[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 105 (Thursday, July 30, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1476-E1478]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    THE ORPHAN FOUNDATION: MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF YOUTH

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. J.C. WATTS, JR.

                              of oklahoma

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 29, 1998

  Mr. WATTS of Oklahoma. Mr. Speaker, in the Tuesday, July 21, 1998 
copy of the Washington Post, there is a front page story about how 
difficult it is to survive in society when you're an orphan and you 
turn 18. I would like to insert this article in the record, Mr. 
Speaker, without objection. According to this article, in many states, 
when orphans turn 18 years of age, they are dropped from the state's 
child protection system. This means they have to pay their own rent, 
buy their own groceries and manage their own budget. Without parents to 
teach these orphans the importance of fiscal responsibility, and to 
provide for their needs when they do run out of money, it should not be 
a surprise that 4 out of 10 of the nation's homeless are orphans.
  There is one statement in the Post article that sticks out in my 
mind. That statement reads, ``* * * there is little public attention 
focused on how to keep foster children from migrating from their 
bureaucratic family to the streets.'' I agree that the public could be 
better informed about the problems many orphans face, but I wish the 
article had listed a group I work with called the Orphan Foundation of 
America as part of the solution. OFA has worked hard over the last two 
decades to provide financial assistance and counseling to orphans, help 
which has made a tangible difference in the lives of many.
  Founded in 1981, the Orphan Foundation has awarded over $500,000 in 
scholarships to orphans in 44 states through its OLIVER Project, with 
the help of generous private and corporate donors such as: American 
Airlines; Gateway Computers; Kraft Foods, Inc.; General Electric; 
Prudential Securities; AT&T J.C. Penney Company; Bristol Myers-Squibb 
Company; Jones, Day, Reavis and Pogue; Lockheed Martin; Fannie Mae; 
Lucent Technologies, Northrop Grumman; Time Warner, Inc.; The Limited, 
Inc.; Williams & Jensen; ESOP; and Kerr-MeGee Corporation. OFA also 
teaches orphans how to successfully manage their money and other basic 
life skills they will need to know to survive in an unforgiving world, 
and does this through volunteers in their communities.
  Most of all, OFA and its tireless director, Eileen McCaffrey, 
provides orphans with something they receive all too little--an ear to 
talk to when they need encouragement, and a little love and 
understanding. Most of the staff is all volunteer, a true sign of their 
dedication. I have had the pleasure of meeting and talking with several 
orphans whose lives have been impacted by OFA, and these youth are 
quick to point to the organization as one big reason why they have a 
job and a good education, as opposed to being locked up in jail, or 
being forced to sleep in their car.
  The Orphan Foundation receives no state or federal funding, and yet 
it has managed to improve the lives of orphans across America. To learn 
more about OFA, you can visit their web page at www.orphan.org. The 
Orphan Foundation of America is a great cause well worth assisting, and 
a testimony of the power of Americans who care.


[[Page E1477]]



               [From the Washington Post, July 21, 1998]

    At 18, It's Sink or Swim--For Ex-Foster Children Transition Is 
                               Difficult

                          (By Barbara Vobejda)

