More and more young adults are aging out of the state’s foster care system without ever being adopted by a forever family.
Suddenly left on their own, without the safety net of a caring family, many are at risk of failure.
A local judge who has watched many of these youngsters fall into homelessness and despair has just launched an effort to change things.
"We could see them fall off a cliff," said Judge Reneé Yanta, adding that she got tired of seeing good kids fail because they don’t have the skills to navigate the adult world and have no way to access community resources that could help. “They had trouble transitioning from being in foster care to college and less than three percent of the kids who graduate from high school in foster care end up in college, and that’s crazy! We started asking, ‘What is going on here?’ and what can we do, because our community is so big-hearted.”
Yanta said she came up with the idea of a summit because there are plenty of good people willing to help but no central way to coordinate aid for those who truly need it.
"We saw that the right hand didn’t know what the left hand was doing. It's a great group of people doing great work for kids but sometimes they double up their efforts and sometimes there are huge gaps, so we needed the community to come together," Yanta said.
In addition to getting a diverse group to work together, Yanta said another challenge is connecting the needy with services.
“There are many different organizations out there, lots of nonprofits, lots of people wanting to take care of these kids, but the kids can’t seem to access those services. That’s a real big problem. How do they find out about them and how do we help them get there?” said Yanta, who was quick to point out that any young adult who has survived the foster care system is already a winner. “These kids have all the potential in the world! If you survive foster care, it should be downhill. It should be easy, and it’s just the opposite.”
The judge said that kids who spend time in foster care are far more likely to end up homeless or with addiction issues or being victims of sex trafficking.
Kate Woodward says that she’s spent time with both adoptive and foster families growing up. She recalled turning 18 and beginning a downward spiral.
"They kicked me out and I was homeless,” she said.
Benito Villanueva III had a similar experience. He was in foster care for 10 years, from ages 8 to 18.
"I've been homeless ever since I left foster care. My mother's locked up and has five years, so I have no family whatsoever," Villanueva said.
Upon hearing about the summit and a search for solutions, Villanueva said he thought a comprehensive approach is a fantastic and long-overdue idea.
Angela Nichols, who said that she aged out of foster care in Florida before moving to Texas, agreed.
“When you get out, nobody wants to help you and it's really, really hard," Nichols said.
Aarianna Spencer, who recently aged out of the system, attended the conference.
"It's an outstanding thing happening here today, that they want to help," said Aarianna Spencer, who recently aged out of the system and attended the summit. "This means the world to me.”
The coalition is so new that they don't have a web page yet, but they have established an official Facebook page where you can find more information.