It’s a difficult and tragic fact that upwards of 20,000 youth “age out” of the foster care system each year.
To “age out” (usually at 18) means to no longer be under the legal custody of the state.
Without a permanent family to help guide and protect the newly liberated young person, these individuals face enormous pressures. From finding and paying for a place to live to buying food, planning their education and navigating the normal challenges of life, many wind up friendless, homeless and addicted.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner recognizes and appreciates this challenge, and in his role at HUD, is committed to doing something about it.
Secretary Turner recently told CBN’s Kelly Wright, “The first lady and I, her team and our team here at HUD, have partnered to provide $25 million to the ‘Foster Youth to Independence’ initiative.”
This effort, overseen by First Lady Melania Trump, provides housing vouchers for young people between the ages of 18 and 24. In addition to helping them find and fund an apartment, they also provide various supportive services including career counseling and job placement, education assistance and financial advice.
“Having a safe place, a home, to live is a start,” reflected Secretary Turner. “But we’re looking at this from a holistic standpoint to help, really, the next generation of leaders, as they land on their feet, aging out of foster care.”
The initiative was actually started in 2019 by then Secretary Dr. Ben Carson. Over 5,000 young men and women have participated in the program.
Secretary Turner added:
How blessed are we to have a first lady who has a heart for foster youth and wants to make this a priority and partner with HUD and with other administration officials to make sure that we’re taken care of and invested in our foster youth.
We should concentrate on that part of our society. But also these foster youth oftentimes are overlooked because they’re not in the public eye or they’re not, you know, of top priority to many general families that our kids are. And so I would encourage people to get educated on foster youth, get educated on where they are, what their desires are.
The realities facing these young people are sobering:
- 97% of all young adults who age out of foster care will face chronic poverty in their lifetime
- 81% of the young men who age out of foster care become incarcerated
- 71% of the young women who age out experience a pregnancy before they turn 21, and half of those babies end up in foster care as well
Focus on the Family has long been committed to finding permanent solutions to these chronic challenges facing children who are at risk. Of course the very best way is to help find forever homes for the boys and girls currently in the foster care system long before they age out.
From the beginning, our “Wait No More” program has helped to raise awareness of the over 100,000 children available and waiting to be adopted. We regularly hear testimonials from families who have adopted and then launched their kids into the world. They often share details that most people would never think about. For example, one twenty-something shared she now had a mother to call for advice when fixing the Thanksgiving turkey. When you age out, who do you call?
Secretary Turner and his team are concerned with helping meet the short-term needs of those in foster care and those on the verge of independence. But they’re also looking beyond the immediate and considering the long-term consequences of social dysfunction – and the exponential benefit that comes when you address the foundational issues at the root of healthy families.
“If you change your life, you change a generation,” shared Secretary Turner. “I would encourage the people of America to be intentional about pouring your life into the next generation, as God calls you to do.”
Images from Getty.