Project 1 | mysite

Research Proposal

The community I have decided to write about is foster care more importantly foster care help programs. I chose this community because I grew up in a very low income area, in central Florida. I remember going through the school system many of my friends were on free or reduced lunch and other types of government assistance. One of my friends became homeless when she was only sixteen. Her mother had left in the middle of the night and left her with no money to eat or pay any bills. She was completely on her own. Many of her friends didn’t even know she was homeless. She then found our local nonprofit foster care help program. This specific program helps adolescence and children who have aged out of foster care system get back on their feet. My local nonprofit organization is called Forward Paths. My research question is, how has my local foster care help program, Forward paths helped children aging out of the foster care system?

For my research, I have decided to Interview two people who volunteer at this nonprofit organization. One Dianne Burry, the founder of Forward Paths and my mother Julia Grimes who is on the board. They both have been there every minute along the way for the development of this organization and all the children involved in it. Currently there are over 14,000 children that have been placed in the foster care system in Florida alone. I want to discuss with them the topics of how many children come to this program for help, what are the main needs they are asking for and how has this organization helps the children get their lives back.

At this point I am missing information about the work that goes into helping these children in the program. This organization isn’t just about writing a check and giving away money to buy them food or a place to stay. Coming from such a small town every interaction with these children is very personal for both the volunteers and the children. I need to look into finding a reliable source that could tell me about the hard work and dedication these board members put in to help all of its members. I also plan to research online about the organization as a whole and its effects on my community.

Peer Interview

Moving at any time can be a major change to an individual’s life. Rachel, a freshman moved twice in just a year. “Although I was sad to say goodbye to my friends moving to Jacksonville was exciting” said Rachel. Right after moving thousands of miles from her home, Rachel enrolled at Florid State University and jumped right into the college lifestyle and began a new journey.

Dreaming of going to Law School Rachel is currently studying finance as an undergrad. Being an only child she was the first in her family and the only one in her graduating class to come to Florida State.

Coming from a small public school with less than 1000 kids, Florida State was a major change for her. With living her first two years in the dorms, she is able to have the full college experience and have a quick walk to all her classes. “I like how the dorms are very community oriented, but sometimes it gets to be too much living in such close quarters with people.” Living in Carthorn it is in the perfect location in the center of campus. Next year Rachel plans to live in Degraff West to have a more off campus feel but still living in a dorm setting.

Along with the dorms also comes the required meal plan, “I don’t even like Suwannee, the food isn’t good, except Community Table expressed Rachel. Rachel has found many other ways to become involved in the community and University. She is an active member in Hall Council and a fellowship group. With so much change within a short amount of time many people would find themselves stressed and overwhelmed, however, for Rachel she loved and embraced every minute of it to make Florida State her new home.

Final Draft-Reseach Paper

Forwards Paths Foundation

Every year about 20,000 youth age out of the Foster Care System and enter into the real world to start a career, continue their education or to begin a family. However, many struggle with this major transition into real life. “Many are homeless, poor, have trouble maintaining regular employment, and struggled to fulfil their healthcare needs.” (Reilly). The town I grew up it was considered a low-income area, it taught me to be very thankful for what I had and not take anything for granted. I remember going through the public-school system, many of my friends were on free or reduced lunch and other types of government assistance. One of my good friends from school became homeless when she was only sixteen years old. Her mother left her and her younger brother in the middle of the night without even saying goodbye. She had no place to turn and was completely on her own. Many of her friends, including myself, had no idea she was even homeless. She kept her private life a secret because she didn’t want to bother others. After a few months of living alone, she finally found hope in one of our town’s nonprofit organizations called Forward Paths. Forward Paths is a local organization that focuses on the homeless youth or youth aging out of the Foster Care System. They help provide housing, helped develop more job skills, and provide them with educational opportunities to help improve each individual’s life. My friend’s involvement has made me curious and has made me develop the research question; How has Forward Paths affected each individual in the program and impacted our community as a whole?

“Foster care is a temporary arrangement in which adults provide for the care of a child or children whose birthparent is unable to care for them, foster care is not where juvenile delinquents go” (adopt.org). Children enter into foster care for numerous reasons such as a sick parent, death of a parent, parents can’t financially support the child, or the parents have entered into the criminal justice system, pretty much any reason where their guardians are no longer able to care for them. In 2015 alone, over 670,000 children spent time in US foster care (childrensrights.org). Children on average remain in the foster care system for two years, only 6% stay in the system for more than 5 or 6 years. (childrensrights.org). The state then provides for these children until they are either adopted, sent back to their family or kicked out of the foster care system at the age of eighteen, which for many is in the middle of high school.

