Part of the reason I entered into the system was because my parents passed away. Being in the system after my parents died was tough, and I didn’t have the proper support. Living in a group home, I was surrounded by strangers and people who didn’t have my best interest at heart.
I was supposed to go live with my sister on my father’s side in Virginia, who was supposed to get full custody of me and take me out of the system. Unfortunately she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Once that happened, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to leave foster care. At one point I asked if adoption with a family was an option, but a caseworker told me because of my age — I was 15 — that nobody would want me. That’s when I really felt like all hope was lost and I was stuck.
I wish I’d had proper support from my family and didn’t have to depend so much on the system, but I had no choice. I was struggling with mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, anger and suicidal thoughts. I felt like the medication I was given for these problems wasn’t helping and I was being controlled by them, but I also felt like I had no choice but to take them while in group homes.
When I was 18, I originally intended to stay in care until I was 21, but I ended up leaving instead. At that point I was an adult and I just didn’t want to be in a group home where I wouldn’t be able to be an adult and do what I wanted. I left and went to live with my brother’s girlfriend while he was locked up. I wanted to be independent and be able to do things for myself. It was bumpy at first, until I was able to become physically and financially stable.
I left care in 2015 and worked to support myself. In 2018, out of nowhere, I started to receive money from the government; nobody ever explained why to me, but I have to think that it was benefits I was owed because my parents had passed away.
That money allowed me to pay my rent, buy toiletries and food, and have my basic needs met. It was a safety net for me. It is crazy to think that had someone not had a proper address for me, I might never have gotten it, because nobody ever made me aware of the support I was entitled to when I was in foster care.
It is very important for agencies to help youth who are transitioning out of the system with things like understanding financial stability, housing, work/job resources, education, bank accounts, credit scores and getting driving lessons. Though these resources are offered by some places, a lot of them have specific criteria for people to qualify, which is unfair for those who can’t access them.
But while governments need to provide more programs, children who are in the system need more of their own resources they can control too. One problem is that kids who should be receiving federal benefits such as Social Security often aren’t actually receiving them, because government agencies are intercepting these benefits without their knowledge.
Youth are supposed to receive benefits for their own disabilities, or inherit benefits from their parents who passed away. But many agencies apply for the benefits on behalf of youth in foster care without telling anyone, and then instead of saving the benefits for the youth, the agencies pay themselves back for the cost of taking care of them. This is unfair, especially if the youth needs the money for school or just the essential costs of living.
I believe any child that is supposed to receive these funds should have full access while in the system and when they age out. People need to be held responsible for basically stealing money from the most vulnerable youth.
Where I live, Philadelphia passed a law to stop the Department of Human Services from doing this but they’re dragging their feet to implement it. I call upon policymakers to support legislation like this that ensures money owed to kids and their families is given to them. It is only right that these benefits go directly to youth even after they leave the system, if they’re still owed.
If other kids who leave care don’t have the kind of financial support or safety net I had, they might have to rely on someone else who they can’t trust or doesn’t have their best interest in mind. Instead, with these benefits they can rely on themselves.
