For the 4,000-5,000 California foster youth who will age out of foster care at
18 years of age this year, THP-Plus has been a safety net where traditional
foster care has left them hanging.
The lack of a “safety net” for these former foster youth, now young adults,
means that they truly struggle to “make ends meet”. They often ultimately become
more of a burden and a larger cost to society than if a much smaller, up-front
investment had simply been made to better prepare and advise them during their
transition out of foster care and in the years preceding it. One shocking
statistic explains how the system has failed them:
Over 70% of all state penitentiary inmates have
spent time in the foster care system, according to a May 12, 2006 Select
Committee Hearing of the California Legislature.
The direct public expense is enormous, according to various experts who work
closely with emancipated foster youth. The State must bear the following
significant costs of youth who end up incarcerated:
- Criminal justice costs (i.e., operation of criminal justice
system in terms of police, prosecution, courts, probation,
incarceration, parole etc.);
- Medical costs borne by the government, property damage, loss
of productivity to society;
- Loss of work time by victims, their families and the
offender;
- Loss of property values in areas of high crime; and
- Pain and suffering of crime victims and society.
THP-Plus changes this picture. A 2008 survey of 458 youth in
THP-Plus conducted by the John Burton Foundation found:
- 19% measurable gain of employment;
- 13% increase in hourly wages, and similar advances in
education, health, and housing stability; and
- 39% decrease in rates of “disconnectedness” from school and
employment.
TAKE ACTION!
Aspiranet asks you to support our efforts by calling your elected Senate
and State Assembly officials to express your concern over the Governor’s
proposal. Phone calls, e-mails, and letters to elected officials make a
difference.
To find contact your representatives, please visit
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html
LEARN MORE ABOUT THP-PLUS YOUTH
Read
inspirational stories about Aspiranet THP-Plus youth who were supported by
foster parents while in care, but turned to Aspiranet’s THP-Plus after leaving
the foster care system.
Watch a powerful
San Diego NBC video about current THP-Plus youth Suamhirs Rivera, who was
kidnapped from his native Honduras, forced to be a child prostitute in the U.S.,
and was placed in foster care aftera police raid..