Expansion proposed of Child Welfare’s Independent Living Program and other transition services
Whitney Rodgers has spent nearly half her life moving from placement to placement in the foster care system, but it wasn’t until she turned 17 that she began to worry about what came next – after foster care.
“I was always expecting there to be another step or two before I turned 18,” she said. “But then, at 17, I thought, the clock’s running out.”
Rodgers admitted she had always been a flight risk – running from foster homes and disappearing for months at a time. She said she was physically and mentally abused while in care, which led her to finally ask for some sort of mental or emotional support from the state.
“At first I was really messed up,” said Rodgers. “I’d seen a lot of crazy stuff. So, at that time, they offered me psychological help.”
Rodgers was 15 when the Department of Human Services placed her in a residential psychiatric care facility near Corvallis. Even though she felt mentally stable after about six months, the state kept Rodgers at the facility for nearly three years.
“My case worker was looking for a placement, but there was just nobody who was willing to take me,” she said. “It was defeating.
“Growing up, I was out on the streets, or I’d sleep at the DHS office, or in a motel … so with this residential care facility, at least I wasn’t homeless.”
When Rodgers was finally discharged just before her 18th birthday, she was ill-prepared to make it on her own. Like many foster youths, she didn’t have a family support system to help her transition to adulthood.
“I have no living grandparents,” she said. “My relatives had been deemed unfit and not approved by the state.”
Oregon’s Child Welfare Department, under the Department of Human Services, offers foster youths assistance with the transition to self-sufficiency through its Independent Living Program (ILP). Ideally, the program provides youths with valuable skills for continuing their education, finding employment and securing housing – well before they age out of the system.
But since Rodgers was in a treatment facility, she didn’t receive any of those services until she became an adult.
“I didn’t know how to budget or file taxes,” she said. “I didn’t even know what a W-2 was, or how to do a resume.”
Lisa McMahon, program director for Oregon Foster Youth Connection, said no one knows better what is lacking in the foster care system than those who have experienced it firsthand. OFYC is made up of foster youths and former foster youths who advocate for change and seek solutions to the problems plaguing Oregon’s foster care system.
FURTHER READING: Former foster youths lobby to improve transitions for their peers
This legislative session, the youths proposed Senate Bill 745, which calls for an additional $8.5 million in funding to expand Child Welfare’s Independent Living Program and other transition services. While the ask is significant, McMahon said OFYC included the same amount being proposed by DHS in its budget.
With this bill, OFYC members want to see ILP services expanded to foster youths in treatment facilities, including the facility where Rodgers lived. They also want a system put in place to make sure youths are consistently informed about the transition services available to them and Oregon lawmakers are able to track the program’s success.
“That’s the magic of OFYC,” said McMahon. “The youth feel like part of the change. Whether they were at our July policy conference or our January meeting or are now participating in meetings with legislators, they all feel they are working on this.”
OFYC also is pushing for a change in Oregon state statute to allow eligibility for ILP services to stretch from the ages of 14 to 23, which would match the federal eligibility. Currently, Oregon’s ILP funding covers youths between the ages of 16 and 21.
“Youth as young as 14 will have access to skill building and initial conversations around ‘who are you?’ and ‘who do you want to be?’” said McMahon. “All the soft skills needed to transition successfully.”
During committee hearings in Salem, Rodgers has had to justify the proposed expansion of ILP services. One legislator asked her if young people, like herself, could instead simply learn these skills online?
“I said, ‘Yes sir, but when I have a question, it’s a lot more difficult to ask a YouTube video than an actual person.’”
FURTHER READING: Oregon bill would establish ombudsman to work with foster parents
Rodgers and other members of OFYC were gearing up for a public hearing on the bill March 12 before the Senate Human Services Committee. They plan to introduce amendments regarding the age-eligibility issue and ILP services for youth in treatment facilities. McMahon believes the strong youth voice from OFYC helped get the DHS-ILP budget proposal included in the governor’s budget.
“The challenge for us adult supporters at OFYC is helping the youth understand the process,” said McMahon. “What are the steps to make it happen, and how can their pieces fit into that process?”
Rodgers said she gets a bit anxious appearing before lawmakers to ask for money, but most of the time, she feels empowered.
“I’ve learned how to not just share my story, but to make an impact with my story,” said Rodgers. “I would have been homeless without ILP. I don’t want to boast, but I excelled.”
Rodgers went on to finish high school and is now, at the age of 19, three terms away from getting her community college associate degree. She plans to apply to Western Oregon University. She is holding down both full- and part-time jobs and hopes to serve as a positive example for other foster youths.
“OFYC is a family,” said Rodgers. “We all look different, we all have different political beliefs, we grew up in different environments, but all-in-all, we want the same outcome … which is better foster care in Oregon.”
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