Blogs by Deborah K. Frontiera
Fighting CPS
11/25/2012 4:34:49 PM
The purpose of this blog is to provide updates on some of the cases I reported in my book (Fighting CPS: Guilty Until Proven Innocent of Child Protective Services Charges ISBN 9-780-9800061-6-2) that had not been resolved when the book went to press, and to report other cases where CPS is not working up to par. I’d also like to hear about cases in which Child Protective Services did the right thing so those cases can serve as examples of what should be done. Occasionally, I will report helpful tips and web sites with advice on fighting CPS.
To comment on this blog, or to tell your story, email Deborah Frontiera at frontiera.fightingcps.deborah.gmail.com
The next post on this blog will post on Dec. 10, 2012.
What Happens to Kids Who “Age Out”?
Another aspect of how Child Protective Services in Texas, and many other states, fail the children they are supposed to protect is what happens to a child who, after sometimes many years “in the system”, reach that magic age of eighteen to become “adults” under the law. Kids who have been bounced from one foster home to the next have no real family and nowhere to turn when a state says, “Happy Birthday! You are on your own now,” whether they are ready or not, have completed their education or not, have a way to provide for themselves or not.
Many years ago, when my husband and I lived in Kansas and for a few years were foster parents ourselves, that state at least had a program in place to prepare such kids for life on their own. At that time (in the late 1970s and early 80s) we were foster parents to a young woman about to “age out”. She turned eighteen before graduating from high school, but Kansas allowed such kids to stay “in the system” until after graduation. It was our job to help her make the transition. We helped her fill out job applications (for part time while still a student), took her to get a driver’s license, helped her open a checking and savings account, helped arrange a loan of a decent used car, find an affordable place to rent . . . We went beyond what was expected and gave her a little graduation party, inviting many of our friends who brought “shower” type items as gifts so there would be something to put in that apartment. If I remember correctly, that state (at that time at least) did give kids a “good-bye allowance” to help them get started. That young woman became a responsible adult. (Others in our temporary care were not so lucky after they left us.)
Kids in Texas aren’t so lucky either. On Sunday, Oct. 14, Patricia Kilday Hart, columnist for the Houston Chronicle, ran a piece (Pg. B-1 and 2) describing the heart-breaking circumstances of one such kid who ended up living under a freeway overpass. She reported on a book,
Almost Home: Helping Kids Move from Homelessness to Hope, by Kevin Ryan (president of Covenant House youth shelter network) and Tina Kelly (former New York Times reporter). The book describes the lives of several different young people, each homeless for a different reason. Hart also reported that of some 16,000 children in foster care in Texas, about 1,500 will “age out” this year. Statistics also show that in 2009, about 6,400 kids had been in foster care in Texas for more than three years, some of them in as many as eleven different placements, with some 500 who had been in foster care over a decade! That is way too many kids who have no real family. For all the details on this story, go to www.chron.com and do a search in their archives for Hart’s columns.
In a follow-up column on Oct. 17, 2012 (Houston Chronicle pg. B-1 and 3) Hart described a new process in Texas in which judges speak directly to foster children. “Until recently, many foster children never had the opportunity to talk to the judge supervising their cases. Prodded by the Texas Supreme Court’s Permanent Judicial Commission for Children Youth and Families, judges . . . no longer hold court hearings without children present.” (article mentioned above, pg. B-3) This makes it easier for kids to ask to stay under the state’s protection until age twenty-one, or talk about a family member they would like to live with. According to the article, this new process has already helped many young people. It is, finally, a step in the right direction for Texas.
The point here is this: There aren’t enough rooms in any city’s Covenant House for the numbers of kids who end up homeless when they “age out” from foster care! These kids need our help. Please, whatever state you live in, find out what happens to kids who reach adulthood after dysfunctional lives in foster care. Make sure your state has programs in place to help them prepare for life on their own. Yell BLOODY MURDER to your state legislators to put programs in place for these young people if there are none. Whatever the state has to spend on helping these kids is far less than the cost of incarceration or death. AND support organizations like Covenant House with your charitable gifts.
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