Foster care and education

While watching the State of the Union address on Tuesday I was reminded of how challenging it is to move beyond worthy aspirations and truly effect change. In the world of partisan gridlock I can’t help but wonder what if anything can be accomplished in such a dysfunctional environment. Perhaps the most difficult thing about such an impasse is the negative impact it has on the lives of the most vulnerable.

The fiscal constraints of the last several years have considerably weakened the capacity of public education systems. School districts like Los Angeles Unified School District and Pasadena Unified School District are struggling to meet the needs of their students, especially those with learning challenges. In particular this is true for children served in foster care.  Recently, a study about the education of school-aged children and youth in the foster care system was released by The Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning. The study is a “first-ever education snapshot” of all K-12 students in foster care in California.

Some of the findings, although not surprising, were nevertheless sobering when you consider how essential education is for success. The study shows that students in foster care:

• Were more likely than other students to change schools during the school year.
• Were more likely to be enrolled in the lowest-performing schools.
• Had the lowest participation rate in statewide testing.
• Were older for their grade level than the other student groups. 
• Had the highest drop out rate and lowest graduation rate. 

 In addition,

• Only 37 percent of foster care students were proficient in math, the lowest of all other students, including those with disabilities or with limited English.  
• Nearly one in five students in foster care was classified with a disability and had a higher rate of emotional disturbance.         

For the children and youth in the foster care system today, the aspirations of well-intended government officials offer little consolation. For them to wait for the political process to bring about change is unacceptable. Their needs are immediate. What is at risk is their future! For us at Hillsides, the dilemma is urgent because these are our children and we can not fail them.

Since discouragement is not an option we have marshaled our own resources to augment the inadequate public funds we receive for education and have engaged an ever generous community of supporters to help the children and youth we serve defy the odds.

In particular, we do this by enlisting the help of between 45-70 volunteers at any given time who serve as tutors and mentors to provide the indispensable one-on-one attention and instruction that has helped those we serve out-perform other students in the foster care system.

Rob Wherley, one of our teachers at the Hillsides Education Center, began a reading program in September for struggling readers at the school. The program is called Reading Rocks and currently utilizes six tutors to serve 25 students who are struggling readers.  These students read at a level that is far below that which is expected by the state of California.  All of the 22 students have shown steady improvement in reading skills.  Currently, 17 of these students are on track to make a full grade level jump in reading performance and five of these students are on track to make a two grade level jump by the end of the school year.  The goal of the Reading Rocks Program is to “make up for lost time” by providing the individualized intensive intervention necessary to get students back to grade level reading expectations.

We may struggle to get the political system to be effective, but with the help of innovative staff and the generous support of volunteers we are helping our students to achieve and create lasting change. For more information on how you can volunteer as a tutor or mentor, please contact Laura Kelso, director of community resources.

Strategy for independence

The New York Times recently had a great exposé on former foster youth and their challenges to get a college degree. The article featured numerous youth in Los Angeles and the Guardian Scholars program that supports former foster youth with tuition assistance, housing, and supportive services while pursuing their education.

The challenges are enormous, considering that only, “six percent of former foster youth…earn a two or four year degree by the age of 24” while “34 percent have been arrested by age 19.” The odds are in favor of incarceration over education. Failure at such an early stage in their efforts to achieve independence can negatively influence their ability to be successful. The amount of perseverance required is extraordinary. Is it any wonder that only six percent of the youth graduate from college?

The challenge is only made greater because often these young people have had a very inconsistent education. The movement from placement to placement let alone dealing with any specific learning challenges they may have is very daunting.

And what about the other 94 percent of former foster youth, what happens to them? If the education system is not the pathway to independence, then what will help them to succeed?

Our experience at Youth Moving On has taught us a number of lessons with regard to what are good strategies for achieving independence. In addition to encouraging and supporting youth to achieve a good education, we have also found that equally important is to prepare youth for employment. With the proper orientation and coaching many youth are able to experience the gratification that comes from employment. A good job validates skills that often have been underestimated and provides the financial rewards that are essential for true independence.