The article “Behavior Problems, Academic Skill Delays and School Failure Among School-Aged Children in Foster Care; Their Relationship to Placement Characteristics” describes the many behavioral problems, the delay of academic skills and the failure of kids in the foster care system. Children in foster care are too often exposed to violence, abuse, neglect, homelessness, substance abuse and poverty at an early age. These are some of the key things that cause children’s negative behaviors. “The percent of children and/or adolescents living in out-of-home placement reported to have a behavior problem range from 29–80%” (Bussing, Regina, et al.), this is including behavioral problems in and out of school. It was also found that both children in a long-term foster family and those who are constantly relocating are considered below average in math, reading and vocabulary. With factor’s such as delayed academic skills and the many behavior issues, youth in foster care have a much higher high school drop-out rate than those who aren’t in the system. Education and Behavior are two very important things needed for life. By having very little education and early behavioral problems it can later contribute to major things such as trouble keeping employment and involvement in criminal activities.

Various problems arise when leaving the foster care system. Leaving home at any age and under any circumstance is always difficult. For me the move to college alone was extremely challenging. I was all by myself in a new town, not knowing a single person and not knowing where anything was located. I have always been extremely close to my mother so knowing that I was moving hours away from her and the only time I would be able to visit was breaks, was a very hard concept to grasp for me. I cannot imagine being on my own without having my parents to rely on. Moving out of foster care comes with even more challenges. The article “Transition from Care; Status and Outcomes of Youth who age out of Foster care.” written by Thom Riley describes the difficulties many youth leaving the foster care system face transitioning to life completely on their own. The lack of parental figures, positive reinforcements, job experiences and the constant moving adjustments play into why it is so hard. Many are faced with unemployment, are involved in criminal activities and face early homelessness. Today “between 10% and 40% of youth formerly in foster care were unemployed at the time of being contacted, many had trouble keeping steady employment and 25% have been involved in criminal activities since leaving foster care” (Cook,1991; Courtney & Piliavin, 1998; Festinger,1983; Jones & Moses,1984).

In 1986 US congress enacted the Independent Living Initiative which pushed states to develop services which youth will receive once they leave out-of-home care. There the many independent living programs nationwide but the outcomes of these programs are unknown, youth are still struggling to enter the real world. These government programs were developed to make the transition for these youths easier, however sometimes these programs are just not enough. Today one in 30 (almost 2.5 million) of K-12 children are now homeless in the US (Phillips). In my interview with Denise Burry, the founder of Forward Paths, I asked what is the greatest challenge that she faces in Forward Paths, she responded with “The lack of housing has been our main challenge but transportation and staff both run a close second. Running an organization on a shoe string budget is never easy.” Housing always comes first however, without a place to live, nothing happens.

Forward Paths is a nonprofit organization that helps homeless youth’s and those who are aging out of foster care. They are currently located in Leesburg, Florida. Many of its youth in the area on sometime of government assistance such as food stamps or welfare. Programs such as Forward Paths play a huge role in our community to help those who have nowhere else to go. They provide housing, help develop job skills and give them educational opportunities to help improve each individual’s life. “We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to live up to their full potential. Our focus is on our community’s homeless youths and those who are aging out of foster care. We believe together we can create a path that leads to independence” (forwardpaths.org). The difference between Forward Paths and other government assistance programs is that Forward Paths was formed by people who wanted to make a difference in each child’s life. Since Forward Paths is not bound by the government rules, they are allowed to come up with the different solutions for each individual.

Denise Burry is the founder and executive director of Forward Paths. She first began the organization at the end of 2012. Creating this organization was no easy process but it was extremely worth it. Denise began this journey as a Guardian Ad Litem in central Florida. A Guardian Ad Litem is a person the court appoints to an individual to help make decisions in the best interest of the child. Denise and one of her close friends witnessed first-hand the daily struggles these young individuals encountered and wanted to bring attention to our community. After debating about the topic for over a year, she reached her absolute tipping point when she observed how poorly one of the youth she represented was treated when signing up for the GED. She then created Forward Paths on January 22, 2013. Forward Paths has just recently celebrated their fifth anniversary and have almost tripled the number of youth they are representing in the program. Maintaining an organization is never easy, especially when also trying to take care of a family of your own. Denise has eight children of her own, two of which were adopted, she also helps her husband run his local Pharmacy when she is not working. She struggles every day to provide for the children in the program, but she knows every minute of her time is worth it when she sees what the kids are accomplishing. Denise expressed how she leaned on her friends and family for support when first beginning the organization. She has had her eldest son and two of her friends on the board for almost five years now.

