Sade, 17, has been in foster care in California since she was 13, living in numerous group homes.  She knows the system needs improvement, and is not shy about making her views known.

“I’m real good at explaining what’s wrong,” Sade says, “not only to the youth but to staff.” 

But until she joined California Youth Connection, an advocacy group of current and former foster youth that lobbies for legislative change in foster care policy, Sade didn’t have a focus or forum for her concerns.

“Before joining CYC I was never in a position of power, so that what I was saying could be used,” she says.  “Now I can get my voice heard, and help other youth who are in the same position as me.”

CYC, founded in 1988, has 450 youth members.  They belong to 23 chapters state-wide, and are trained to identify problems facing foster youth and to work for the passage of statewide laws to address those problems.  CYC recruits its members by visiting local high schools, independent living programs, and other related programs that serve current and former foster youth.  The organization has had numerous accomplishments, successfully lobbying for legislation that has created statewide regulations for independent living programs and oversight for group home schools, improved contact and visitation among siblings, improved health care for foster youth, and created the state’s first foster care ombudsman, who addresses complaints about the system. 

When Sade first joined CYC, her expectations weren’t very high.

“I thought I would go to a couple of meetings and that would be it,” she said.  “I was amazed to meet young people who had been through what I had been through, and even worse.  But they’re trying to make a change in their lives and in the lives of others, and that’s empowering in itself.”

All of the issues CYC addresses are chosen by its members. First, youth in local chapters select foster care issues they feel most need improvement in their counties.  To determine a statewide agenda, each chapter votes on their top four priorities.  Finally, the issues that are important to the most foster youth statewide are selected for that year’s legislative campaign. 

Foster youth then work on developing recommendations on the four policy issues at CYC’s annual Policy Conference.  A team of youth who receive special training in policy issues then distill those recommendations to set CYC’s legislative and policy agenda for the year.

CYC holds an annual “Day at the Capitol” conference, where foster youth from across the state come to Sacramento for three days to learn about CYC’s legislative agenda for the year, and then get instruction in the legislative process and how to conduct effective legislative visits.  All workshops are run by youth, who are trained by CYC prior to the conference on facilitation skills and the legislative curricula.  Foster youth have the opportunity to participate in mock debates on CYC’s legislative topics, to practice visits to legislators, and to receive tips from child welfare lobbyists and legislative staff.  On the final day of the conference, foster youth visit with all 120 legislators or their staff members to discuss foster care, their experiences, and CYC’s legislative agenda. 

Sade participated in “Day at the Capitol” and welcomed the opportunity to talk to state legislators. 

“We have so many different personal stories that go with the issues,” she said.  “We were taught by CYC how to present ourselves.  You can’t just talk to legislators like your friends.  CYC teaches you how to do that, how to be clear.” 

She added: “I’ve learned more skills in the last year [with CYC] than in the 15 years I’ve been going to school.” 

This year, CYC sponsored a bill to address the critical issue of permanency—that older foster youth have people they can count on when they leave the system—as well as their right to be involved in the development of their own permanency plan.  Specifically, the bill seeks to ensure that foster youth don’t leave care without a significant connection to at least one caring adult.  Too often, youth leave foster care without that connection.

Research has demonstrated that a lifelong connection and relationship with a supportive adult is one of the key variables associated with resilience and will have the single greatest impact on each youths’ ability to navigate the transition to adulthood.  However, many foster youth currently leave care without a single lasting relationship or connection with any adult. Older foster youth greatly want and need permanent connections and lifelong relationships with adults, particularly as they prepare to leave the foster care system and face the challenges of life alone.

Most of the focus of permanency efforts required by the federal and state law has been on achieving permanence for younger children in foster care, even though approximately half of all children in California’s foster care system are age 11 or older.  Older youth often only receive “independent living skills,” and social workers forget the need to simultaneously identify and maintain the connections that youth have to adults who can serve as long-term support networks.

The permanency bill sponsored by CYC (AB1412) has passed the California Legislature, and now awaits Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s signature.  It changes existing law by:

--Requiring social workers to ask all foster youth, not just those in group homes, about who is important to them, and take actions to maintain those relationships. Social workers must report to the court regularly on the relationships that youth identify as significant and the actions they have taken to maintain these relationships.

--Giving youth the right to be involved in the development of their foster care and permanency case plan after the age of 12.

Sade is deeply concerned about the permanency issue.  She moved around so much during her time in care that she lost a lot of school credits and her education suffered. 
In addition, Sade says the foster care system did little to help her form lasting bonds with family, relatives, or other adults.