       Cincinnati--Seventeen-year-old Carrie Lucas has spent the 
     past two years in the embrace of the state. Her mother was 
     mentally ill, her father in jail, and Ohio's child protection 
     officials considered it their business to place Carrie in a 
     safe foster home.
       Now she's about to be dropped. At the toll of her 18th 
     birthday next spring, Carrie will be released from the 
     state's child protection system. The federal and stat 
     bureaucracies that fashioned themselves into a substitute 
     family will declare themselves done. And like 20,000 other 
     young people across the country each year, Carrie will be 
     left to pay her own rent, fill her own refrigerator, manage 
     her own budget. In essence, she will be expected to become 
     her own parent.
       ``It's sort of scary to think I have to do this on my 
     own,'' Carrie said. ``I don't want to think about it too 
     much.''
       If ever there was proof that, for many children, the foster 
     care system does not offer a stable, surrogate family, it 
     comes at the point they turn 18. The day the money stops, the 
     care stops too.
       While a minority of teenagers stay on for some time with 
     their foster families, most grow up knowing exactly when 
     their funding will end. They accept that they will be forced 
     to leave on or near that birthday, knowing they'll be 
     replaced by a younger child, who comes with money attached. 
     If the foster families had wanted to make a permanent 
     commitment to one child, experts say, they would have 
     adopted. Most don't.
       ``We can't dump them fast enough at 18,'' said Robin Nixon, 
     director of youth services at the Child Welfare League of 
     America, referring to the federal-state system that has 
     responsibility for more than 500,000 children, most of them 
     abused or neglected by their parents. ``But kids in the 
     average community are 25 and 26 years old before they're 
     expected to live alone.''
       It is this large but mostly forgotten population of 
     America's disadvantaged that social researchers now believe 
     makes up a significant component of the nation's homeless 
     population: One study found four of 10 of the nation's 
     homeless are former foster children. Experts on homelessness 
     say it is predictable--that young people isolated from their 
     families often suffering from emotional problems, many of 
     them former runaways, would end up in an emergency shelter. 
     While some of these teenagers can go to grandparents or 
     siblings for help, most are on their own.
       The most recent study on the fate of foster children, 
     conducted by University of Wisconsin researcher Mark 
     Courtney, found that 12 to 18 months after they left foster 
     care, just half were employed, one-third were receiving 
     public assistance, one-fifth of the girls had given birth and 
     more than one-quarter of the boys had been incarcerated.
       Most of the teenagers had less than $250 in savings when 
     they went out on their own.
       Yet while other subgroups among the disenfranchised--the 
     mentally ill, victims of domestic violence, welfare workers--
     have their vocal advocates in policy debates, there is little 
     public attention focused on how to keep foster children from 
     migrating from their bureaucratic family to the streets.
       For Carrie Lucas, the journey to independence has already 
     begun. It is both tangible and psychological. She is a 17-
     year-old constantly aware of a clock ticking. Nine more 
     months of financial help. That's it. One minute she's sure 
     she can handle it. The next, she's in a panic about what lies 
     ahead.
       The state will keep paying an agency more than $1,000 a 
     month to help her until her 18th birthday. But after that, 
     she can make no mistakes. Blow her rent money on a car, she 
     may be sleeping in that car. Anger her landlord, she could be 
     looking for a place to sleep. The same mistakes other kids 
     make, but nobody to bail her out.
       A month ago, she moved into a tiny attic apartment by 
     herself. It is stifling, with no air conditioner, and the 
     stairway leading up smells of cat urine. But she chose it 
     because she loved the bathtub--an antique with claw feet and 
     flowers painted on the side.
       Carrie had trouble sleeping when she first moved in, 
     frightened of the nighttime sounds echoing around her old 
     building. But now she's more relaxed, cuddled on the living 
     room carpet beside her worn, thrift store couch, or in her 
     narrow bedroom, surrounded by stuffed toys.
       When Carrie was 4, her grandmother took her in because 
     Carrie's mother would stay away from home for long periods of 
     time, leaving Carrie and her three siblings to care for 
     themselves. Carrie grew up cooking for herself, washing her 
     own clothes.
       ``I think my mother is mentally insane,'' Carrie said. 
     ``She was never reliable, always working, or out with 
     whomever.''
       But Carrie's grandmother died of cancer two years ago, and 
     the child protection system took over. Carrie moved in with a 
     foster mother, a woman in her late sixties who had raised 10 
     children of her own. ``Her message was, `I'm here for you,' 
     '' Carrie said, ``but there was distance between us.''
       Under the state's policy, her foster mother received more 
     than $400 a month to keep Carrie, but that ended when Carrie 
     asked to move out. She had heard of a program that would help 
     her move into her own apartment, and her foster care money 
     would go toward rent and utilities. So she left her foster 
     mother's home and moved into her apartment. And since then, 
