ILP

Because of reunification, I wasn’t able to receive the same support that those who age out of foster care receive, writes Erial Pree.

When I was 17, my bike was stolen. It was a pretty difficult situation for me. The year before, I had entered foster care with my 7-year-old sister. I depended on my bike to get me to my first job, which wasn’t very close to the foster home where my sister and I had been placed.

I was 17 years old when I graduated high school and went away to college. There were several reasons I wanted to move to a new county. I had a desirable scholarship package at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), which has a great acting program.

When I started the Family Care Network in 1987, there was certainly a different approach and philosophy driving the foster care system. Looking back, it seems like the Stone Age. The system has come a long way but it has been a tough, hard row to hoe.

Foster youth students who have fallen through the cracks in the Sacramento City Unified School District always had one last hope at the end of the education continuum: The Fremont School for Adults.