Editorial: Ohio youth aging out of foster care need more help

Editorial: Ohio youth aging out of foster care need more help
Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 20, 2015 

For too long, many youngsters who have aged out of foster care at 18 and gone on to college have floundered, bereft of parents who provide money, moral support and a place to stay during holiday breaks.

Cleveland.com guest columnist Brant Duda wrote recently that he "had to learn how to be an adult in a hurry. Things such as opening a bank account, doing laundry in a laundromat and shopping for food were new experiences for which I had no teacher."

 No one can give former foster-care youth caring parents. But Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland State University, the Ohio legislature and philanthropists are trying to find innovative ways to help college-bound and employed former foster care youth avoid the pitfalls of life after foster care: lack of education, homelessness and crime.

 For instance, Tri-C will mentor former foster care youth this fall in hopes of boosting their graduation rate, thanks to a three-year, $60,000 grant from Ohio Reach, a nonprofit organization that advocates for higher education for those who grew up in foster homes. Tri-C has approximately 1,000 former foster-care youth. 

At CSU, 10 former foster-care youth selected for the $2.3 million Sullivan-Deckard Scholars Opportunity Program will be awarded scholarships for tuition and living expenses, plus on-campus jobs to give them the helping hand they need to graduate. Other Ohio colleges and universities should seek out donations so they can follow CSU's lead, but the legislature could make a big difference in the lives of those who have aged out of the foster care system -- about 1,000 a year in Ohio -- by passing House Bill 50 when it returns from recess in September.

 The bill would allow Ohio to tap into a 2008 federal grant that helps support former foster-care youth up to 21 years old who want to stay with a foster family or move into supervised housing, as long as they are working, attending school or have a documented disability. The state would have to pay a little more than $10 million to create this worthwhile program.

In short, it will take an all-out effort from the Ohio legislature, colleges and charities to help foster-care youth become responsible, gainfully employed adults capable of taking care of their own children. It must be a priority.