     neither has picked up the phone to stay in touch.
       In fact, Carrie says she's lucky. She lives in one of the 
     few places around the country--Hamilton County, Ohio--where 
     the child protection system places people as young as 16 in 
     apartments to prepare them to live on their own. The program 
     pays rent and sets up a savings account with a $60 weekly 
     stipend--until she's 18.
       Carrie likes living by herself. But already, her days play 
     out with the rhythms of an adult, not a girl of 17.
       This summer, she gets herself up at 6 each morning, eats a 
     bowl of cereal and leaves her apartment by 7, catching a bus 
     to work as an intern at a downtown bank, where she spends her 
     days checking account numbers and ATM receipts. At 5 p.m., 
     she heads home and fixes her own dinner. She is in bed by 9 
     p.m. On the weekends, she works a second job at a restaurant.
       For now, she has $594 in savings, and in the fall, she'll 
     return to finish her senior year in high school. The county 
     and the judge overseeing her case could extend her funding 
     long enough to help her get her high school diploma. But even 
     if that happens, she'll be cut loose in less than a year.
       She worries most about how she will pay her $240 monthly 
     rent, or if she'll be able to afford college.
       ``I pray I can go to college,'' she said. ``I'm going to 
     try everything in my power to get a scholarship.''
       Some of the half-million children in the child protection 
     system are allowed to stay with their biological families. 
     But for those who are taken out of their homes, a combination 
     of federal and state funds provides payments--averaging $431 
     a month for 16-year-olds--to foster families. The government 
     may pay much more for group homes or residential treatment 
     facilities, where many foster teens reside.
       In 1986, after researchers began to notice the link between 
     foster care and homelessness, Congress reacted by 
     establishing an ``independent living program'' for states to 
     help prepare foster children for life after 18. States can 
     extend the program to older teens, which is common for those 
     with disabilities.
       While states have established these programs, many are 
     cursory--occasional weekend seminars on housekeeping and 
     budgeting, for example. And Courtney's study in Wisconsin 
     found that one out of four teenagers had received no help in 
     preparing for independence before they left the system.
       In a handful of jurisdictions, however, welfare offices 
     have gone to great lengths to ease this passage.
       Los Angeles County, where about 800 young people leave 
     foster care each year, has pulled together a package of 
     subsidized housing, job training and some entry-level 
     employment to help those moving out of the system.
       And in Hamilton County, Ohio, where Carrie lives, dozens of 
     teenagers, some as young as 16, are living in apartments as a 
     transition to independence.
       ``Independent living without housing experience is like 
     driver's education without the car,'' said Mark Kroner, who 
     runs an independent living program for Lighthouse Youth 
     Services, a nonprofit agency contracted by Hamilton County to 
     put young people in apartments.
       ``You learn to budget food money when you go a day without 
     food. You learn to budget utilities when you come home to a 
     dark apartment,'' he said.
       When young people come into his program, having been 
     referred by county social workers or juvenile judges, they 
     are matched with an adult on Kroner's staff who helps them 
     find an apartment, shops with them for furniture and helps 
     them move. The social worker stops by weekly, and the agency 
     becomes the newest surrogate family.
       But this family is dedicated to a daunting goal: sending a 
     child, often one with emotional difficulties, out into the 
     world.
       It is not uncommon for Kroner to get a call saying one of 
     his teenagers has been arrested. He has had kids knocking on 
     a landlord's door asking for money just a week after moving 
     in. Some have been kicked out of the program for failing to 
     follow the rules.
       Despite the problems, studies have found that placing kids 
     in their own apartments is probably the most effective way to 
     help them become independent.
       One of Kroner's newest ``clients,'' as the former foster 
     children are called, is 16-year-old Ricky Bryant, who has 
     dropped out of high school.
       He lives in a second-floor, two-room apartment, where he 
     sleeps on the living room floor. The dishes are carefully 
     soaking in soapy water, and the refrigerator is virtually 
     empty.
       In just over a month of living on his own, it has become 
     clear to Ricky that some things are beyond him: ``My laundry. 
     I cannot afford to do it. And keeping groceries in my 
     house,'' he said. ``I buy it and it's gone.''
       He says this on a Wednesday, five days until he gets his 
     paycheck from Wendy's where he works nights. He has cereal in 
     the cupboard, but no milk to pour on it. A loaf of bread, but 
     nothing to put between the slices. He has, literally, one 
     penny in cash.
       When Kroner hears this, he gives Ricky a dollar and tells 
     him to take the bus to the agency office and someone there 
     will give him an advance on his weekly $60 stipend.
       ``I was afraid to ask,'' Ricky said. ``I don't want to 
     aggravate nobody.''
       Ricky landed here after years in the child welfare system, 
     where he lived in 12 to 15 places, he estimates.

