![]() ![]() ![]() For the past 6 years, she has used her experience and knowledge to educate others about meeting the specialized needs of hurting children. Liz has dedicated her adult life to serving children in foster care and the heroes who help them. ![]() Her expansive personal experience is balanced against her degree specializations in Psychology/Criminal Justice & Sociology/Social Work. She has been the foster child, the adopted child, the foster parent, and the adoptive parent. She provides a uniquely holistic perspective, offering us an intimate look at what it means to be both the child in need of a home and the one who is providing it. Liz now writes and speaks professionally about her experiences of growing up in the foster care system and the years of homelessness, addiction, neglect, and abuse she endured while living with her birth family. After wondering if she would ever find a family, she finally found a place to call home just before she was grown–at the age of 15! Check out our programs and find out more about how YOU can help us continue to help young people move beyond the challenges of being in foster care.After 8 years of maltreatment within her birth family, followed by 7 years in the foster care system, Liz Hunter didn’t just survive–SHE OVERCAME! She battled through the effects of severe educational, environmental, and emotional neglect and graduated Valedictorian of her high school and summa cum laude of her college. Foster Care to Success has been doing so since 1981. There are practical and effective ways to meet the needs of college-bound foster youth and change their outcomes for the better. With support from Foster Care to Success, their success rate rises dramatically: 65 percent of our scholars graduate within five years, a percentage higher than that of the overall U.S. If given the same opportunities and supports as other young people, they can achieve great success.Īccording to the most recent research, less than 10 percent of foster youth graduate from college. Many foster youth are very resilient by surviving day-to-day and placement-to-placement they become strong, self-reliant and determined. “Aging Out” of the Foster Care SystemĪlthough the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 gave states the option of raising the emancipation age (that is, the age that foster youth must leave or “age out” of the foster system) from 18 to 21, currently only a small number of states have approved plans in place.ĭespite emerging supports, states are struggling to meet the needs of older foster youth, and many teens, not seeing any advantage to staying in care, voluntarily “age out” at 18 or after high school graduation even though very few of them are capable of establishing a successful independent life without family or community support. ![]() Recent findings from the science of brain development show that such prolonged stress biologically alters the structure of the growing brain, affecting physical and emotional well-being.įurthermore, the typical path of a foster child – from placement to placement, school to school – denies them a stable emotional, social and educational foundation. Lack of bonding as an infant or child can cause emotional and psychological trauma that is very difficult to overcome. Many foster youth experience intense and sustained stress growing up. How the Foster Care System Impacts Young PeopleĬhildren enter foster care because their families are experiencing difficulties so severe that they cannot take care of them. They may never feel stable or connected, lacking the family and community ties that are so critical to young adults learning to make their own way in the world. Sadly, too many children spend years in “the system,” moving from foster home to group home to foster home, and from one school district to another. foster care system was designed to temporarily protect and nurture children whose parents are unable or unwilling to care for them, until those parents become stronger, healthier and in a position to provide a safe loving home for their children. The Beatles’ John Lennon, Apple's Steve Jobs, actress Marilyn Monroe and the Baltimore Ravens' Michael Oher all spent time in foster care. ![]()
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