This year, Child Saving Institute’s Independent Living Skills program has eight students attending college.
It is an unusually high number, no doubt in part due to the Independent Living Skills team’s diligence in getting the kids enrolled and helping them secure housing. However, the students have a challenging road ahead. Statistics show that only a small percentage of youth who “age out” of the foster care system will graduate from college. |
| Former foster child and new dad, Jake |
Josh and Jake’s efforts to attend college are supported and encouraged by Independent Living Specialist Meghan O’Brien who works with these teens and other state wards to help them acquire the skills they will need to succeed in life.
Most 19-year-olds are unprepared for the realities of living on their own—especially those youth who haven’t known consistency, nurturing and compassionate support. Meghan and her fellow specialists teach the youth how to plan and manage their time and money; how to utilize available resources and complete applications to find housing, transportation, and employment; and how to learn to make educated life choices concerning nutrition, healthcare, parenting, and sexual responsibility. Most important, Meghan says, is to teach the young people how to create and maintain appropriate support networks.
“They need to know where to turn for help, and they have to learn to ask for help when they need it. Whether it’s family or individuals with whom you’ve created a family-like relationship, you have to learn to communicate and mend fences and keep working on relationships. I keep telling my kids, you have to keep connections—whether with teachers, family members, coaches, mentors… So when we step out, the attorney steps out, the State steps out, you have a support system to help you make life’s tough choices.”
Josh's Story
When we visited with Josh the last week of August, he was like any other 19-year-old heading off to his first year of college…Almost. Although he was attending freshman orientation and moving into a dorm room, Josh’s journey to college wasn’t typical—but it is typical of many of the youth Child Saving Institute serves. You see, Josh is a survivor. He survived jail, drug addiction and the child welfare system. |
| Josh is taking charge of his life |
Josh is attending Metro Community College with help from the $2,500 Christine Parker Memorial Scholarship from the Child Saving Institute Guild. In addition to an art class—he loves to draw and paint—he will also be taking general studies classes. His tattoos peeking out from beneath the sleeves of his t-shirt, Josh shyly confesses he’d like to use his artistic talent to be a tattoo artist himself some day. But that might have to wait until he completes a stint in the army—he also planned to speak to a recruiter later in the week.
Previously a ward of the state, Josh had witnessed a chaotic home life before going to live with a relative while his mother was incarcerated. The trauma and frustration of his situation resulted in his acting out and fighting, a repeated behavior that landed him jail. Last fall, Josh made a conscious effort to make positive changes in his life. He was determined to get out of the system and start making better choices—a decision that resulted in his quitting drugs, tapping into his spirituality, finding a part-time job last summer, earning his GED and enrolling in college. His hard work paid off. His criminal record was sealed, and he is now able to move forward with a clean slate and the option for a brighter future.
Jake's Story
Rail thin with a mop of dark hair and an engaging grin, you’d never guess Jake is a college freshman—he looks barely old enough to drive. But at 19, he is no longer a ward of the state, his mother is dead, and his dad isn’t in the picture. Like Josh, he is also studying graphic arts at Metro Community College, but the one thing that sets him apart from most of his classmates…this baby-faced teen is a dad.When Jake was three, his little sister, Sarah, with whom he shared a birthday, died. His mother passed away shortly thereafter. (Jake’s baby, now four months old, is named for his little sister.) The ensuing years found him in and out of foster care, staying in group homes, and living with other relatives. Most unsettling, Jake’s father petitioned the court to re-establish custody when he was 18, but two weeks later kicked his son out after an argument, leaving Jake literally homeless for a few days.
Jake started participating in Child Saving Institute’s Independent Living Skills program in February 2011. He says he appreciates all that he’s learned, and hears Meghan’s voice in his head “all the time” when he’s trying to make choices. “When I grew up, I didn’t get much help from my parents and they weren’t really around to teach me things. Independent Living Skill is kind of like a parental system; they teach you things like cooking, taxes, budgeting and stuff. They teach you how to do things right instead of wrong. ”
“Jake hasn’t had an easy life,” Meghan says. “The first 18 years were really difficult, and the last year has been particularly trying. That’s where we come in.”