[[Page E1478]]

       ``My mom is the type who is a bar hopper,'' he said. ``She 
     was never home. She left us kids wherever.'' He was often 
     home alone when he was just 7 and 8 years old. When his 
     mother brought home a new boyfriend, and Ricky saw him 
     abusing her, he left to live with his dad.
       But that didn't work out either, ``because I was a 'hood 
     rat.'' And child protection workers moved Ricky to his first 
     foster home. That began a long and sad list of fighting, 
     running away, ending up in juvenile detention, until he was 
     finally allowed this spring to return to his father.
       That was the home Ricky had wished for all the years he was 
     in foster care, he said. But three months later, in May, his 
     father died of pulmonary disease.
       Once again, a caseworker was ready to put him with a foster 
     family, but Ricky wanted no more.
       ``I've never had a mother-father type deal in my life, so I 
     wouldn't be ready for it,'' he said.
       The next step for Ricky was his own apartment.
       Last week, he sat huddled over a spiral notebook, the kind 
     most kids his age would use for geography or math. He is no 
     longer in any math classes, but the notebook is perfect for 
     managing his money.
       He budgets $144 for two weeks of groceries, $6 for 
     ``hygiene,'' $50 for ``recreation,'' $20 for miscellaneous 
     and $20 to pay back a debt. But when he totals up his 
     expenses, he compares it with the paycheck he expects to get 
     and realizes he's $3 short. He decides he will take it out of 
     groceries.
       He has written all this out carefully, underscoring the 
     totals in pink highlighter.
       Ricky has two years before his safety net is folded up.
       He hopes he'll get a high school equivalency degree and a 
     better job. In the meantime, he is learning to navigate the 
     adult world. He lost his electricity in the middle of the 
     night recently when he plugged in an old air conditioner he 
     had found in the basement. But when he called the power 
     company and heard they weren't going to send over any help 
     right away, he told them he was blind. That got them over.
       But for every victory, he discovers another trap. He is out 
     of money because he blew a bundle on a Fourth of July 
     cookout. He and his friends bought food and cases of soda pop 
     and cigarettes, and that sent him way over budget.
       ``It was the first night of really enjoying myself,'' he 
     said. It was Independence Day.
       Struggling in the Adult World
       Children leaving foster care at age 18, when federal and 
     state funding ends, face a difficult future. Many suffer from 
     emotional problems and are without financial help from 
     relatives, making them vulnerable to homelessness and other 
     problems. One study found that nearly four in 10 of the 
     homeless population are former foster children.
       12 to 8 months after leaving foster care system:


                          Average weekly wage

       $210 for males
       $157 for females


                            Physical injury

       26% of the males had been beaten or otherwise seriously 
     injured.
       15% of the females had been beaten.
       10% of the females had been raped.


                             Incarceration

       27% of the males had been incarcerated.
       10% of the females had been incarcerated.


                                 Other

       33% were receiving some public assistance.
       19% of the females had given birth to children.
       37% had not finished high school.
       50% were unemployed.


                        Mental health treatment

       Before leaving foster care: 47 percent were receiving some 
     kind of counseling or medication for mental health problems.
       After leaving foster care: 21 percent were receiving 
     treatment, although there was no reduction in mental 
     problems.

     

                          ____________________