“I have siblings I haven’t spoken to for a couple of years,” she said.  “That’s a lifetime connection that you’re automatically supposed to have, and it’s not being supported by the system.

“Not having permanency in my life, not having that connection in my life, is dehumanizing,” she added.  “To not have someone to lean on, to support us, to care for us, to love us—isn’t that what most people have?”

Sade said the system often increases the isolation of youth. 

“In group homes, you need to have contact forms that are approved by your social worker.  It’s so hard to actually have a relationship.  You can’t call someone without having a social worker approve it.  And then social workers don’t call you back.  I’ve lived in group homes where…the staff were fired because I got close to them.  They make it very hard for you to be a part of anyone’s life.  Permanency, in my opinion, is not supported by the foster care system.”

CYC member Melinda Hunt, 22, said she lived in 22 different foster homes during 12 years in foster care.  She joined CYC because she wants kids currently in the system to have a better experience than she had.  She often didn’t get allowances in her foster homes, and some foster parents didn’t let her participate in after-school activities.  She also says she wanted to learn to cook, but no one taught her how. 

In addition, as an African-American, Melinda felt many non-African-American foster parents didn’t know how to meet her special needs.  None of them knew how to take care of her hair, for example, and they also didn’t understand how to address health issues of particular concern to African-Americans.  “We’re more at risk for diabetes and high blood pressure,” she says.  “We need preventive health care.  Foster parents who aren’t African-American should be trained to seek other resources to help African-American children.” 

A second bill sponsored this year by CYC and the National Center for Youth Law seeks to help foster youth gain access to social security or SSI/SSP benefits and ensure more youth complete their education before leaving foster care.

Most foster youth in California have not finished high school by the time they must emancipate from foster care.  After emancipation, it is extremely difficult for youth to finish their high school diplomas.  Existing California law allows the courts to extend foster care until a youth turns 19, if the youth has not received his or her high school diploma and it is likely that they will graduate by their 19th birthday. When foster care is extended for this reason, youth remain fully eligible for federal foster care payments up to the age of 19.

Currently, not all counties allow foster care to be extended for youth who are working towards a high school equivalency (GED), although research shows that a disproportionate number of foster youth complete high school via a GED.

Another issue is that not all foster youth who can benefit from social security and SSI/SSP benefits have the opportunity to do so.  California counties currently vary widely in the procedures used to determine eligibility, and apply for and manage social security or SSI benefits.

The bill, which has passed the Legislature and is also awaiting the governor’s signature,   changes existing law by seeking the development of recommendations that would assist foster youth in obtaining social security benefits and inform foster youth of their rights and responsibilities related to receiving benefits.  It also extends the opportunity for foster youth to remain in foster care until 19 if they are pursuing a high school equivalency certificate (GED).  It also provides for the education of judges and attorneys about foster care education rights, requires better reporting on the numbers of foster youth who don’t graduate from high school, and seeks to better inform foster youth about their educational rights and available resources.

“Some youth have been in six or seven group homes, in different cities,” Sade said.  “If they’re going to be moved that much, then you should be able to extend care, at least until 19.  A lot of youth don’t graduate until they’re 19.”

Melinda also strongly supports foster care being extended to 19 for those working toward a GED.  “The average American is 25, 26 when they leave home,” she said. 

Last year, California voters passed Proposition 63, the Mental Services Health Act, which creates a new mental health system for the state.  Local CYC chapters have been reaching out to Prop 63 planning groups, to make sure they are including foster youth’s ideas for improving mental health services.

For Sade, another crucial issue facing foster youth is life after aging out.  In order to succeed, she says, youth need much more care and guidance than they are currently getting. 

“If you do not prepare these youth to be adequate adults entering society, what exactly do you expect them to be?” she asks.  “It’s hard to go from such a negative and non-supportive environment into becoming a well-adjusted person…There needs to be more guidance.  Otherwise, you cannot expect the statistics to get better.” 

Currently a senior in high school, Sade hopes to attend Spelman College in Atlanta.  She wants to become a social worker or a writer.  Melinda is also interested in becoming a social worker.  Whatever career they choose, participating in CYC has had a lasting impact on them. 

“I have learned that I actually have power,” Sade says, “that even though sometimes it won’t feel like I’m being heard, I can be heard—I just have to talk.  Nobody will hear me if I’m not talking.  CYC taught me how.”