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[Feb. 5 and Feb. 12, 2003] - Right now more than 5,000 Nebraska children live in foster care. Ten years ago that number was around 2,000. Removing a child from a parent is one of the most drastic actions government takes. The PBS series "Frontline" has examined foster care nationally in a two-part series. "Statewide" takes an in-depth look at foster care in Nebraska with its own series of reports. In part one, "Statewide's" Perry Stoner provides an overview of the system and looks at how it has been impacted by budget cuts. In part two, "Statewide's" Brad Penner reports on how foster youth make the transition to independence when the state's responsibility to care for them ends. |
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Watch Part 2, Foster Care Transition:RealPlayer | QuickTime
Watch Part 1, Foster Care Overview:RealPlayer | QuickTime
Margaret Bitz, Out-of-Home Support Team administrator for Nebraska Health and Human Services, comments on why it’s important to establish a permanency plan quickly for state wards:RealPlayer | QuickTime
Bitz discusses who foster families are:RealPlayer | QuickTime
Bitz comments on how everything come together in foster care:RealPlayer | QuickTime
Carolyn Stitt, executive director of the Nebraska Foster Care Review Board, talks about concerns about caseworker case load, prevention and placements:RealPlayer | QuickTime
Stitt says spending more now is better than spending much more later:RealPlayer | QuickTime
Stitt comments on state contracting some services:RealPlayer | QuickTime
Stitt discusses the bureaucracy of the system and support for staff and foster parents:RealPlayer | QuickTime
David Krogman, program director for Christian Heritage Group Homes, comments on what group homes provide:RealPlayer | QuickTime
Krogman says kids can overcome multiple placements:RealPlayer | QuickTime |
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Transcript of Part 2, Foster Care Transition
(Brad Penner/Reporting) Here's a pop quiz. Can you find the honor student in this Dana College classroom? How about the leader of an after school youth program? The community volunteer? Do you see the former foster child? Theresa Peterson fills each of those roles.
(Theresa Peterson/Former Foster Child) I finally told someone I was in foster care and I thought they were gonna fall off their chair. They were like, oh my gosh, I can't believe you're in foster care. You seem like such a normal child. Well, that's the thing. Foster kids are normal.
(Penner) But foster kids do face unusual circumstances, even in the best cases. After all, they live apart from their parents.
(Peterson) There are a lot of different obstacles for kids in foster care. First of all, it's really hard to see positive things. I had it pretty easy. I knew my foster parents and I still remember crying, thinking, why, why me?
(Angela Daniels/Former Foster Child) My self-esteem was really bad with that because everybody's like well why aren't you with your parents? Well for one, it's none of their business because you don't really want to say cause sometimes, you know, bad things happen, you know, it's not that kid's fault, but it's like well, you must have been bad, otherwise why would your parents let you go. Or why would you get taken away. They always think that you were the one at fault.
(Penner) The state placed Angela Daniels in foster care when she was in fifth grade. Her mother was ill, and couldn't care for her.
(Jessica Hilderbrand/Former Foster Child) I've been in foster care since I was 15. I was pulled for like abuse reasons. I was put in Boys Town for shelter and then put in a foster home in Superior, Nebraska. And it was wonderful. And I stayed there for awhile, and I was having some problems dealing with things that you know, I'd been through when I was little and so I was kind of I was put in other shelters and treatment centers and so when I was like 16, I was in and out of shelters and all kinds of different places. But then, at the end of my senior year, I got to go back to my foster home and I graduated from Superior.
(Penner)
Jessica Hilderbrand, Angela Daniels, and Theresa Peterson work together
on the central Nebraska Foster Youth Council. All have aged out of the
foster care system. Now they want to help other foster kids.
The Nebraska Children and Families Foundation set up three regional councils
through its Foster Youth Initiative. Debbie Dominick heads the program.
(Debbie Dominick/Foster Youth Initiative) Each of those councils meet every other month and the focus for them is really to be able to come together and meet each other. Just meeting other kids who are in foster care and going through the same things that they're going through. And also to provide input on program and policy issues on foster care and specifically around finding better supports for kids who are transitioning out of foster care and going into independent living.
(Penner) In Nebraska, kids leave the foster care system when they turn 19.
(Dominick) They've been in the system and been around other kids maybe who are in care, having foster parents, having a caseworker. Having somebody whose been managing their life for however long, and then all of a sudden, kind of thrown out there and left on their own so. That's something that the state is really striving to help with in finding support for kids who are leaving the foster care system.
(Margaret Bitz/Health and Human Services) One of the things is the kids leave our system and don't have anybody. They have no emotional support system, they don't have a family to go to at the holidays, and you know that is pretty sad when they don't have anybody.
