Ever wonder what happens to children in foster care when they turn 18?
In the 19-county region we're apart of here in North Texas, over 300 of these young people "age out" when they celebrate that birthday. Every year in Dallas 150 of these foster children find themselves on their own.
That's right. Not all children who are in foster care continue in a living relationship with their foster parents.
Aging out means that the state no longer provides funds for the care of these young folks, and for many foster parents that means the children are basically on their own.
For over six years now, Central Dallas Ministries has been reaching out to these special young people. Beginning as the fiscal agent for a fairly complex community collaboration known as Target Kids in Court, CDM now offers services to these youth as a part of our daily work.
Under the creative and able leadership of Evy Kay Ritzen, our Transition Resource Action Center, located on Live Oak Street very near Downtown, is the epicenter of our activity with this special population. Today the initiative is known in our community as TRAC.
Many of these youth have lived in multiple foster families, having never been adopted. Deep-seated emotional challenges are typical.
Housing, employment, education, managing relationships and mental health concerns are typical issues.
Our Community Development Corporation has been providing housing for a number of these young men and women with more units on the drawing boards.
We partner with lots of other groups and individuals to get our work done, including Dallas County, the State of Texas, Child Protective Services, Dallas Social Venture Partners, the Meadows Foundation (who provides us our wonderful service center) and many others.
TRAC is all about touching young people who find themselves in a very difficult situation at a very young age.
The data is not very encouraging for these youth.
Over 40% of this slice of the population end up homeless and on the street or in the criminal justice system.
TRAC is all about intervention, encouragement, equipping, loving, friendship and connecting youth to opportunities and new life.
In 2006, TRAC served a total of 842 young people.
During the first quarter of 2007, TRAC touched 424 of these youth!
The growth is frightening.
This past year, thanks to the efforts of the Crystal Charity Ball, CDM received an award that allows us to partner even more deeply with CPS. The grant will allow CPS and TRAC to hire additional case managers who will focus on 14 and 15-year-old youth to assist them in developing a plan of action for life before the magic age of 18. We feel this preventive intervention strategy will propel more young people to higher levels of success, and more quickly at that.
Most people simply are not aware of the challenges facing hundreds of teens in our area.
If you'd like to connect with one of these special young people or partner with TRAC, let me hear from you.
You can visit our website at http://www.centraldallasministries.org/ to learn more.
Thanks for bringing attention to these youth Larry! I used to work as a residential advisor at TRAC, and lived with some of these youth in the transitional housing. They are such wonderful young adults, but need as much support and mentoring as they can get! Imagine being 18, no home, no family, no support system, very little education after bouncing through the foster system. Think how frightening that would be!
ReplyDeleteThis is why programs like TRAC are so vital to help teaching needed and valuabe life skills, building support systems, and providing safe and affordable housing to help these youth transition into productive and healthy lives. Thanks for helping make TRAC possible, I have seen first hand how benefitial it is!
~Tim
Larry,
ReplyDeleteThis is incredible that you posted about this today! I actually tried to call you yesterday to ask you some questions about this very program, but I had some problems with my cell phone signal. You and I talked briefly one time about how art is such a vital need for a community, and I was wondering how much your TRAC participants have the opportunity to experience or create theater, music, dance or visual art.
I'd be interested to hear more if you are utilizing the arts to help young adults express their emotions and their creativity. I am a theater artist and writer myself and know the immsense value of participating in the arts. I would love to find ways to become involved with CDM or TRAC in particular. How would that best be accomplished?
Tim and Jocelyn, thanks for your posts.
ReplyDeleteJocelyn, you are right on target about the need these young people have for the arts. I have forwarded your post on to our program leaders at TRAC. Feel free to call them at 214.370.9300.
Let me know how it goes!
Thanks for your willingness to explore this opportunity!
i am really glad that you brought that up, i know nothing about TRAC.. however im a foster parent.. i have my niece and nephew but some day will def take other children in...so im very interested in what it is..
ReplyDeleteJocelyn,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your interest in working with our youth at TRAC. Feel free to contact me so that we can discuss how you can make a difference in the life of a foster youth.
Jennifer Grant
TRAC Site Coordinator
214-370-9300 #15
Larry,
ReplyDeleteLast year I learned about a girl who had fostered out of the foster care system and was attempting to get a college education at a community college. She was going to school until 5:00 each day, and then worked as a nanny until midnight. After she got off work, she would sleep in her car until it was time to go back to school the next day. She lived this way for over a year.When we learned of her situation, we offered her a place to live in our home, and she was speechless. It was obvious that she had been hurt so many times, and she was afraid. The week that she was suppose to come and live with us, she was finally approved for government housing because she had a major medical problem that qualified her for assistance. It is horrible that this type of thing is happening to young people coming out of the foster care system. The TRAC program sounds wonderful!