Foster kids aging out of system face tough futures

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The Board of Supervisors of Los Angeles County met Tuesday morning to discuss a plan to address the needs of foster care children who age out of the foster program.

The proposed Youth Self-Sufficiency Plan aims to meet the needs of the 1,800 youth who annually become ineligible for further care once they become legal adults. According to studies, within two years of this "aging out", the majority become prone to homelessness, joblessness, and incarceration.

"When a child is taken from his birth parents and placed in multiple placement facility, only to age out years later without an alternative permanent family, or committed adult, the government has essentially discharged an 18-year-old youth to himself, without skills, resources or a place to go," said Supervisor Mayor Michael Antonovich.

Antonovich submitted the plan, which proposes implementing the services across the county in order to connect these young adults to jobs, housing, and educational benefits which might not be available to them otherwise.

"It starts planning a youth's departure from birth, and it says how we prepare this child to be an adult successfully, holistically," said Helen Berberian, Social Service Deputy to Mayor Antonovich. "It's a long term preparation for adulthood, rather than the limited preparation for emancipation."

Berberian says the biggest change will be shifting the end goal of foster care away from emancipation, which is when the foster parents legally and financially end ties with the child. She calls this process one big checklist.

That's what happened with Mercedes Boston. Boston went into foster care when she was 10-years-old after her grandmother passed away of cancer.
"Going house to house it was really stressful, because I knew I wasn’t loved by people I stayed with," said Boston of her time in foster care.

After emancipating herself when she was 18, Boston was on her own for several years. She came across St. Anne's, a catholic social service agency dedicated to helping young children, mothers, and families in need - and didn't look back.

"I just want to thank St. Anne's for really believing in people and starting to get my trust back," said Boston.

St. Anne's provides many of the same services Mayor Antonovich's plan proposes as well. Implementation of the plan is set to begin within the next 30 days.