Aging Out of Foster Care

Published
by
Mike Tikkanen
on December 10, 2009
in Kids At Risk Action (KARA) and links to video
. 9 Comments Tags: .

I found this video by Misha Zubarev to have captured much of the unspoken human side of child protection services. It speaks volumes in its ten minute span.

9 Responses to “Aging Out of Foster Care”

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  1. 1 Pamela Couey
    February 17, 2010 at 9:33 pm

    I too was a youth in foster care. Luckily my mom got me back (my being there was not because of abuse or neglet on her part). My father assaulted me in another state and it took the better part of a year to get me home. I knew kids who aged out. I was terrified it would happen to me too.I was fifteen when I was in foster care and my social worker was already looking for an “independent living” facility for me. My mother fought the state of Texas to bring me home to Mississippi. She died when I was seventeen. I took me ten years to recover from her death and my experience with the foster care system. I pray for these invisible kids…i know the trials they face. We all need to stand up for them.

  2. 2 Elaine Bateman
    March 18, 2010 at 9:46 am

    My life and passion has always been for the young adults aging out of the system or not even aging out but on their own already. It is becuase we have opened our home and adopted 12 young adults after 18.

    My platform as Mrs Kentucky International 2010 is Adoption of Young Adults because it has been life for the last 15 years.

    This video speaks volumes. I also wanted to see how to contact Pamela Couey. I am on Facebook with my page as Mrs Kentucky International 2010 and also Ruth’s Hope Project.

    Thank you for speaking the truth.

    Elaine Bateman
    Mrs Kentucky International 2010

  3. 3 Laurie Robertson
    March 22, 2010 at 4:12 pm

    I don’t mean to sound glib about the aging out of the foster care system situations,but I am wondering why these kids can’t stay in the home they are in if they so turn 18?Is it that some people won’t let them(the foster parents) or is it illegal to let them?Is it a state run home? Can they not get a job and go to college and still stay where they are?I can’t imagine saying, “your 18 now,get out”.My son will be 18 in June,but if I had a foster child/ren I couldn’t and I wouldn’t tell them to go.If they are being productive or at least trying to be,shouldn’t they be given the place and time until they are ready to leave?

  4. 4 Elaine Bateman
    March 29, 2010 at 6:43 pm

    Dear Laurie,

    I often have thought the same thing. Why can’t they just stay there? Some of our young adults have been in homes for several years and then they are still told to leave.

    I listened to an interview just a few minutes ago that resonates what is going on through out our country.

    This young man watched his brother turn 18 and also watched the same Foster Parents pack his bags and set them outside when the young man was not even home. He gets home and finds his things outside.

    Sad but true. Thank you for caring!

  5. 5 Holi
    March 29, 2010 at 7:49 pm

    For those aging out, you can create an extended family of your choosing. reach out. It can happen.

  6. 6 Pamela Hemen
    April 2, 2010 at 7:02 pm

    Hi,
    I would like to know how to get a child out of foster care back to their family.
    She has been adopted, supposedly, by her foster parents.
    These folks use foster children as slaves and do not care for them.
    She has to attend school and hold down two jobs to survive and take care of herself.
    Her foster parents receive 1700.00 per month to take care of her, but she has to provide for herself and do whatever she is told.
    She worked til 3:30 a.m. and has to come home and work for her parents rather then get sleep in between her jobs and unable to enjoy a day off from school on holidays.
    The system is not working for these children. What can be done about it?
    She is a straight A student, as sweet as she can be and resides in the state of Mississippi.
    She is age 17 and can not be emancipated.
    It’s as if she is in jail.

  7. 7 Megan Maddox
    April 3, 2010 at 6:36 pm

    The only way to change anything in this government is to talk to congressmen and city representatives, governors etc., government officials will do almost anything to be reelected. If enough people raise a stink by contacting these people,petitioning,protesting, posting essays,preenting the situation in a respectful manner and demading that something is done, then it is likely to be done. I am seventeen. I know what bs goes on out there and there are many kids just like me who care about this kind of thing. There are tons of people who care. It is a matter of caring enough to put all your time and effort into your cause in order to make a change. We as Americans have the right to petition the government!

  8. 8 Christopher Bouril
    July 9, 2010 at 6:40 pm

    Fighters’, such as yourself are helping those sojourners come to grips with reality. Miss you misha…that russian candy is some good stuff. I’ve released a group on facebook; not4sale; helping those who are on roller-coasters as well.

  9. 9 Pamela Couey
    July 10, 2010 at 10:00 am

    Children aging out are not legally allowed to remined in the placement homes. These kids are forced out if not by the foster parent then by the caseworkers from DHR. Good foster parents try to find extended placement for these kids but resources are limited. Many of these kids are considered a lost caase becuase of behavioral problems. The system does NOT focus on making sure these kids age out with high school diplomas, or even drivers liscenses. It is as if they are getting released from prison…only without the benifits of services avaible to ensure their success upon their release. No halfways houses or job training programs.

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