A Grim Future: When Children Age Out
If a child is twelve years old and in foster care, they
have a 90% chance of “aging out†of foster care. Children who enter foster care
after the age of twelve, or simply grow up in foster care until they are twelve,
are never given the chance to have a family. In fact, 25,000 children “age outâ€
of foster care every year. Aging out is what occurs when foster care children
turn eighteen or twenty-one, and are no longer eligible for the benefits of the
child welfare system. Aging out happens to foster care children who are never
adopted, and never know the permanence and love of a single family. When a
child ages out of foster care, they are considered an adult and are no longer
“property†of the state.
A note to remember
is that all states have different policies regarding the benefits “aged-outâ€
foster youth have once they reach eighteen years of age. Some states allow
former foster care children to keep health insurance until they are twenty-one,
and even provide tuition for state college. Some completely cut off benefits on
their eighteenth birthday, and foster children are given no shelter or
educational chances. Some cut off benefits when they graduate from high school,
under the assumption that somehow they can magically take care of themselves
with a high school degree alone.
The amount of post-foster care assistance that an aged-out
youth receives also depends on the quality of the social worker. Most foster
children go through multiple social workers a year. Most social workers are
bogged down by so many cases that they lose the ability to know their foster
children personally. Programs also change annually, especially when new budgets
are approved in state governments. Social workers often do not have the time to
learn about new programs or new guidelines for foster care children. Many
social workers also handle different types of cases at once, and cannot focus
specifically on foster care children. This leads to thousands of children never
receiving the post-foster care living programs and training they are entitled.
The consequence of a child aging out of foster care reaps
a grim future indeed. 25% of them end up homeless. Chances are this number is
much higher as you examine populations closer to age eighteen, when aged-out
foster children are usually “kicked out†by the system. 56% of them are
unemployed. Foster children who age out usually have no resources to even find
jobs from the beginning; often lacking adequate transportation or even having
an appropriate wardrobe. Most foster children also have no references for
getting apartments or jobs. Two-thirds of them will never get a college degree
either, due to the lack of professional references, proper high school
education and lack of financial resources.
Aged-out foster youth also lack basic psychological
counseling, which is absolutely mandatory for any child who has lost their
entire family, siblings, and has been subject to abuse. The system itself
abuses foster children in that it often splits up siblings, so much that some
may never see each other again, or see each other only very rarely. To complement
this, foster children who have aged-out experience clinical social anxiety,
PTSD and personality disorders years into adulthood as their minds try to cope with
the trauma they have endured for far too long.
Jamey and Katrina Madonna are the Founding Directors of
“Children of The Sonâ€, a non-profit organization for children who are victims
of abuse, neglect, poverty and abandonment who are living in foster care,
residential facilities and the inner-city. They currently operate a summer
recreation camp for girls on a 1000 acre ranch.
Mr. Madonna is raising the necessary capital to build a
permanent place of residence on his beautiful ranch for children ages 13 -21
who have run away, been abandoned or have “aged out†of the foster care system.
Jamey Madonna utilizes the very powerful Reverse Funnel
System, a marketing system for Global Resorts Network, to make thousands of
dollars per week to support this organization. His team of top income earners
will show you a way to live a life of prosperity and happiness. Join him today
and see how careful funds investment can result in actionable charity that can
change an entire generation.
Jamey Madonna