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In the news Rhode Island has been one of the few states in the country where youth were able to remain in foster care until their 21st birthday, rather than aging out at 18. We had those years from 18 to 21 to try to launch ourselves into the real world. The state promised to keep us housed and supported during that time. But now, Governor Donald Carcieri has proposed budget cuts that would cut foster care benefits off at 18. That means youth ages 18-21 will no longer receive the housing, case management, health care, job benefits or education benefits we get right now. Everything will be cut off on July 1. I’m 20 and a junior at the University of Rhode Island. Right now my tuition, books, food and most of my housing is paid for because I’m in care. If this budget passes, my last year of school won’t be covered anymore. I already have a job just to have enough money to pay my utility bills and have some spending money. If this budget passes, I think a lot of us will become homeless. It’s really dire. You’re talking about kids who have a lot of emotional baggage. You’re talking about an enormous population of disabled kids, and kids who have kids themselves. These are the kids who didn’t get adopted. These are special circumstance kids who have been promised by the state that if no one shows up for you, we’ll show up for you. What Rhode Island is doing is setting a national example of not valuing kids they’ve promised to support. It’s not right. I’ve never done advocacy work before, but when I heard about this I had to get involved. I’ve been giving testimony at hearings involving financing the bill, and I attended a rally on April 4. This is a situation that’s not ignorable. When you pay to give youth in care support until age 21, you’re talking about an investment. You have the option of investing in kids and letting them do for themselves, or paying for them later in incarceration costs and welfare. None of us want a handout. We want to be allowed to get the education and vocational training we need to get ahead. —Leah Charpentier
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About
our books Stories from Represent have been anthologized in several books by Youth Communication. The Heart Knows Something Different (Persea Books, 1996) is a collection of personal essays first published in FCYU; in addition, The Struggle to Be Strong: True Stories By Teens About Resilience (Free Spirit, 2000), Things Get Hectic: Teens Write About the Violence That Surrounds Them (Simon & Schuster, 1998) and Out With It: Gay and Straight Teens Write About Homosexuality (Youth Communication, 1996) feature stories from Represent, as well as from New Youth Connections (NYC), our other teen-written magazine. |
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