When foster care ends: for teens who grew up in foster care, starting life on their own is a jarring, sometimes frightening change. What are states doing to support their transition to adulthood?

Texas child welfare workers became involved in Gibby Serna's life when he was only 3 years old. At first he was placed with his grandparents, but they had trouble taking care of him. At 6, he entered the formal foster care system.

For the next 12 years, Gibby lived in some 30 foster homes and attended nine high schools. Today, at 18, he faces life on his own, challenged to cobble together lessons from his fragmented history in order to master the management of his money, health care, housing, employment and education.

Gibby is one of the 24,000 youths who "age out" of or run away from the child welfare system each year. Many have spent their growing up years in a string of foster homes. And of the 581,000 children in foster care in 1999, almost a third had been in foster homes for more than three years.

So what does adult life look like for these "system kids"? How do they turn themselves into productive, self-sufficient adults without the financial, emotional and social support that most young people get from families, friends and communities?

Half of foster youths do not finish high school before they leave the state's care. For many, abuse or neglect has contributed to chronic health problems and mental or behavioral problems. They cannot afford or maintain housing. They have trouble finding work and developing skills. They don't know how to get health care. And, like Gibby, many have no long-term relationships with family or other adults to turn to for support.

INDEPENDENCE 101

To combat these negative trends, over the past 25 years all 50 states have developed programs aimed at arming adolescents with the necessary skills and knowledge to succeed as adults. Funded with state, federal and private money, these "independent living programs" gradually introduce youths to the basic responsibilities of adulthood. They train teens to manage money and bank accounts, maintain and clean an apartment, grocery shop and cook, find employment and keep a job.

These training programs historically have served older teens, those who probably will remain in foster care until they are 18. In recent years, however, wisdom has shifted. Recognizing that even young adolescents and children can begin adopting basic independence skills, many states have amended their programs to include a broader age group.

California's Early Start to Emancipation Program (STEP) in Los Angeles County is a good example. The STEP program provides tutoring, career exposure, outreach and training workshops for 14- and 15-year-old foster youths. The county's program alone has served several thousand middle-school-age foster kids in the past five years.

Senator Dede Alpert learned about the need to start training kids early for life on their own from the kids themselves. She found out about early independence training from the lobbying efforts of the California Youth Connection, a group of foster youths who identify and propose changes to the child welfare system. "The kids have brought a real face to it," says Alpert. "They made clear to me that if you wait until kids are juniors and seniors, it's too late to prepare."

Senator Alpert introduced SB 841 in 2001 to expand the STEP program from Los Angeles to other areas of the state. California has more kids in foster care than any other state, and she wanted to see more of them benefit from early attention. "The transition from middle school to high school is critical," says Senator Alpert. "Do the kids need tutoring to manage in high school? What kind of work is out there for them? These are the questions we need to be asking for foster kids in middle school."

Her colleagues agreed. The Legislature passed her bill, appropriating funds to the state Department of Social Services to offer technical assistance and training to other California counties interested in establishing programs similar to STEP.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

Not surprisingly, research has shown that teens are most successful when they can actually practice skills rather than learn about them in the abstract in a school-like setting. Once teens acquire basic skills through classrooms, field trips, scavenger hunts and take-home exercises, some states let them graduate to more practice-oriented living arrangements.

Transitional living arrangements are live-in, group settings where counselors coach kids on meeting their responsibilities. The teens are given an increasing amount of independence as they demonstrate their ability to handle it. They continue to get help with employment, education, health care, housing and mental health.

Independent living arrangements are much less structured. States with few transitional living programs or resources offer emancipating teens housing stipends. The teens live in the community on their own, but stay in frequent contact with case managers. They remain eligible for whatever support services they need until they reach 21.

These practice living arrangements traditionally have been for youths ages 16 to 18 who were still in foster care. In 1999, however, federal legislation known as the Foster Care Independence Act (FCIA), doubled funding for independent living programs from $70 million to $140 million. It also emphasized the need to provide services to people ages 18 to 21 who have left foster care.

