Former foster youth in Georgia, New York and California are driving reforms recommended by a leading national nonprofit focused on system reforms, with the goal of improving access to mental health care and affordable housing for one of the nation’s most vulnerable populations.
During a two-day webinar hosted by the Center for the Study of Social Policy last week, a panel of experts mapped out the legislative recommendations along with young adults who shared their personal experiences to illustrate why change to the status quo is so urgently needed. They included a young woman in Georgia who said she was tired of navigating outdated and ineffective mental health resources. She described the help she got “like being handed a piece of tissue for a cut instead of treating the cut.” An aspiring social worker who left the foster care system nearly wound up homeless before being ushered into a cold, cockroach-infested apartment.
“The young people understand firsthand how systems are designed to surveil, oppress and ultimately fail young people — especially Black, Indigenous and Latino people, and other people of color,” said Leonard Burton, president and CEO of the national nonprofit that pushes for policy change to improve the lives of children and families. “They know how it feels when society tells you that the best you can hope for is the bare minimum, and we don’t believe that the bare minimum is something that anyone should aspire for.”
The nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles spent three years collaborating with Creating Actionable and Real Solutions, an advisory group of former foster youth ages 18 to 26. Together they designed localized policy agendas focusing on New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta focused on helping youth feel affirmed and included as they transition out of foster care.
“Lawmakers really need to listen, integrate and center the voices and input of young people with lived experience, because these are the people who actually know what policies are needed on the ground to really, truly meet their needs,” said Michael Santos, a featured speaker and associate director of the RESULTS Educational Fund, an anti-poverty advocacy group.
“I just hope that current foster youth won’t have to go through all these obstacles because you feel like you want to give up. I almost gave up.”
— Kayonda Branch, Brooklyn Youth Ambassador
Policy recommendations the foster youth are calling for together with the national policy experts include improving economic security through access to automatic, guaranteed cash assistance; providing direct payments to unpaid caregivers; and establishing connections with adults who understand the child welfare system and can assist youth before, during and after their transition from government care to independence.
Staff of the nonprofit and youth advocates head to Washington, D.C., in December to discuss these conclusions with members of Congress. Liz Squibb, senior associate at the Center for the Study of Social Policy, said discussions have already taken place with local policymakers and child welfare leaders, including officials with the Administration for Children’s Services in New York City, state public health officials in Atlanta and Mayor Karen Bass in Los Angeles.
Addressing the gap in mental health support
The Atlanta-specific policy agenda addresses mental health services and the need for affordable, high-quality care. Youth should be connected with “navigators” before aging out of the system, defined as adults who are knowledgeable about the foster care system and can guide young people to mental health professionals of color, specifically Black professionals.
In Georgia, Black children make up approximately a third of the population, yet amount to nearly half of the youth in care. Nationwide, only 4% of psychologists and 2% of psychiatrists are Black, according to the Association of Black Psychologists.
National studies show 80% of the nation’s foster youth suffer from significant mental health challenges, compared with less than a quarter of the general population. LGBTQ+ youth in particular struggle to find affirming homes and informed medical providers.
“The resources that are provided by the state when it comes to mental health support feel more like being handed a piece of tissue for a cut instead of treating the cut and making sure it heals well and doesn’t leave a scar.”
— Jada Brigman, Atlanta Youth Ambassador
The challenges in Georgia are acute. According to the Atlanta agenda, the state ranks 48th in the nation for access to mental health care, with nearly all of its counties facing a shortage of mental health professionals.
Youth ambassador Jada Brigman said she spent her childhood passed from family member to family member and in and out of foster homes. That lack of stability inspired her to pursue a degree in public policy from Georgia State University and to work to improve the lives of other children.
Growing up in the foster care system, Brigman said she always agreed to any therapy service offered to her, but never felt like anything truly helped.
“The resources that are provided by the state when it comes to mental health support feel more like being handed a piece of tissue for a cut instead of treating the cut and making sure it heals well and doesn’t leave a scar,” Brigman said.
Being able to choose, and to see the same provider until age 26 was another priority the youth highlighted.
“This was something that they felt very strongly about,” said panel moderator Shadi Houshyar. “Once you establish that connection, to be able to carry that forward was very important for them.”
Hellish housing
Brooklyn native and youth ambassador Kayonda Branch entered foster care at 13 because of her mother’s drug use, she said. She’d been in four homes by the time she was 18 and was eventually separated from a younger brother. Today, she considers one of her foster mothers as a parent. But in other foster homes she recalled feeling uncomfortable, and often got into trouble because she’d leave and refuse to return.
“In the beginning, it was hard, because I was still going through a lot of depression being removed from my mom,” Branch, 25, said. “I did have trauma and abandonment issues, but then it also made me stronger, because I got to college — that was big for me.”
Branch is proud of the way she prioritized education despite the instability of her childhood. She graduated with a degree in criminal justice and social work, and a minor in Chinese. But she said she often felt overwhelmed and alone.
Once she left foster care, her housing options narrowed. Under the supportive housing program offered to foster youth leaving the system, she said she was offered substandard affordable housing in New York City — hours away by train from her college campus in Buffalo.
Eventually, she secured a housing voucher that helped her pay for a cockroach-infested, rent-subsidized apartment that often lacked heat. During her hunt for housing, she said she had no idea that as a former foster youth a caseworker could have helped advocate for her. The two-year process felt so overwhelming at points that she even considered a homeless shelter.
“I felt so alone — I didn’t know anything about public assistance,” she recalled. “I just hope that current foster youth won’t have to go through all these obstacles because you feel like you want to give up. I almost gave up.”
The policy center’s recommendations for housing reforms in Los Angeles and New York City draw on the experiences of youth like Branch. In these major cities, aging-out foster youth often struggle to find safe, affordable housing due to high rents, application and broker’s fees, and financial health barriers related to income and credit score requirements.
Last year, a New York city hall report found a nearly 50% increase in young adults seeking homeless shelter care and drop-in services. And in Los Angeles, surveys found that nearly one in four former foster youth report having been homeless at some point between ages 21 and 23.
Panelists spoke about the important role stable housing plays in helping foster youth have greater independence over their lives, including pursuing higher education without worrying about where to sleep on a given night.
“Young people are too often falling through the cracks,” said Cara Baldari, vice president of Family Economics, Housing, and Homelessness at the policy nonprofit First Focus on Children. “Housing that is truly affordable, so that young people can build savings at the same time and have that good foundation, gives them a sense of agency and independence and ability to make choices.”
The recommendations being promoted by youth advocates and the Center for the Study of Social Policy include education for landlords about housing vouchers, to ensure broader acceptance, and removing criteria from housing applications that can lead to discrimination, such as requirements that criminal records be disclosed. Health and safety standards in low-income housing must be better enforced, the group has concluded and a network of “housing navigators” are needed to instruct young people about paying rent, reading leases and communicating with landlords. These guides would ideally have experience working with young people with a history of trauma.
