Foster youth's story of grit, strength, and hope inspires crowd at panel discussion
Logan Gray Kahl, WMFD, May 15, 2025.
MANSFIELD, OH - As "traditional families" prepare for their students' graduation parties and for them to get ready to spread their wings and fly out of the nest, there are children right here in Richland County who have never had that experience with no nest to come back to, and that first jump is a leap of faith.
Mary remembers praying to God while in foster care. "If you believe in a God or any higher purpose, that helps too, that's what got me through, like, cause it was hard," explains Mary, now 20, of her foster care experience of being separated from her siblings.
The statistics are not promising.
According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, 25 percent of youth who had been in foster care at age 17 and surveyed at age 21 said that they had been homeless at some point in the last two years.
Mary, who was a foster youth emancipated from Richland County, Ohio, falls into that category. She told a crowd of people in Eisenhower Hall at The Ohio State University at Mansfield campus that she was homeless for a year on the streets of Cleveland.
The foster care system seeks to prepare teenagers with independent living skills, like how to cook, how to manage finances, and finding an apartment, but then crickets. After supporting and tracking the child's every move, the system ends.
The Richland County Youth and Family Council, in collaboration with Richland County Children Services, hosted a pivotal event titled "Aging Out of the Foster Care System... What Now?" on Friday, May 9, 2025, at The Ohio State University at Mansfield campus.
The forum touched on the challenges faced by youth transitioning out of the foster care system and explored ways the community can offer support for their successful transition into adulthood. By the end of the riveting stories from the panel guests, the moderator said it felt like more a call to action.
More of Mary's Story
Mary found her way back to Mansfield and reconnected with Mary Stephan, who was her independent living caseworker at Richland County Children Services and was referred to the Bridges program through the Ohio Department of Job & Family Services.
"Imagine they don't have the parents, you know, we are their parents, and once Bridges gets involved, we kind of step back, so we need community partners to get stuff alongside them and walk beside them and help them and be there, like be parents for them," explained Stephan having experienced a period in foster care herself.
Mary commutes to work on her bicycle every day, a 40-minute round trip. She said she has learned to support herself and love herself, that you can't always rely on everybody.
"I ride my bike to work. I don't have a car," Mary said. "I don't have none of that because my parents didn't help me out, they couldn't, they were too reliant on the government themselves, so me having to do it for myself, it's not only a little bit embarrassing but it's also inspiring because one day when I have kids - my kids aren't going to have to go through that. It's going to build character."
Michelle Miller, Executive Director of the Richland County Youth & Family Council, is a former foster youth who navigated the system firsthand. She was the first in her family to receive a college education. She now leads Richland County's efforts to provide collaborative services to youth and families.
"Every year, about 1,000 youth 'age out' of the foster care system in the state of Ohio. About 3 percent of those youth will be able to obtain a college degree, and 37 percent of those youth will end up incarcerated," Miller said.
There is no doubt that Mary is a 3 percenter. She is an aspiring artist and lyricist who plans to release her first project on August 20, 2025, when she turns 21. She told WMFD on that date, "the system" will no longer see her as a child. She wants to prove she is an accomplished young woman and a survivor. No doubt she will.
"No matter what happened to me, I'm always going to love life. The challenges are definitely what I strive for," Mary.
No comments:
Post a Comment