Forward Paths puts on many events to help bring in money for the organization. Events such as church dinners, luncheons, and this year they threw a special Bike Prom. Because Forward Paths is a nonprofit Organization all of the money for the children comes from private donations and grants. Forward Paths tries to avoid most fundraisers because they take time and money. Instead the main source of income comes from the community luncheon the directors put on. This is a free luncheon that is broadcasted to the community for anyone to come and help support their local organization. The luncheon brings in an average revenue of $8000 each year. Last year I had the opportunity to volunteer for the Community Luncheon. I served both as a cook, a decorator, and a server for the event. Because my mother is on the Board, I have been very involved in most of Forwards Paths events from the beginning. Currently, Forward Paths holds just over forty youths in the program, out of the forty, fifteen of them have children, one is pregnant, and one is helping raise her five-year-old sister. Despite all their individual struggles, all of them are currently enrolled in school or have a job. Most of them actually do both. However, it is hardest for the single parents because the lack of night time daycare. Coming into the program majority of the youth need everything and have absolutely nothing. “Most of them have never had a job, are behind in school and lack connections in the community. Most of them come to us lacking paperwork such as ID’s, insurance (Medicaid and food stamps) even if they have just aged out. They lack clothing, a place to live, and transportation, too. If they have any family most of them are very impoverished themselves” said Denise. My high school friend was against all the odds before coming to Forward Paths. She was homeless at sixteen, had no family, was failing out of school and nowhere to go. Her whole life changed when she found the organization. With the help of Forward Paths, she not only graduated high school but she graduated a year early at the age of seventeen and has kept a steady job for over two years now. Forward paths raised enough money to buy her a moped so she could have a form of transportation. She now lives down in South Florida, where she is in her sophomore year of college and even made the dean’s list. She has come out strong even when all odds were against her but she couldn’t have ever done this alone.

Without local programs that assist youth in need, we will find our communities with more crime, more people on welfare, and a less educated workforce. Programs like forward Paths saw the needs of these young people and are helping them to become involved and part of the communities rather than on a sideline. Forward Paths helps give these adolescences a new chance at life and a new chance to succeed. By providing them with housing, transportation, education and helping them develop job skills they transform these kids into productive citizens that will continue to contribute to our community’s success as a whole. When entering into Forward Paths, they are given something no government assistance program will give them, hope and love. Because Forward Paths is still small and local, everything is very personal. The youth in the program become a pact and they help each other work though the hardships life has presented them with. Many individuals have left from the program and are continuing their education and improving their lives. The goal of Forward Paths is to get people back on their feet, help them contribute to society and one day let them be able to return the favor.

Works Cited

Bussing, Regina, et al. “Behavior Problems, Academic Skill Delays and School Failure Among School-Aged Children In Foster Care; Their Relationship to Placement Characteristics” Journal of Child and Family Studies,Vol. 9, No. 1, 2000, pp 87-103 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1023%2FA%3A1009415800475.pdf Accessed 31Jan. 2018

Courtney, Mark and Dworsky, Amy. “Early Outcomes for Young Adults Transitioning from Out of Home Care in the USA” Child and Family Social Work, Vol 1, Issue 3. August 2006, pp 209-219 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2206.2006.00433.x/full Accessed 2 Feb. 2018

Foster Care. 2018, http://www.childrensrights.org/newsroom/fact-sheets/foster-care/ Accessed 20 Feb 2018

Forward Paths Foundation. 2018, http://forwardpaths.org Accessed 23 Jan. 2018

Hoffman, Alexander “High Ambitions: The Past and Future of American Low-income Housing Policy” Housing Policy Debate Vol. 7, Issue 3, March 2010 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10511482.1996.9521228?needAccess=true Accessed 3 Feb. 2018

Phillips, Craig. “Homeless but Not Hopeless: Homeless Youth in America.” Independent Lens April 2015. http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/homeless-but-not-hopeless-homeless-youth-in-america/ Accessed 26 Feb. 2018

Reilly, Thom. “Transition from Care; Status and Outcomes of Youth who age out of Foster care.” ResearchGate, November 2003, PubMed 07 January 2015, pp 727-733

http://www.thomreillypublications.com/docs/2003_Transition_From_Care.pdf Accessed 23 Jan. 2018

