Current and former foster youths in Oregon are crying out for help.
Along with an ongoing need for food and extended housing, many already-traumatized youths are facing the added stress of social isolation and lack of family support during a global pandemic.
A recent survey conducted by FosterClub, a national network for foster youths, shows the COVID-19 crisis hit foster youths “fast and hard” with nearly 20% of respondents reporting they’re navigating this crisis all on their own.
“Young people who have aged out of foster care, who often lack family support they can count on, have been struggling to keep their head above water during this pandemic,” FosterClub Executive Director Celeste Bodner stated in a news release.
“Foster youth often feel alone and unsupported,” a 20-year-old respondent from Oregon said. “It takes a toll on my mental health when I have to wake up every day trying to figure out what I need to do to barely survive.”
Of the 474 former and current foster youths from 43 states surveyed in November and December, 1 in 5 said they have run out of food.
Approximately 66% said they were employed before COVID-19, compared to 44% who said they are employed now.
“We shut down our location for a week, and I should’ve gotten unemployment,” said a 19-year-old respondent, “but I got confused and didn’t get funding.”
A staggering 43% of the young people questioned said they were forced to move because of COVID-19. Most reported they had found housing, but 14% said they were still looking.
Many indicated their housing was tied to their future schooling and worried where they would go if colleges and universities shut down again.
Employees with the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) are hearing some of the same concerns from local foster youths who are reporting emerging needs for food boxes, clothing and tuition assistance.
Press Secretary Sunny Petit said ODHS and social service groups are responding to those needs and working to find additional funding for young people transitioning out of care.
“ODHS has been able to extend the age young adults can access the Chafee Housing Program — to 22,” Petit said, “and, also remove the lifetime cap of $7,000 in assistance, for a maximum $1,000 a month — which was previously $795.”
The Chafee Foster Care Independence Program for a Successful Transition to Adulthood helps states and tribes establish programs to assist foster youths transition smoothly to independent living. Petit said since the pandemic began, Oregon has provided Chafee housing services to approximately 25 young people ages 21 to 22, and is using Chafee funds to support seven more young adults in a local transitional living program.
Child welfare workers also point to federal funding to help Oregon foster youths and families that was expected from the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, which was signed into law by President Trump in December. But at this point, Oregon ODHS leaders don’t know how much funding the state will receive because they haven’t received the grant award notice.
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Young people aging out of foster care aren’t the only foster youths struggling during the pandemic. Younger foster children and their foster parents are facing their own set of challenges with at-home learning and economic hardships.
“Being in the foster care system is traumatic in and of itself,” said Ellen Keithley, social services director for Options Counseling and Family Services in Salem. Now, she said, children are facing social isolation and “the uncertainty of what is actually happening in the world.”
Foster parents are dealing with their own uncertainty amid layoffs and having caseworkers and children coming in and out of their homes during a pandemic. According to the Oregon’s Child Welfare Progress Report for December, the number of general foster care families dropped by 32 from June to November of 2020. However, during that same time-period, the number of children in Oregon foster care dropped by 411, as child welfare employees worked to maintain reunifications and in-home services for families during the pandemic.
“We know that families can feel isolated,” Petit said, “especially without some of the supports they may have had prior to COVID, such as their pool of in-person support and access to others — such as Foster Parent Night Out.”
Keithley said one way to help foster families feel supported and take on the challenges of the pandemic is by inviting the foster parents to participate in KEEP, a parenting skills-training program and support group rolled into one. The Oregon Social Learning Center in Eugene developed the evidence-based program, which is used worldwide. It breaks participants into groups of five to seven foster couples with two trauma-informed group leaders to discuss the challenges they’re facing as foster families and techniques for improving things.
KEEP is inclusive to all types of foster families including Spanish speakers, Native Americans, the deaf and hearing-challenged, LGBTQ+ individuals and kinship groups. Keithley oversees Options’ KEEP program, which began more than three years ago and is offered exclusively online during the COVID-19 epidemic.
“The pandemic has been a big stressor for folks, so having the chance to communicate with other families who are going through similar challenges has been really supportive,” Keithley said.
Foster mother Terrie Alexander and her husband David participated in the 16-week KEEP program twice — once for each of their two oldest foster boys.
“It was a chaotic time,” Alexander said. “Had it not been for KEEP, I don’t know where we would be at this point.”
The Alexanders struggled with the siblings playing with fire, constantly fighting and making restricted calls on their cell phone. She said the boys resisted the couple’s rules regarding chores and earned television time.
On top of that, the Alexanders also care for a younger child with extreme special needs.
“Caseworkers don’t prepare you for the trauma kids have gone through,” she said. “You feel so isolated because they can’t tell you much. You’re left in the dark and have to figure it out.”
KEEP is designed to stabilize foster child placements and help foster families tackle problems before they lead to foster children needing to be moved to another home — which often causes further trauma. KEEP leaders said they don’t use a “one size fits all” curriculum, but instead tailor sessions to specific needs and priorities of each parent group.
Alexander said simply meeting with other families and sharing a few laughs made a big difference for everyone in her home.
“In so many ways,” she said. “From the kids getting to go do arts and crafts, to us talking to other adults who knew what we were going through — maybe not the same exact things — but close enough.”
Alexander said the communication skills they learned in KEEP worked so well with the boys, “we had our child ask us, will you adopt us?” She said the family finally “got each other.”
Now three years after the sibling boys had to be coaxed out their caseworker’s car when they first arrived at the Alexander’s home, the couple is moving forward with adopting the 13- and 15-year olds. Alexander said KEEP played a big role in that evolution.
“The program offered a totally different approach to what we were using,” she said. “The lessons were priceless.”
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For families going through the program during the pandemic, Keithley said that with KEEP, there are some positives. Many parents are finding the online format helpful. “Some folks said they couldn’t have come anyway, in person,” Keithley said, due to conflicting work schedules or the extreme needs of their children.
Also, the online groups can be more specialized since participants are not limited by their location. Foster parents from different areas can join groups with other parents with shared interests or concerns.
“Having this opportunity to stabilize placements and train and retain really good foster parents, it just creates better outcomes for the youth in their homes,” Keithley said.
For more information on KEEP Supporting Foster and Kinship Families, go to keepfostering.org.