Helping Foster Care Youth Access College
Education has not been on the radar for child agencies until
recently, say child advocates.
By Molly Nance
Aida Chávez was one of the thousands of foster youth who, when formally emancipated from the system at 18 years old, was not prepared. It was time to enter the real world: to get a job and go to college. But she had only $500 in her bank account.
“Had someone told me that’s not enough money to live sufficiently, I would have lied and said, ‘I have zero cents!’” says Chávez, recalling her dialogue with officials before she left the foster care system. “They never asked for a bank statement, and said ‘OK, she’s good to go.’”
Chávez, 25, says making it on her own wasn’t easy, but with help from friends, she did it. She made a life for herself, earned a bachelor’s degree in social work from California State University, Fresno in 2001, and is now a foster youth advocate.
Chávez and others, including Minh Ngo, have one goal in common: to improve the foster care system for children and prepare them for higher education. Ngo is the executive director of the Silicon Valley Children’s Fund, an organization that hosted the “Creating a Blueprint: Building Support for Students from Foster Care on Higher Education Campuses” conference in Santa Clara, Calif., in November.
The conference was the first of its kind and created a stir that concentrated on higher education as an imperative for a successful future for foster youth.
“Up until recently, education has not been something that was on the radar for child agencies. Their primary focus was protection and safety,” says Ngo, adding that the number of foster youth entering college is “dismal.” “It is almost negligible when you look at the overall population.”
According to a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 513,000 children were in foster care in 2005, and 24,407 were formally emancipated. Blacks and Hispanics are disproportionately represented in foster care, accounting for 32 percent and 18 percent, respectively. Whites make up 41 percent, while American Indians make up 2 percent, Asians 1 percent, and 3 percent are multi-racial.
