Many Oklahomans, once in foster care, age out and are now homeless, By Sidney Lee, April 18, 2016, Norman Transcript: “Foster children who have ‘aged out’ of the foster care system are one of the underserved populations in Oklahoma when it comes to housing, according to the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. The lack of affordable housing in much of Oklahoma especially affects this population group and others who would have difficulties with affordable and appropriate housing even without a shortage…”
Tag: Foster youth
Foster Care System – California
California’s two different visions for better foster care, By Jessica Mendoza, March 9, 2016, Christian Science Monitor: “Alberto Gutierrez had been off the streets and living at a youth shelter in Los Alamitos, Calif., for about a year when, for the first time in his life, he found himself nursing a broken heart. His girlfriend of nearly two years – someone who had helped see him through the horror of being homeless – had cheated on him, he learned. ‘I felt like I had been stabbed in the chest,’ says Mr. Gutierrez, who was 15 at the time. ‘I started crying. I needed a hug.’ Thankfully, he says, Kathleen Cyr, a senior staffer at Casa Youth Shelter, where Gutierrez was then living, was happy to oblige. To a boy with few friends, a rocky relationship with his stepfather, and a mother fighting a heroin addiction, that bit of comfort meant the world, says Gutierrez, now 18…”
Foster Youth Welcome Centers – Los Angeles, CA
L.A. County is shutting down troubled centers for foster kids with nowhere else to go, By Garrett Therolf, March 1, 2016, Los Angeles Times: “The waiting rooms for foster youths with nowhere else to go opened with great fanfare several years ago. Known as Youth Welcome Centers, they were hailed by Los Angeles County officials as an important way to address the chronic shortage of foster homes, especially for children hardest to place. They were the only facilities in the county system with a no-refusal policy and quickly became a place for youths who would otherwise be homeless. But in the next few days, the county plans to close both of its centers, acknowledging they didn’t work as intended…”