University of California Berkeley

I feel safe when I am with those close to me. But, the comfort they provide is fleeting because I am constantly on guard, writes Luna Busch.

A group of foster youth attending the University of California has called for additional on-campus resources to address their barriers in higher education.

In early March, Miriam Yarde started a GoFundMe page to raise $10,000 for the medical bills and living costs that will arise when she receives a life-saving kidney transplant. Less than two months later, the 24-year-old former foster youth and University of California-Berkeley graduate has almost reached her mark on the crowd-sourced fundraising page, and has boosted her goal to $20,000.

In 1995, when Frankie Guzman was 15, living in the impoverished community of La Colonia in the city of Oxnard, California, his older friend came to his house to ask for a favor.

Computer algorithms guide our decisions in big ways and small. They nudge us to buy a particular blender on Amazon and tailor ads to our interests on our Facebook pages, but also seek to reduce repeat domestic violence arrests and assess risk during criminal sentence proceedings.

Between 2000 and 2010, Texas saw its youth population grow by one million. In the same time frame, the state’s youth population went from 40.5 percent Latino to 48.3 percent. Basic logic would suggest that the state’s child welfare system would undergo a similar shift in demographics, and the number of Latino children in the system and up for adoption would swell.

By Darian Woods New research suggests that supporting foster youths’ transition to adulthood is important to protect against mental illness. Help navigating the administration of life, such as how to buy health insurance, balance a checkbook or prepare for a job interview may be associated with stronger mental health decades later.

By Andrea Flores While the release of a landmark study on income mobility earlier this year set the news media abuzz with stories about inequality, there was scant mention of children involved with the child welfare system, for whom moving up the economic ladder is uniquely challenging.