On any given year YMO graduates several youth who although they may not have attained a college degree have secured a good job that rewards them with a career path, medical benefits, and financial resources. In the process, these young people experience the kind of success that bolsters their self-esteem and strengthens them to address other challenges. Among our recent graduates we have youth now employed in teaching, counseling, and the medical field. In order to assure their permanent place in these fields, further education will be required. Knowing they have successfully been employed, they pursue that education with some confidence and may be better equipped to get a degree.

Like anything else, there is no one sure strategy to achieve independence. More often than not, what breeds success is success itself. If achievement on the job front opens the door to future education, then we just might have a chance at increasing the odds in favor of independence over incarceration.

Commencement: Untold Story

The Hillsides Education Center had its 29^th graduation on Tuesday, June 4. One of the graduates chose a quote from Maya Angelou to describe what motivates her: “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Graduation is all about achievement, but often the achievements are not just academic for the students at HEC. Their achievements have to do with the ability to tell an untold story that resides deep within and longs to be expressed. Untold, a story has the power to hold a person captive, however, when spoken it losses its power to hold and instead becomes an expression of a truth and reality. Sometimes what may be expressed is a hurt, an embarrassment, even anger, but inevitably the telling of the untold story is cathartic and life giving.

As our Education Director, Jay Bechtol, reminded the assembly, each graduating student at Hillsides is a valedictorian and given the opportunity to address those gathered for the graduation. As each student took their place at the podium, they had an opportunity to tell their story, a story of challenges, but also of resolve to see their way to this significant milestone equipped to look beyond this moment and set a direction for their lives.

As they head out on this next chapter, they do so confident of who they are, their abilities, even their limitations, not overwhelmed, but rather determined to be happy and successful.

I sometimes wonder what happens to the many aspirations that are shared at graduation, whether they are achieved or altered by harsh realities. Just as I was reflecting on this thought, I encountered a former student who had come by for the graduation. She was happy to reconnect with friends and staff at HEC and with great excitement  filled them in on what was going on in her life at this time. I’m not sure what aspiration she had when she graduated, but it seemed to me from the encounter that some of them have been realized

As important as goals are, it’s the dedication to achieve them that makes all the difference. Inevitably goals change, lessons are learned along the way and hopefully a direction is set, and much is achieved. As another graduate summed it up with a quote from Robert Frost: “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.”

Life indeed does go on with the help of so many family members and friends who support these graduates and walk along with them. To the graduates, their families and friends, the incredible staff of HEC, and all those who passionately support our mission, congratulations and thank you!

Very Scary

More frightening than the Halloween haunted house at Hillsides is that we are just a week away from going to the polls. And aside from the presidential election, Californians are being asked to remedy the woefully underfunded public education system by choosing between two propositions, each flawed in many ways.

Once again California's children are held hostage by the political maneuvering of both sides and the voter is asked to play "Solomon." The reality is that the state budget in part has been balanced by sacrificing public education at all levels. The result is poor families and their children are disproportionately affected by these cuts. School systems throughout the state are burden to provide more with less, stifling efforts to provide an education for those who are most dependent on the system. Add to this the imperative to address the needs of students with learning challenges and the result is an overburdened system left to manage with little resources and very poor options.

Why is it that, once again, education and social services programs are the target of budget balancing efforts?  I suggest it is because it is easy to dismiss those, who for any number of reasons, do not vote.  There are more powerful forces at play that inevitably prevail. In spite of all the rhetoric that expresses support for our children, their education and the need to maintain a "safety net" for the poor, it is precisely the most vulnerable that are first to feel the impact of budget cuts. 

There are no easy solutions and, unfortunately, only poor choices. Additional funding is not necessarily the solution and increasing deficits are a path to ruin. More than anything else what is needed is political resolve to set priorities that take into account not only our fiscal constraints, but also the needs of the most vulnerable while offering a sustainable pathway to opportunity for all people.

Intelligent and good people will differ on which direction to take. I hope at some point victors and losers can put aside the partisanship and commit to what is best for our nation and society. But this will take extraordinary courage.

I wouldn't dare to suggest any candidate or ballot initiative over an other. My only plea is that you vote one way or another, in spite of the difficult choices. As you do keep in mind those who do not vote, whose voices are easily drowned out and are never-the-less affected by your ballot choices.

