crack inside me,”
estimates she’s lived in “15 or 17” foster and group homes. She can’t
say for sure because she can’t remember the earliest ones, having been
placed in care as a baby.
•
IN a 2010 study by researchers at the University of Chicago, only 6
percent of former foster youths had earned a two- or four-year degree by
age 24. Those not in college may be in jail; 34 percent who had left
foster care at age 17 or 18 reported being arrested by age 19.
Most of the research is bleak — but not all. It appears that extra support can make a difference. The Chicago study
tracked the lives of about 700 foster children in Illinois, Iowa and
Wisconsin. Those in Illinois who were still getting foster care services
at age 19 were less likely to have been arrested (22 percent versus 34
percent) than those in the other two states who were on their own. The
same was true for education. The foster children from Illinois, which
has long allowed young people to remain in care until their 21st
birthday, were more likely to have completed at least one year of
college than their counterparts from Iowa or Wisconsin, where the age of
emancipation at the time was 18.
Which is why a growing number of colleges — from those that are
selective, like U.C.L.A., to those that are not, like Los Angeles City
College — have created extensive support programs aimed at current and
former foster young people. At U.C.L.A., this includes scholarships,
year-round housing in the dorms for those who have no other place to
live, academic and therapeutic counseling, tutoring, health care
coverage, campus jobs, bedding, towels, cleaning products, toiletries
and even occasional treats. Ms. Boccara mentioned the gift cards she was
given to a local supermarket. At Los Angeles City College, Marcellia
Goodrich likes the free snacks in the program office and Mr. Roque noted
the free paper. “It’s useful and helps you stay on budget,” he said.
No one tracks college programs for foster youth. But it is clear there
has been considerable growth in recent years, spurred in part by the
creation in 2003 of the Chafee grant program, an annual $48 million
federal appropriation used to award scholarships of up to $5,000. Also
important was federal legislation in 2008 giving states the option of
extending federal aid programs for foster youth from age 18 to 21.
Seven states are considered to have particularly strong programs. California’s is known as the Guardian Scholars. Texas, Ohio and North Carolina call theirs Reach; Michigan has Fostering Success Michigan; Washington, Passport to College Promise; and Virginia, Great Expectations.
Many colleges provide some services, but a far smaller number have the
kinds of comprehensive support systems offered at places like Western
Michigan University, Sam Houston State University, City College of San
Francisco, and community colleges in Tallahassee, Fla., and Austin, Tex.
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