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What happens to Kids when they "Age Out" of the Foster Care System?
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Imagine this: It is your 18th birthday. Your few belongings are packed. The adults you have been living with bid you goodbye. The door shuts behind you; you are on your own -- and very much alone. You have no job, no family and no idea how to handle your new independence.
That scene is taking place all over USA for hundreds of young adults who must leave the foster care system and venture out on their own. - By by Maura D. Corrigan, chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court
Each year, an estimated 20000-25000 young people "age out" of the U.S. foster care system.
Transition from foster care is not well supported, youth are at greater risk for poor health, homelessness, sexual exploitation,victimization, and involvement in the criminal.
Recent research shows that every person currently [ 2009 ] on Death Row in Florida spent time in foster care. - By Mike Dunlavy
National Foster Care Youth Statistics
More than 75% of care leavers have no academic qualifications of any kind;
More than 51% of those leaving care after 18 years are unemployed;
84% of women who emancipate from foster care become parents within 2.5-4 years after exiting care.
23% of adult prisoners and 38% of young prisoners have been in care;
30% of young single homeless people have been in care.
At least one in seven young women leave care pregnant or as mothers.
Parents with a history of foster care are almost twice as likely as parents with no such history to see their own children placed in foster care or become homeless.
60% use drugs
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They had names and faces once. Now they have coroner's numbers.
Social workers call them their "worst outcomes".
In Loving Memory Of Children Who Didn't Have to Die - 2001
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January-February-March-April
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Michael Bernard
9-year-old
2001
Palm Beach, Florida
January
Christal Jones
16-year-old
January 3,2001
Bronx,New York
Rilya Wilson
4-year-old
January 18,2001
Miami, Florida
Deangelo Brooks
5-month-old
January 20,2001
Long Beach,California
Savannah Hall
3-year-old
January 24, 2001
Prince George,British Columbia
Logan Marr
5-year-old
January 31, 2001
Chelsea, Maine
February
Kerry Brooks
9-year-old
February 10,2001
Los Angeles,California
Ryan Lewis
14-year-old
February 13,2001
Davis, West Virginia
April
Danzel Bailey
11-month-old
April 21,2001
Los Angeles,California
Erica Michelle Marie Green
3-year-old
April 28,2001
Kansas City,Missouri
Halaina Dawn Lascelle
3-year-old
April 30,2001
Texada Island
British Columbia
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May-June-July-August
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May
Shawn Sumner
2-year-old
May 2001
Jacksonville,Florida
Brandon Lawson
6-month-old
May 4,2001
Laguna Hills,California
Felipe Garcia
3-year-old
May 19, 2001
Broken Arrow,
Oklahoma
Jayden March
2-year-old
May 22,2001
Sutherland,Australia
Reggie Kelsey
18-year-old
May 28, 2001
Des Moines River
Iowa
June
Nkosi Johnson
12-year-old
June 1,2001
Johannesburg
South Africa
Kyle Anthony Ross
5-year-old
June 9,2001
Springfield
Massachusetts
Jasmine Garcia
2-year-old
June 16, 2001
Los Angeles,California
Dillon Ray Farrer
2-year-old
June 21,2001
Houston, Texas
July
Latiana Nakia Hamilton
17-month-old
July 18,2001
Jacksonville,Florida
Ian Edward
Dale Peddicord
8-year-old
July 30 2001
Weatherford,Texas
August
Tiffany Laverne Mason
15-year-old
August 9,2001
Folsom,California
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Sept - Oct - Nov - Dec
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September
Raysate Chain Knight
6-year-old
September 9,2001
Groveton,Houston
Jalen Ford
13-month-old
September 12, 2001
San Diego,California
Liana Sandoval
20-month-old
September 26,2001
Phoenix,Arizona
October
Melissa J.Strickson
13-year-old
October 8,2001
Lancashire,England
Tammy Pooley
15-year-old
October 2001
Hull,England
November
Laree Slack
12-year-old
November 10,2001
Chicago,Illinois
James "Jimmy" Alford
14-year-old
November 11, 2001
Panhandle,Florida
Davall Riddel
10-year-old
November 15,2001
Brooklyn,New York
Christian Riddel
9-year-old
November 16,2001
Brooklyn,New York
Darryl Wallace
6-year-old
November 16,2001
Brooklyn,New York
Luke Evans
16-month-old
November 30,2001
Lowell, Indiana
December
Jacob Lindorff
5-year-old
December 14,2001
Gloucester Twp, New Jersey
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Ask the children, ask the kids you put in foster care. We have several former foster kids that would love to tell you how your wonderful system allowed them to be abused, but you don't really want to hear from the kids, do you?
If 79 out of the 100 that died last year were in state care and 21 died while at home, how can CPS claim children are 'better off' in their custody? The numbers speak for themselves" - Nev Moore
"I was a foster child. Why don't you ask me what it was like? Why don't you ask any one of us what foster care was like?" - Audrey Serrano
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We urge legislators to take a closer look at funding child protection issues and authorities to use wisdom in investigating abuse cases.
Is there someone to speak for children so that their unfinished lives do not slip silently away ?
If hundreds and hundreds of predictably and preventably dead children is not enough to inspire action, what is ? If you choose not to act, who will ? If not now, when ?
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