What is Foster Care. 2018, http://www.adopt.org/what-foster-care Accessed 26 Feb. 2018

Final Draft- Annotated Bib

Annotated Bibliography

This article “Behavior Problems, Academic Skill Delays and School Failure Among School-Aged Children in Foster Care; Their Relationship to Placement Characteristics” was written by a series of authors, Bonnie Zima, Regina Bussing, Stephanny Freeman, Xiaowei Yang, Thomas Burlin, and Steven Forness. These authors come from many different universities, serving as Professors and assistant professors in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. The authors describe the many behavior problems, the delay of academic skills and the failure of kids in the foster care system. It also shows how all of these concepts are connected and how the outcomes are related to children’s placement characteristics.

The source explains that many children in foster care have many difficult behavior problems. Children in foster care are often exposed to violence, abuse, neglect, homelessness, substance abuse and poverty at an early age. These are some of the key things that cause children’s negative behaviors. “The percent of children and/or adolescents living in out-of-home placement reported to have a behavior problem range from 29–80%” this is including behavioral problems in and out of school. It was also found that both children in a long-term foster family and those who are constantly relocating are considered below average in math, reading and vocabulary. With factor’s such as delayed academic skills and the many behavior issues, youth in foster care have a much higher high school drop-out rate than those who aren’t in the system. A study was conducted to examine the amount of behavioral and academic issues and how they were connected within adolescence. The results from the study concluded that 69% tested positive for behavior problems, academic skill delay or school failure. Behavior problems also increased in children who have been in foster care for longer periods of time.

I am going to use this source to provide background information about why it is hard for many youth in the foster care system to successfully exit into the real world. The source conducts a study with around 300 people in foster care. Its results tell us everything from what minority they are, to what types of behavior problems they have encountered; however, I am going to focus my argument on the results of behavior and educational problems. I believe these are the two most important factors to excel in life. This article demonstrates the beginning factors like very little education and early behavioral problems that will later contribute to things such as trouble keeping employment and criminal activities mention in the article “Transition from Care; Status and Outcomes of Youth who age out of Foster care.” These two articles are very similar in that they both focus on the struggles that adolescence face in and out of foster care.

The Article “Early Outcomes for Young Adults Transitioning from Out of Home Care in the USA” written by Mark Courtney and Amy Dworsky, describes the outcomes of the Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Fostered Youth, a study done on adolescences leaving foster care in the United States within the past year. Every year about 20,000 youth age out of the foster care system. Some do well and create a good life for themselves but the majority struggles and many are left with almost nothing. Most don’t have family members to help them and now that they are eighteen they no longer have the state to help them either. Due to this many end, up unemployed, homeless or in jail.

This source explains the many government assistance programs for those leaving out of home care. In 1986 Congress amended Title IV-E of the Social Security Act to include the Independent Living Program. Federal funding did not keep up with this however and more than ten years later there is still little to no evidence that this has helped those aging out find homes. The government then replaced this act with the Foster Care Independence Act of 1999, this then increased the government’s spending capacity to $140 million. The Midwest study interviewed 603 adults on their new living situation since exiting foster care. The Midwest study produced that “out of the 321 young adults who were no longer in care at the time of their second interview, 29% reported that they were living in their ‘own place.” Based on the results from the study over half of females and a quarter of males are still on some type of government assistance after leaving the foster care system.

I am going to use this source to show other types of assistance for those ageing out of foster care. In this article, it discusses just the government assistance programs, it does not mention other nonprofit organizations like Forward Paths, however it details what each program is and what each participant on it receives. These government assistance programs relate to The Forward Paths Foundation because their goals are very similar, to provide housing and try to take care of living expenses. Both programs have the same ending goal, however when having a program ran in a small community may things become more personal than that of the US governments programs.

Forward Paths Foundation. 2018, http://forwardpaths.org Accessed 23 Jan. 2018

Forward Paths is a nonprofit organization that helps homeless youth’s and kids who are aging out of foster care. They are located in Leesburg; Fl. Leesburg is a small town located in a low-income area in central Florida. Many of its youth in the area on sometime of government assistance such as food stamps or welfare. Programs such as Forward Paths play a huge role in our community to help those who have nowhere else to go. They provide housing, help develop job skills and give them educational opportunities to help improve each individual’s life.

