Ohio looks to aid youths who age out of foster care
By Hannah Armenta and Max Fleck
Abuse, neglect and constant uncertainty are some of the biggest themes in foster children’s stories across America.
Keri Richmond, junior public relations major and the director of student advancement for the Undergraduate Student Government, was immediately put into the foster care system when she was born.
She moved around from her birth parents to multiple foster homes until a foster home decided to adopt her when she was five-years-old, however, her happy ending didn’t come once she found a forever family – in fact, it was just the opposite.
“There was abuse that took place in my adoptive home that I decided not to expose until I was high school because I was afraid to go back into the foster system,” she said.
Richmond finally moved out of her home when she was a senior in high school. Due to her immense support system she was able to defy the social norm for aged out foster youth and come to college.
She is now in her third year and takes every chance she can to tell her story. Including speaking to Congress in 2015 about changing child welfare laws.
Unfortunately, Richmond’s story is unique. She considers herself one of the lucky ones.
Richmond and Kevinee Gilmore, who graduated from Cleveland State with a bachelors degree in Social work, are a part of that statistic.
There are currently more than 500,000 foster children in America. Currently, there are 12,500 children who are living in a foster home in Ohio and more than 2,500 children who are in permanent custody of a public agency. Only a small fraction of those have mentors and people who believe they can do better.
In Ohio, 56 percent of aged out youths will not graduate from high school or get a Graduate Equivalency Diploma and 36 percent experienced incarceration.
These statistics don’t shock Scott Britton, assistant director of the Public Children Services Association of Ohio.
“Unfortunately, Ohio has a larger percentage of youth who emancipate out of our system than other states do,” Britton said.
He said this is because of Ohio diverting youth away from the justice system and into the foster care system. The number of incarcerated youths in the justice system has dropped from 2,000 to less than 500.
“We believe a lot of the young people who would ordinarily be cycled into the justice system are being put into foster care – which we think is a good thing,” he said. “We cannot unfortunately put them in a regular foster home, they are not in a place where they can be in that environment.”
Britton also says it is uncommon for a young adult to be adopted into a good home, especially when their age and possible mental or behavioral disorders are considered.
This is what leads to a surplus of young adults who are unprepared to become contributing citizens aging out of the foster care system when they are 18-years-old.
Ohio is looking to reduce the number of youths who age out of the system with the implementation of House Bill 50, which will extend foster care from aged 18 to 21 and give young adults the tools to be successful in their adult life.
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After an overwhelming vote of 92 in favor and two against, House Bill 50 passed through the Ohio house and is moving to the senate.
The bill was passed on Dec. 1, 2015 and introduced in the senate later that week. It has since been removed to the finance committee.
Co-sponsor of the bill, Ohio Rep. Cheryl Grossman (R), who represents the 23rd district, says she pleased with the positive response the bill got.
“I’m pleased that compassion was obvious on that vote on what we can do to help young people,” she said. “I think people are stating to be educated and are more aware of the situations young people have to face.”
According to Ohio Fostering Connections, young adults who age out of the foster system at 18-years-old cost the government an average of $300,000 dollars each. With about 1,000 young adults aging out in Ohio per year, Ohio will spend $300 million on health care, incarceration, welfare and unemployment.
“Based on interactions with different organizations that are involved with young people, its just really difficult many times they [young adults] can’t get ID cards, if they can’t succeed in school or some job setting their other choices aren’t positive for them or for our state,” Rep. Grossman said.
Pushing the age back to 21-years-old, will save Ohio money in the future, she said.
According to Ohio Fostering Connections, “Over a ten-year period, Ohio will benefit dollar-for-dollar by providing supportive services to young people who age out of foster care and to those who were adopted from foster care at age 16 or later.”
There are four proposed core program services that will aid foster care youth if the bill is passed: Housing, case management, administrative review and extended adoption assistance.
The Ohio House of Representatives believes these are the necessary steps to take in order to help foster care youth after age 18.
Ohio’s push to extend foster care comes eight years after the federal government passed the Fostering Connection to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (H.R. 6893/P.L. 110-351).
In 2008, the federal government passed the Fostering Connection to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act, which was designed to connect foster children to their relatives, better coordinate the health care and education of foster children, support permanent families through guardianship and enhance adoption subsides and supports to older youth in foster care.
However, some believe this is a great step, but it isn’t enough to fix the foster care crisis in America.
“It has very specific requirement these federal requirement for the young people who participate to be employed at least part-time or going to school part time or have a significant disability that prevents them and a lot of the neediest youth are not necessarily those the kids who are working part time or going to school part time,” Britton said. “These are the kids who are really struggling and having the most negative outcomes of this program.”