Practice living arrangements and after-care services are offered to former foster youths on a voluntary, as-needed basis. This flexibility serves to match the level of assistance that these young people need as they move, secure and lose jobs, and learn to manage expenses.

A big supporter of practice living is Mark Kroner, director of the Lighthouse Project, an independent living program in Cincinnati. He believes that real-life, real-time assistance for youths in transition is key to helping them succeed.

"We get kids out there, in an apartment, by themselves," Kroner says, an improvement on the approach used in traditional group home settings. "In group homes, we measured success by how well a kid adjusted to 13 other emotionally disturbed kids. Independent living is much more what their real futures are likely to be like."

The Lighthouse Project serves 60 kids a day, offering employment, counseling, case management and life skills training as needed. It helps teens find apartments in neighborhoods that are near their schools, their foster parents, transportation and any other important social supports. Kroner says that placing young people in their own apartments prevents them from blaming anyone else for the inevitable problems they encounter. He also has found that when kids know they can keep their apartment after they complete the program, they settle in and take more ownership of their place with furnishings and upkeep.

Kroner is forthcoming about the challenges that come with making foster youths successful and self-sufficient. Some kids have severe mental illness or behavioral problems and will never make it on their own. But for many, easing them out of the structured environment of foster care with guidance and room for mistakes is exactly what they need to build independent lives. "Independent living is not about protecting and controlling; it's about letting go," Kroner says.

EARNING A LIVING, PAYING THE BILLS

Preparing and training kids to work is a critical component of independent living programs. Although some foster youths will be prepared for college or vocational education, most will not. Half do not finish high school by the time they leave care. The majority of those who do will not pursue college. Most will enter the workforce with few skills and little job experience. Many will lack the foundation to perform well even in entry-level jobs.

A recent study of all Wisconsin former foster youths discharged from care between 1995 and 1997 showed that only 15 percent held a job for the full two years after leaving care. (But 55 percent worked intermittently for at least a year.) Even for those employed in all eight quarters, earnings were lower than those of full-time minimum wage earners.

Despite these discouraging statistics, the study did find that the kids who had jobs while still in foster care were most successful at maintaining jobs after they left.

Independent living programs try to build on this principle. While still in foster care, youths are encouraged to identify their interests and develop related skills. Employment specialists coach them on resume writing, interview skills and appropriate workplace behavior.

Independent living coordinators agree that what is most valuable is experience gained through internships, part-time jobs and temporary work. They acknowledge, however, that such real-life experiences are also the most difficult to provide.

SOME GET TO COLLEGE

Despite the odds, some foster kids do make it to college. Gibby, even after attending nine high schools over a total of five years, is going to San Antonio's Community College next semester. He and his peers, however, face difficult barriers when applying to, paying for and staying in school.

In Texas and 14 other states, they have help through tuition waivers that allow them to attend state colleges for free.

Utah passed such legislation this year sponsored by Representative Richard Siddoway, a long-time educator and current principal of Utah's electronic high school.

"Some foster kids want to go to college, but they have no parent. The state is their parent," he says. The new law allows the state to play the financial role of mom and dad.

Now Utah will pay for former wards' tuition costs at public state institutions of higher learning that are not covered by scholarships, Pell grants or other sources. Some 25 young people are expected to participate this year costing the state an estimated $45,000.

Celeste Edmunds, a child welfare advocate in Utah who is a former foster child herself, says that capable foster kids need to be encouraged to think of college as a goal. She points to their elaborate coping skills and survival strategies as evidence of their talents,

STAYING HEALTHY

Arizona Senator Ruth Solomon, a leader in foster care policy for the last 10 years, says legislators need also to be concerned about how and where newly independent foster youths get health care. Regardless of their living situation, employment status or education, almost all foster kids struggle with health care once they leave foster care,

Even though the Congressional Budget Office estimates that 60 percent of former foster kids are covered under the patchwork of state Children's Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP) and Medicaid policies, many of them don't know they qualify. When they do, complicated eligibility requirements often stand in their way.