I am going to be using the Mission Statement and other information from the Forward Paths website. The website gives an overall idea of what the program provides for its youth that have enrolled in the program. It shows the founders of the foundation and all of its board members (Denise Burry and Joanie Smalley), who I plan to interview later. Forward Paths Mission Statement is “We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to live up to their full potential. Our focus is on our community’s homeless youths and those who are aging out of foster care. We believe together we can create a path that leads to independence.” Forward Paths also hosts many events throughout the year. Because they are a nonprofit organization they work off of donations and grants. They host a yearly lunch in, dinners at the local church and this year had a bike Prom.

I am going to use all of this information in my paper to show how much of an impact a small organization like this can have on a town and on individuals on both the helping and receiving end. In my paper, I plan to focus on the mission statement, what Forward Paths is doing to help the individuals in it and how it has affected our community as a whole. I plan to included interviews from some of its board members and about their events but not focus on them. “Transition from Care; status and Outcomes of Youth who age out of Foster Care” written by Thom Riley describes all the hardships of coming out of foster care and transitioning to the real world, Forward Paths website provides all the basic information that the organization provides to help fix these problems and help with each individual struggle.

The article “High Ambitions: The Past and Future of American Low-income Housing Policy” written by Alexander Hoffman describes the past of low income housing and the future plans with it. For any human to survive they need food, water, and shelter. Housing is so extremely important when it comes to individual’s success. Low income housing isn’t always looked highly upon but it is essential for everyone to live.

This source talks about the past of low income housing, like in the 1930s many reformers tried to create a massive public housing unit using modern architectural designs. Then years later “Act of 1949 was passed and visionaries attempted to rebuild American cities by placing the poor in high-rise buildings, an experiment that was soon deemed a disaster.” In the 1980s people advocated for low income housing responded to the budget retrenchment of the Reagan administration by discovering new simpler ways to create housing. After that many nonprofit and community run organizations stepped in and began to produce 30,000-40,000 housing units a year. Many people today have mixed feelings about low income housing, some think we should put the poor in with the wealthier groups will get rid of our poverty problem, others believe we should get rid of it completely.

I am going to use this source to show the different ways low income housing has changed and how it has changed our community. This article relates to the organization Forward Paths because for nonprofit organizations like forward paths, housing is one of the hardest things to find and keep. The people that enter into government assistance or any type of assistance programs usually have little to no money so finding housing can be extremely hard. Many people who are seeking this assistance don’t always have clean slates either, some of them have criminal records and are unemployed, two things that are very hard to have and be when looking for a home.

Reilly, Thom. “Transition from Care; Status and Outcomes of Youth who age out of Foster care.” ResearchGate, November 2003, PubMed 07 January 2015, pp 727-733

http://www.thomreillypublications.com/docs/2003_Transition_From_Care.pdf Accessed 23 Jan. 2018

The article “Transition from Care; Status and Outcomes of Youth who age out of Foster care.” written by Thom Riley describes the difficulties many Youth leaving the foster care system face transitioning to life completely on their own. Many are homeless, poor, have trouble maintaining regular employment, and struggled to fulfil their healthcare needs. Some end up with early pregnancies and run ins with the criminal justice system. The lack of parental figures, lack of positive reinforcements, lack of job experience and the constant moving adjustments all play into why it is harder for the youth aging out of foster care system.

This source describes a study conducted on youth aging out of foster care. The study observed and recorded the post discharging functions of youth by reviewing “the education, employment, living arrangements, health care and safety, legal involvement, preparation for life in the community, support systems, overall adjustment and indicators of difficulties and success.” For this study researchers reviewed data from the state’s child welfare system, the data is used by the DCFS (Division of Child and Family Services) to track children in each state foster care system. They then interviewed 100 youth who had recently aged out of foster care within the last six months. The results of this study were astonishing. Resulting with today “between 10% and 40% of youth formerly in foster care were unemployed at the time of being contacted, and many had trouble keeping steady employment (Cook,1991; Courtney & Piliavin, 1998; Festinger,1983; Jones & Moses,1984) and that “25% have been involved in criminal activities since leaving foster care.”

In 1986 US congress enacted the Independent Living Initiative which pushed states to develop services which youth will receive once they leave out-of-home care. There the many independent living programs nationwide but the outcomes of these programs are unknown, youth are still struggling to enter the real world. These government programs were developed to make the transition for these youths easier, however sometime these programs are just not enough. That’s where organization like Forward Paths steps in. They help fill the gap that government programs leave out. I will use this article to help point out the problems in this community and show how Forward Paths can help resolve these issues.