Presidential Debate Question

The election is down to the wire and political pundits have focused on the upcoming presidential debates as critical to the success of either candidate. As I watch the debates, I’ll be looking for questions that address the issues of vulnerable children, youth, and their families-- questions that might indicate the candidate’s position regarding education, children’s services, youth development, family supportive services, and poverty. The candidates may be wise to avoid specifics, but somehow their response to these issues may provide us with a glimpse into how they might lead.

The overriding issue impacting the vast majority of those we serve is poverty. The US Census Bureau statistics released in September indicate that 6.4 million Californians, almost 17% of the state’s population, are living in poverty. The impact of these numbers on children is frightening. While individuals under 18 account for only one quarter of the state’s residents, they account for one-third of Californians living in poverty!

There is no question we are living through an unprecedented time of financial challenges as a nation. No candidate can venture to offer assurances without running the risk of miscalculating the Herculean task of stabilizing the country financially. However, the issue of poverty and its long-term impact are essential parts of how we develop a path that leads the country through this challenging time.

From lower levels of educational attainment to lower earnings as adults, the lasting consequences are significant for children who grow up in poverty. The impact is not only felt by the individual raised in poverty, but the significant cost imposed upon communities and systems left to assist those who have been affected by poverty. It is a pervasive problem we struggle with, and there are no simple answers.

Clearly, if the debates are meant to provide an opportunity for a serious discussion on issues that have a significant impact on our society, I will expect poverty somehow will be addressed. This is not about two very different philosophical approaches to the issue, but importantly, it is about the impact these positions have on those struggling in the grip of poverty.  

Each year our Family Center programs offer assistance to those families who need help with food, lodging, and transportation, some of the basic needs to get them beyond crisis and trauma to receive necessary treatment. For those we serve who are struggling, how these candidates address poverty is not a matter of political posturing, but rather one of survival. Let’s see what the candidates have to say.

An Alarming Epidemic

As incredulous as the sex abuse of minors in the Catholic Church was, and most recently the Penn State scandal, we are now engrossed in yet another inconceivable scenario of sexual abuse allegation in the LAUSD school system. As is true in the Catholic Church regarding priests, and indeed true also for athletic coaches, the vast majority of teachers are talented, hard working and very dedicated in spite of fiscal constraints and poor conditions. However, the lesson that can be learned from the sexual abuse scandals is that mixed loyalties, shame and a protective institutional culture can result in placing those entrusted in our care at considerable harm.

For all of us who care for children, there is only one driving concern: their safety. Each time I address new staff members I remind them that the children we serve have experienced more than their share of trauma. Therefore, more than anything else, whether in words or actions, we must do no harm to those already so vulnerable. Before loyalties to one another or institution, must be our loyalty to those we serve.

Recently at a staff meeting, Thomas Lee, director of Youth Moving On, a transitional housing and service for youth aging out of the foster care system, stated that the majority of the young women enrolling in the YMO program have been sexually abused. How can that be? Sexual abuse statistics indicate that one in four teenage girls are sexually abused by the time they reach 18, and teenagers between the ages of 16 and 19 are 3.5 times more likely than the general public to be victims of sexual abuse. What other conclusion can we reach, but that we are experiencing an epidemic where our children and youth are being exploited at an alarming rate.

This may seem an exaggeration, but I’m afraid that our discomfort with this issue often makes us minimize the insidious and pervasive nature of sexual abuse. This discomfort, together with misplaced loyalties and a protective, if not indeed, secretive environment, only perpetuates a problem that long ago should have been uprooted out of our culture.

The path to prevention of sexual abuse must be set by a commitment by all adults regardless of their caregiver status to protect children. Age and culturally appropriate education of this topic to our children within the family and supported by our school, churches and all civic organizations is the only true remedy. Without making children frightened, we need to teach them from an early age the distinction between appropriate and inappropriate behavior. Parents, teachers and all caregivers need to be able to recognize the signs of possible abuse and create a sense of safety and security that would allow children to report abusive activity. Early education and intervention is essential to mitigating this “epidemic.”

April is Sexual Abuse Awareness month and so it is important not only for us to confront this sad reality, but more importantly, resolve to do everything we can to keep our children safe.