(Penner) The Foster Youth Councils include kids currently in foster care, and young adults who've successfully made the transition to independence. Those still in foster care share their concerns about leaving the system. Those already on their own share what's worked for them.
(Daniels) The former ward program helped me a lot, and so did PALS. Those are the two big programs that were there that helped a lot that needed to be-that needed to be kept. That I think are vital for anybody transferring from foster care to be out on their own to go to college or do whatever. And it's a big help.
(Penner) PALS stands for Preparation for Adult Living Skills. Youth in foster care can take part in the program after they turn 16. A PALS caseworker determines what a youth needs to learn to prepare for independence.
(Todd Reckling/Health and Human Services) It's really a continuum from the most basic things that a person does for themselves, you know, from dressing and just proper hygiene all the way up to some of the more complex social issues that they'll face. You know, as I said, like filing tax forms, working with some of the local government on things you might need. You know, how to access different state aid services or you know, law enforcement or who to go to, where to go, and kind of that whole network. It helps em develop their relationship with their local community.
(Penner) The former ward program provides a monthly stipend to former state wards who go to college or vocational school.
(Reckling) They would be eligible for up to 352 dollars a month through age 20 on that program, as long as they're pursuing higher education. So the intent of the program is to help the youth that have no other means to pursue their education or maintain out on their own.
(Penner) Theresa Peterson is one of around 100 youth currently enrolled in the Former Ward program. She says the money makes it possible for her to go to school full time, and work part-time. Mike Sipp could have used the Former Ward program. His foster parents became his legal guardians during his senior year of high school. The guardianship added stability to Mike's life, but he discovered an unintended consequence after he went off to college.
(Mike Sipp/Former Foster Child) The money wasn't there to pay the bills and pay for school.
(Penner) Mike turned to the Department of Health & Human Services for help. He learned he would've been eligible for the Former Ward program if his foster parents had not become his guardians. Mike quit school and now works full time, though he plans to go back to school soon. He says foster youth approaching independence need to think ahead.
(Sipp) If you have any questions, ask them now. Ask them from your caseworkers and your foster parents. Anybody that has anything to do with you, ask. Because if you don't know, then you're gonna end up in certain situations where you could think that you're failing, and nobody wants to do that.
(Reckling) I think the youth sometimes just learns unfortunately that um it's a kind of a cold world out there. They're out on their own and that's why it's so important to work with them before we get to the point of them just aging out of the system and having absolutely no where to go. And that's why I think as caseworkers, as you know, just community members, we need to do our best to link up with those young folks and do what we can to to offer services, to help them with their needs.
(Penner) Jessica Hildebrand says at times, she felt alone.
(Hilderbrand) Sometimes it's really hard trying to find, who can I lean on. Who can I ask for help?
(Penner) Those who succeed when they leave foster care often have a strong source of support. Theresa counted on her foster parents.
(Peterson) They are a really big support in my life. It's just like a normal family. Whenever I'm with them they introduce me as their daughter. I'm not the foster child or anything like that. I'm really lucky because I have that support. I can go back home if I really need to.
(Penner) Theresa says she always planned to go to college, but her foster parents made sure she prepared.
(Peterson) I had my foster parents pushing me, saying you need to go get this scholarship, you need to apply, you need to do this, you need to do that. If you don't have foster parents that care, it's a lot harder. You need someone, especially at 17, 18 years old, to push you along. Remind you what you need to do.
(Penner) Stacy Williams works for the University of Oklahoma's National Resource Center for Youth Services. She helped teach a leadership workshop for the Central Nebraska Foster Youth Council. She agrees kids in the system need someone they can turn to for encouragement and advice.
(Stacy Williams/University of Oklahoma) Permanent connections are probably the most important thing that youth transitioning out of foster care need. We feel like if we give them an education, give them life skills that great, but without those permanent connections, they can't do it on their own.
(Penner) Debbie Dominick says the Foster Youth Initiative is working on a mentoring program that would provide a source of support for kids leaving foster care.
(Dominick) And our piece of it, is helping to attract young people who have been in foster care, ages 25 and over, who would come forward and say, you know, I'd really like to mentor somebody. Part of that comes from, I think, it's easier to mentor somebody when you've been through it.
(Penner) When Theresa Peterson finishes class for the day, she heads to Omaha for her part time job. She runs an after school program for 15 students at the Chicano Awareness Center. By succeeding in school and at work, Theresa hopes to change people's views about foster kids. She says the Foster Youth Councils can take that same message across the state.
(Peterson) I hope that we can get out and show people that foster kids are ok. We're just normal kids, that we can actually accomplish something in the world.
(Penner)
The Foster Youth Councils started less than a year ago and they're looking
for more members. Kids who want to help others succeed in life on their
own, after life in the system. Reporting for Statewide, I'm Brad Penner.