Quick Links & Contacts

ACS
Office of Youth Development
212-361-1974/5

Office of Advocacy
212-676-9421

EDUCATION
Alternative Schools
GED Programs
Scholarships & ETVs

HOUSING
Finding an Apartment
Emergency Services

JOBS
Summer Jobs

SEXUALITY
Morning After Pill info
1-888-NOT-2-LATE

HEALTH
Citywide Clinic List

MENTAL HEALTH
Suicide Hotline
212-673-3000

LifeNet Referrals
(24 hours)
1-800-543-3638 (English)
1-877-298-3373 (Spanish)
1-877-990-8585 (Mandarin/Cantonese)

SPECIAL RESOURCES
Hotlines (dating violence, housing, mental health)
GLBTQ Resources

ADVOCACY
General/Aging Out
In the Spirit of the Children 212-410-9801

Legal
Lawyers for Children
1-800-244-2540

Legal Aid (call the office in the borough where you lived when you first went into foster care)
Bronx: 718-579-7900
Brooklyn: 718-237-7100
Manhattan: 212-312-2260
Queens: 718-298-8900
Staten Isl.: 718-981-0219

Education/Special Ed
Advocates for Children
212-947-9779

ETVs (Educational and Training Vouchers)
Featured Story

From ‘Group Home Child’ to College Success

From 'Group Home Child' to College Success - by Tamecka L. Crawford

By Tamecka L. Crawford
Going off to college for the first time can be a scary experience for anyone, but especially for a foster child. We don’t have the support of a parent, and a lot of times we feel as if we’re alone in the world. Before I left for Sullivan County Community College in New York state, I started to wonder what college life would be like for me.

Although I wanted so badly to be independent, I still wanted someone there to fall back on. How would I survive all alone in a strange place? Could I make it as a college student? Would I fail or drop out? I worried about people finding out I had lived in a group home and treating me differently or making fun of me. I even wondered if my professors would treat me differently.

First Day Nerves

When I first started classes, things seemed fine. I had six classes and the workload was all right. But after a little while I met a guy and started spending lots of time with him, skipping classes and not studying. I started having trouble, and my grades dropped tremendously in history and math. I told myself I had all the time in the world to pull them up. I found myself using the excuse of being in foster care every time I missed a class or failed an exam. A lot of times I would say to myself, “Oh, I’m in a group home. Who cares if I go to class or not, or if I failed an exam or even if I passed one?”

‘Group Home Child’

I felt as if the words “group home child” were hanging over my head. Even though nobody treated me differently, in the back of my mind I imagined they were. Like at the Bursar’s window (the place that deals with your bills), I felt that they were hesitant to deal with me because they knew I was in foster care.

My self-esteem was very low my first semester. I sometimes just gave up and didn’t care. As a result, I completed my first semester with a 1.0 grade point average (like a D average), and ended up on academic probation.

I felt nobody cared for me. And it showed. I felt this way because I didn’t have any family support. I kept making the mistake of comparing my life to students who had parents calling often. . .

[read more]