Copyright Providence Journal/Evening Bulletin Dec 12, 2004
More than 100 former foster children in Rhode Island are attending college this year, despite the enormous obstacles in their path.
Many have endured poverty, dislocation and uncertainty, and have been abused or neglected by their parents.
"When you think of the challenges that young people face when they come out of stable and continuous families, you can imagine how much harder it is for kids leaving foster care," said Kathi Crowe, a foster child herself who now works for the state Department of Children, Youth and Families.
"These kids have no safety net. There is no margin of error for them. Mistakes they make can end in homelessness."
The late U.S. Sen. John Chafee worked to secure federal funding in the late 1990s for older children leaving foster care, including money for higher education and training. Thanks to these Chafee funds, each eligible foster child can receive up to $5,000 a year toward post-secondary education. In addition, the General Assembly sets aside $200,000 each year to help cover the cost of tuition, room and board, and books for former foster children at Rhode Island state colleges.
"We use every dime," Crowe said.
To be eligible, students must have spent two years in foster care, go directly from high school into college fulltime and apply for federal financial aid.
Thanks to these programs, 91 former foster children attend state schools this year: 12 at the University of Rhode Island, 14 at Rhode Island College and 65 at the Community College of Rhode Island. Another 10 students receive Chafee funds that help pay their way at private and out-of-state colleges, including Bryant University, Johnson & Wales University, Rhode Island School of Design, Roger Williams University and UMass-Dartmouth; 16 others are in certificate and training programs at schools such as the New England Institute of Technology and Katharine Gibbs.
"Nationally, we discharge 35,000 older kids a year from foster care, and if we have 35,000 kids not educated and not employed to their full potential, then we lose out as a society," Crowe said. "This is not a charity program. This is a pay-now-or-pay-later program."
THERE ARE about 2,200 children in state care in Rhode Island, 769 of whom are age 16 or older, according to the DCYF.
Statistically, their prospects are bleak. Young people who "age out" of foster care -- somewhere between ages 18 and 21 in Rhode Island -- often drop out of high school and then end up poor and homeless, according to national studies.
Recognizing that this group needs help adjusting to adulthood, the DCYF offers several kinds of supports, including life-skills classes that teach cooking and budgeting.
DCYF's youth advisory board recently opened the First Stop Center at the Rhode Island Foster Parent Association in Cranston, where young people leaving foster care can select donated household appliances, sheets and other items, to help furnish their first apartments or dormitory rooms.
FOR EVERY foster child who succeeds, there is a caring adult who has helped them, Crowe said. For Crowe, it was a staff member at a group home she was sent to for "wayward and disobedient" behavior when she was a teenager. The staff member helped Crowe get into Rhode Island College, a step that changed the course of Crowe's life.
"She believed in me," Crowe said. "It really takes someone to see a spark in you and believe in you when you don't believe in yourself."
Jennifer Chasse, who is program manager at Bryant University's Executive Development Center, was searching for a philanthropic project for the Rhode Island Association of Women in Education, a professional organization of academic administrators.
Chasse, whose parents had cared for 28 foster children in New Hampshire, suggested that the association help foster kids going to college, by making them gift baskets full of needed items: shampoo, phone cards, sheets.
"These kids are so overlooked," Chasse said. "Unless you'd been involved in foster care, you might not ever think of this population."
On Thursday, the group assembled 83 holiday gift baskets, and it hopes to collect enough items to give one to every student at a state school.
"I think it's a miracle that 91 former foster children in Rhode Island have made it to [public] college this year," Chasse said.
Working with Crowe, some association members have also begun mentor training, so they can offer emotional support to the students throughout the year.
For more information about donating household items in good condition to the First Stop Center or to make other donations, please contact Kathi Crowe at (401) 528-3790, or the Foster Parent Association at (401) 781-1915. |
