FOSTER YOUTHS NEED A BOOST TO AUTONOMY.

Byline: John M. Hitchcock

JITTERY, teary and frightened are just the tip of the iceberg. Foster youths experience these feelings and more as they pack their few belongings and head out into the real world.

While many of us celebrate the anniversary of our country's freedom with fireworks, barbecues and families, former foster youths look at the Stars and Stripes on the Fourth of July as a reminder of their struggle for independence and a hope for a brighter future.

While the majority of young men and women are making the passage from their home and high school to college dormitories or the business world, foster youths find this transition extremely difficult. There is no turning back when foster youths emancipate from the foster care system.

Unlike other children, who have the good fortune of families to fall back on in times of crisis, these forgotten children have little or nothing to cushion their fall.

As I moved through college and graduate school, I knew that I could always go home and did on occasion. Being home was comforting and reassuring, but ``home'' is a different story for foster youths.

The average foster youth has lived in six placements before graduating from high school, never having felt a sense of security, belonging and family. Struggling to survive emotionally and physically on a daily basis, foster youths receive very limited resources for housing, schooling, medical insurance and training when they emancipate. However, the one thing that they need most, a sense of connectedness, is missing.

What makes us able to move into independence is the connectedness and support of family and friends. These relationships allow us to make the leap with growing confidence.

A few foster youths develop a sense of ``family'' while in placement. However, for the most part, the majority of emancipated youths do not have that luck.

Fortunately for former foster youths searching for connectedness, the Pasadena Alumni Support Center, a drop-in facility for emancipated foster youths, creates a safe and welcoming environment in which others like themselves can relate.

Formed by Transition Partners, a collaborative group of nonprofits such as the Pasadena YMCA, the Casey Family Program, and Hillsides, a Pasadena-based residential treatment, counseling and special education center for abused and neglected children, the support center provides much-needed information and nurtures support, which is essential to the process of independence.

It is a model program that many communities are studying as a prototype for their areas.

To learn more about the Pasadena Alumni Support Center and to find out how you can help a former foster youth in transition to adulthood, I encourage you to call [phone]. Let these struggling children's freedom ring with your words of encouragement, supportive services or emancipation gift showers to ease their passage into the real world.