In 1998, a newly admitted, anonymous student to California State University, Fullerton, faced a dangerous predicament: she had aged out of foster care without housing during a time when CSU Fullerton lacked year-round dorms. In a desperate attempt to ensure she could still achieve her dreams, she reached out to the university’s then-president, Milton Gordon, to ask for help. This act of outspoken advocacy subsequently led to CSU Fullerton creating a first-of-its-kind support system, the Guardian Scholars Program, to support foster youth students and their unique needs through wraparound services.
Though the program only started with just three students, the pilot was a massive success. Over the next 25 years, it became the catalyst for a state-wide movement to address the needs of former foster youth college students. Today, all 23 CSU and nine UC campuses, as well as dozens of other colleges across California, have incorporated foster youth-oriented support programs — most of which still use the original Guardian Scholars Program title.
As a former participant of College of the Desert’s Foster Youth Services and later, UCLA’s Bruin Guardian Scholars program, I can’t understate the impact these programs have. I received exclusive counseling and information regarding scholarships, financial aid, class enrollment, and other facets of navigating an unfamiliar upper-education environment. It was a resource I could always rely on for direction and advice, and a center I could go to engage with other former foster youth students. When considering that only around 300-400 former foster youth students made up UCLA’s colossal ~33,000 undergraduate student population, having an environment to build these connections was invaluable.
It’s not just me. Studies examining the efficacy of Guardian Scholars Programs show that these programs drastically increase retention and graduation rates of former foster youth students. While current data suggests that of the approximately up to 10% of foster youth across the United States that go on to enroll in college, only about 3% to 5% end up graduating. Another study found that Guardian Scholars programs offered LGBTQ+ former foster youth students — who make up 20% of the foster youth population — the rare opportunity to connect and find solidarity with other LGBTQ+ former foster youth. One student, as part of the study, stated how when they met other LGBTQ+ Guardian Scholars, they “could finally at least open up to someone in school.”
With all this evidence that these specialized support services dramatically increase graduation rates and help dispel confusion for former foster youth students navigating tertiary education, why aren’t any of these services available to foster youth students in high school?
High school is arguably the most critical period for youth in foster care to receive tailored support in developing their academic and professional goals. Between 31% and 46% of youth who age out of foster care will face homelessness by age 26, and only over 60% of foster youth who age out will obtain meaningful employment by the age of 24. On top of all this, foster youth students only have average high school graduation rates of about 63% in California. Additionally, even though only less than 10% of foster youth go on to enroll in college, it’s not due to a lack of interest or cost. Over 90% of foster youth say that they do actually want to attend college. Additionally, California has made it law that foster youth don’t have to pay to attend a UC, CSU, or California community college. Due to this, I believe the issue lies in a systemic disconnect between high school resources and enrollment into tertiary education.
Though foster youth have substantial rights regarding their education, California high schools lack the in-house services that facilitate so much success for former foster youth college students. However, there is one California school district that has experimented with a model similar to the Guardian Scholars Programs throughout California colleges.
The Corona-Norco Unified School District’s (CNUSD) All-Stars Foster Youth Program is the most comparable high school support system to the collegiate Guardian Scholars programs. In this program, foster youth high school students within the district have access to a dedicated foster youth counselor, two to three events for foster youth a month, emotional support classes, tailored college advising and application assistance, and guest speakers, among other resources similar to college-level programs. The results are nothing short of exceptional, with foster youth participants obtaining a 100% high school graduation rate in recent years, and about 79% of seniors in the 2018/2019 class going on to college.
I spoke with CNUSD’s foster youth counselor Jenna Mendez who highlighted some key elements of the program that have led to its success. In her words, “the whole premise of the program is connection,” with elements that not only focus on a foster youth student’s academic success, but their personal, social, and career success as well. “Sometimes there’s a stigma with foster youth,” Mendez said, “but when you are pairing them with other foster youth, and then with fun activities, and you know, great staff, then it just becomes more normal. And so they start feeling connected to the school.”
When asked what other school districts could learn from CNUSD’s All-Stars Foster Youth Program, Mendez notes that “we all need to not be reinventing the wheel.” Specifically, Mendez shares that CNUSD has started forming dialogues with other school districts to help standardize the techniques used by the program, and that school districts should strive to form relationships with local community colleges and universities to boost foster youth students’ exposure to college environments.
Given all these examples of success, I urge legislators and school officials to look at comprehensive wraparound services based on the Guardian Scholars model. Access to counselors specializing in foster youth issues, events that build solidarity with other foster youth, and individual support for college enrollment all drastically improve the educational trajectories of foster youth, and better equip them for tertiary education.
