Foster kids who age out of the system in Texas face new challenges

Every yr in Texas, greater than 1,200 younger adults age out of the foster care system with out being adopted.

Kayli Lord, a 23-year-old masters scholar at Texas State University who is featured in this video, attended faculty with a tuition charge waiver provided by the state to folks with foster care expertise. Lord’s atypical household life makes it harder for her to seek out housing and a job.

People who age out of foster care don’t have the identical security web or stability many different younger adults have, and Lord and plenty of others who go away foster care usually develop into grim statistics. According to the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare, 1 in 4 of America’s foster youth are homeless inside 4 years of leaving foster care. Less than 3% of former foster youth graduate with bachelor’s levels.

When youths in the Texas foster care system flip 18, they will select to enter a program referred to as prolonged foster care. The program permits them to remain in foster care till they’re 21 and obtain case administration and a month-to-month stipend. In some areas, they will apply to supervised unbiased residing applications.

Stacy Johnson began Grace365, a supervised unbiased residing program in Round Rock, after seeing younger adults had nowhere to go after leaving her emergency shelter at Central Texas Table of Grace. Johnson began the nonprofit as a result of she grew up in foster care and needed to assist younger adults who want extra help, akin to Noah Bryan, featured in the video.

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