Delaware’s children: On their own after foster care, By Mike Chalmers, July 14, 2010, Wilmington News Journal: “One day when Lorri Moxey was 13, her mother told her she needed a yearlong break from her kids. ‘When I walked into the house, all my stuff was packed and there was a van parked outside,’ said Moxey, now 20. ‘I didn’t know what foster care was,’ she said. ‘I didn’t know where I was going. By the age of 14, I knew she wasn’t coming back. She doesn’t want to be a mother.’ Like many teenagers who enter Delaware’s foster care system, Moxey was not adopted and never went back to her family. She ‘aged out’ of the system when she finished high school last summer at age 19. Most leave when they turn 18. Moxey got lucky, though. One of her former foster mothers took her in until she could get on her feet. But others struggle with the transition to adulthood and may end up homeless, in jail or addicted to drugs, experts said. With the number of teenagers aging out of the system nearly doubling in the past decade, Delaware is about to make big changes to help them line up a home, a job, an education and the little things that new adults need to go out on their own…”
Day: July 14, 2010
Green Initiatives and Fuel Poverty – UK
Green steps ‘hurting people in fuel poverty’, July 12, 2010, BBC News: “People in fuel poverty face being unfairly hit by the costs of investment in energy infrastructure and reducing greenhouse gases, a report says. Such spending may see energy bills rise by 50% – on top of 125% rises seen in the past six years – the government’s Fuel Poverty Advisory Group said. This was ‘regressive’ and would ‘disproportionately’ impact those people on low incomes, it warned. Energy firms should prioritise the fuel poor, the group added. The group also urged the government to guarantee the future of the Warm Front scheme, which offers grants to tackle fuel poverty – defined as spending over 10% of household income on energy bills…”