"We want to encourage kids to pursue higher education and get job training," Solomon says, "but health care is a critical piece of that."

Through her leadership, all former foster youths in Arizona who don't have other health care can get it through Medicaid through age 21, regardless of their income. Solomon says stable health care is a critical piece of fostering self-sufficiency once foster kids are on their own. She plans to build on her 2001 legislation by making changes that help foster children who have mental health problems find treatment and care.

Arizona is one of five states that have taken advantage of the Foster Care Independence Act of 1999 that gives states the option to cover current and former foster kids under Medicaid until they reach 21. The others are California, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Texas.

MAKING IT ON THEIR OWN

The teens who leave foster care to live on their own typically have little, if any, cushion for making the inevitable mistakes of young adulthood. They are building on anemic, bureaucratized childhoods and facing confusing and unstructured futures. Without the support of friends, trusted adults, family members and familiar community institutions, former foster kids need someone or something to act as a stand-in.

State independent living programs are successfully playing this role for thousands of youths. Texas may not give Gibby Serna everything a family could, but it is encouraging his independence with housing funds, a support system and tuition assistance. The educational, financial, medical and mentoring support that states offer to former foster kids are helping them improve their chances for immediate and long-term success.

RELATED ARTICLE: BREAKING THE CYCLE

Shawnte Scarbrough had two children by the time she was 17. A former foster youth, she and her two children, Ashley and jovonte, bounced from home to home. They lived with her drug-addicted mother, her grandmother and in a foster home.

Eventually Shawnte was accepted into the Independent Living Training (ILT) program in Contra Costa County, Calif. The program, for current and former foster kids, set her and her children up in her own apartment for a year while she learned life and work skills. ILT staff taught her how to clean her apartment, grocery shop for inexpensive meals, look for jobs and pay her bills.

After a year, Shawnte is back at her grandmother's home. But she's looking for permanent work and saving to move on to support her family. She says that she has learned a great deal about adulthood since entering ILT and still uses the services of the independent living program's housing and employment specialists while keeping in touch with the support network she has found there. "ILT is just great," says Shawnte. "I like being around the people there. I call them my family."

UPS HIRES FOSTER TEENS

One of the most successful programs for employing foster teens operates in Baltimore. A partnership between United Parcel Service (UPS), Maryland's Department of Human Resources, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Living Classrooms Foundation, it involved some 45 foster youth in 2000 and 38 more in 2001.

Work readiness classes help the teens prepare for the job. They interview with UPS for employment and get ongoing, on-site support services once they begin work. The part-time lobs pay $8.50 to $9.50 per hour, and employees receive health benefits. They are also eligible for tuition reimbursement for college and vocational training programs.

Kevin Garvey, UPS community relations manager, developed and heads this project. He says that with the help of the other partners involved, hiring foster youth makes good business sense for UPS. "We're taking a business approach to the process. There's a high level of accountability." The kids get work experience, individualized support and benefits that stabilize their lives. The company gets qualified candidates who stay longer than other entry-level employees, thereby reducing company costs for recruitment and training.

Garvey says that the collaboration between his business, social services and the foundations has made the program successful "We're challenging youth to meet a higher standard," he says. "We're also providing support and case management to help them."

Garvey says that too often public agencies that focus on child welfare don't understand the needs of the workforce. The Baltimore program serves the goals of workforce development and long-term, gainful employment for disadvantaged youth. It will be the model for expansion to seven other cities in the coming year.

AFTER FOSTER CARE

A 1998 Wisconsin study of 157 former foster youths 12 to 18 months after leaving care found:

* 37 percent had finished high school.

* 39 percent had a job.

* 32 percent were on public assistance.

* 18 percent had been incarcerated at some point since emancipating.

* Many had trouble obtaining health care.

* Half of those who needed mental health services while in care were still getting it.

Christine Eilertson tracks foster core issues for NCSL.