Inspire Life Skills Training

Foster Care; the next step can be iffy
At exit time, help is scarce
Inland woman's homespun nonprofit group offers lifeline
Lisa O'Neill Hill. The Press - Enterprise. Riverside, Calif.:Sep 8, 2006. p. A01

Leilani Kane became numb long ago to her nomadic and chaotic upbringing. In foster care since she was a child, Kane changed addresses eight times in 13 years.

Some of her living situations were not ideal but at least she had a roof over her head, she said.

However, Kane always knew that one day she would have to fend for herself. In California, most children in foster care are on their own when they turn 18 and are emancipated. Some find housing, but about half return to relatives who couldn't care for them, said Mike McConnell, manager of Riverside County's Independent Living Program.

Kane, who turns 18 today, said she had few options.

Housing remains one of the biggest concerns for the 20,000 young people in the country who age out of foster care each year, experts say. But Inland officials are hopeful that a recent change in California legislation and a tiny, homespun nonprofit group will help make small strides in solving a large problem.

A program, passed by the state Legislature in 2002 and designed to provide housing, grocery support and job training to foster youth between the ages of 16 and 24 got little participation because it required a 60 percent match from county governments.

But Gov. Schwarzenegger agreed this year to fully fund the program, and Riverside and San Bernardino counties hope to participate.

For Kane, the homespun nonprofit group, Inspire Life Skills Training, was her answer.

"I was worried about where I was going to stay," said the soft-spoken young woman with black hair that falls near her waist. "I had nowhere to go."

She applied for and was accepted to live in one of two apartments for former foster youth run by Inspire. One apartment is in Riverside; the other's in San Bernardino. Founded a year ago by a Corona woman, the organization helps young women transition into self-sufficiency.

Kane, who was removed from her mother after being born with drugs in her system, is moving into an apartment near Riverside's Cal Baptist University where three other young women - all of whom were in foster care - live.

She said she is excited and apprehensive about the opportunity.

"It's really like I only get one chance. I can't screw it up," said Kane, who attends Riverside Community College, works, and wants to be a pediatric nurse.

More options
Inland officials hope future emancipated youth also will benefit from the change in legislation.
Local governments that had not been participating will apply for funding and demonstrate how they would use the money.

Cathy Cimbalo, children's services director for San Bernardino County, said her office hopes to take advantage of the program, as do officials in Riverside County.

"I think we're all aware that kids at 18 really are not ready to be on their own but the system has not planned for that," Cimbalo said.

Both counties provide some services to foster youth after they leave the system.

In California, 75,260 children were in out-of-home placement as of June, according to the California Department of Social Services. That number includes children who are living in foster homes and those who have been placed with relatives.

As of June, 5,256 children were in out-of-home care in Riverside County, compared to 4,743 in San Bernardino County, according to the department.

Social service providers in both counties prepare foster youth for emancipation by teaching them tasks such as paying bills and interviewing for jobs - skills they need to live on their own.

They also are given help finding housing. Emancipated foster youth are entitled to college tuition waivers and can qualify for certain scholarships that waive all the costs. But many youth don't know about the services.

"It's not like they're just thrown out into the wind, but the problem with housing is a severe one," said Becky Dugan, Riverside County's presiding juvenile court judge. "We don't have enough housing and the housing we do have is in places we don't want to put them. The county overall has a severe shortage of affordable housing, which trickles down to foster kids."

Robin Nixon, executive director of the National Foster Care Coalition in Washington, D.C., said social service providers and others need to do a better job of preparing youth for emancipation. She also believes the age at which young people are emancipated should be pushed back.

"The average American kid doesn't cut off the family purse strings until 26 or 27 but we expect them to do it at 18," Nixon said.

INSPIRE
Inspire founder Kristi Camplin, 32, recognized that problem. The six young women who live in the Inspire apartments juggle classes, part-time jobs and mandatory, free counseling at Cal Baptist University. All are 18 or older and attend local colleges, including Cal State San Bernardino.

They participate in twice monthly "life skills" classes designed to get them thinking about their long-term goals or about more practical matters such as birth control options. Camplin pairs them with mentors, volunteers who can be a constant resource and guide for the young women whose lives have been defined by inconsistency.

Camplin furnishes the apartments with donated beds, sofas and other items.

She has become seasoned at asking businesses for gift certificates that she can give to the teenagers. She relies on donations to pay for expenses.

The young women each contribute at least $80 a month toward rent, pay 10 percent of the utility bill and buy their own groceries. In many ways, they are living lives of typical young people.

Erica Navarro, 18, and Tabitha Cooper, 19, share an apartment near Cal State San Bernardino.
The girls have formed a tight bond, and relate to each other as if they were sisters.

Navarro, who wants to be a correctional officer, was placed in a shelter when her mother was arrested.

She was unhappy in the succession of homes she lived in and resisted getting close to anyone.

"My parents always made promises to me and never kept them," she said. "I've learned now don't get my hopes up on what people say."

Navarro said her social worker suggested applying to Inspire. Now, her life is pretty calm, and living in the apartment has provided stability.

"It's taught me more responsibility," she said.

Inspire focuses on high functioning kids, which increases the chances that the program will help youth succeed, Dugan said. Too often, the foster-care system is blamed for negative outcomes, she said.

Society in general has leaned very heavily on the criminal justice and family law systems to be parents for children, she said.

"The truth is no agency, no court can be parents for children," she said. "We are basically left as a cleanup when the damage has been done."