May is National Foster Care Month

I'm not sure why it took me three days to realize that, but it did. In honor of dedicating May to building awareness of foster care in the US, here are some daunting statistics:

Only 5% of the kids ages 15-18 in foster care get adopted. Instead, each year, roughly 30,000 kids 'age out' of US foster care, meaning they turn 18 and are literally thrust out into the world on their own and are expected to be fully functioning, independent adults. By that time, they have been in foster care for an average of five years.

By age 21……

—1 in 7 experience homelessness

—50% will be unemployed

—71% of the women will become pregnant

—77% of the men will be arrested

—20% of males will become career criminals
(versus 5% of general population)
[statistics taken from helponechild.org]

I was an intelligent, independent young lady at 18, with no history of trauma in my short and decidedly blessed life. But if you had unleashed me in the world with no resources, I don't know that I would have survived. Let's face it, ages 18-21 are not the years when any of us make the best, most responsible decisions of our lives, and that's even when we've been 'raised right.'

Add to that the fact that kids aging out of care have had significant trauma in their lives, often years and years of trauma (foster care itself is, even at its best, traumatic). Their time in care is often wildly unstable and chaotic, with little to no opportunity to learn the basic life skills that would help them succeed in the adult world. I honestly don't know how someone would even begin to take care of himself in that situation. And keep in mind, they age out when they turn eighteen, which could easily be in October of their junior year of high school, and they suddenly have no home, no income, probably no transportation, and no family. It is a miracle that any of them make it with the odds stacked so firmly against them.

This must change. Organizations all across the country are brainstorming and working toward solutions, and building awareness is an important step. You can also visit this website to find out more about ways to help.