Post-emancipaion program for foster care alumni

Foster kids get support from LCCS
Toledo Blade, March 2, 2007.

Your recent editorial, "Aging out of foster care," illuminated a real problem. Each year in Lucas County, approximately 40 young men and women turn 18 in foster care, and for them the world can be a scary place.

Lucas County Children Services was one of the first public agencies in the state to offer a post-emancipation program to the adolescents we serve. They can come back to LCCS for any assistance they need, including housing, job training, or counseling.

But we try to prepare our kids for their 18th birthday years earlier. Every foster child over the age of 15 participates in our Independent Living Program. This program focuses on life skills, how to find and maintain a living arrangement, meal preparation, job finding and keeping, finance management, and counseling for interpersonal problems or other life problems. We try to have each young person connected to an adult who can help them through the transition to young adulthood.

Nationwide, most kids aging out of foster care do not complete high school, and the same is true here. For the past two years LCCS has worked hard on a new educational initiative, working within our community and in cooperation with the school systems, to assess the particular needs of each of our kids, to assist them to succeed with their education, and to move on to higher education or vocational training. Many 18-year-olds remain in foster care to complete high school. Much more needs to be done.

All this is possible because of the financial support of Lucas County taxpayers. The federal government and the State of Ohio do little to fund these services. As a society, we need to invest much more to assist these young people or, as you noted, the cost to society will be far greater.

-GORDON R. BARRY
Chairman
Lucas County
Children Services Board