Inspired to Help “Aged-Out” Foster Youth

When young people in foster care reach age 18, they suddenly find themselves on their own, without a home or a support system. These teens are “aging out” of foster care and typically have to fend for themselves. Often they have nowhere to go.

But in the Inland Empire, many are finding support and resources at Inspire Life Skills Training, Inc., a non-profit organization that provides housing assistance, life skills training, and education and employment support for youth aging-out of the foster care system.

Camplin Sets Up to Make a Difference

Inspire was founded by Kristi Camplin in 2005. When a social worker she knew expressed frustration with the lack of services for foster care youth who age out of the system, Camplin pondered about how she could help.

“I wanted to just be a mentor at first and then I realized that 70% of foster kids are homeless,” Camplin said. “I knew I had to do something about it.”

Armed with a degree in psychology, a background in sales and years of youth ministry experience, Camplin was ready to make a difference. She founded the organization on a shoestring budget of a mere $7,000. But with hard work and diligence Inspire soon had its first house, a safe home where program participants could live. Every year since then the organization has been able to obtain another house. Today, Inspire has four different houses; two for girls and two for boys. Currently eighteen youth are in the program.

Staggering Statistics

According to a new study from Chapin Hall, a policy research center at the University of Chicago, young adults who age out of foster care have higher rates of unemployment, homelessness and higher risk of being involved in criminal activity compared to their peers. Researchers tracked over 600 youth in the Midwest that aged out of foster care and the outcomes were dismal. At ages 23 and 24, less than half were employed. Approximately 25% were homeless. Nearly 60% were convicted of a crime and only six out of 100 completed a community college degree.

Inspire, based in Corona, is helping to break the cycle and improve these numbers in the Inland Empire with its unique program.

“Our program is education focused and no other program for aged-out foster kids has an education focus,” said Camplin. “We require that they go to school full-time and work part time. They must also go to professional counseling and meet with a mentor regularly.”

New Bill Passes in California: On the Right Track

Although the Chapin Hall study’s data is disheartening, the report does suggest that extending foster care until age 21 may be associated with better outcomes, at least in some domains.

In California, Gov. Schwarzenegger recently signed a bill (AB-12) extending foster-care support to young adults between the ages of 18 and 21. In a press release, Schwarzenegger said, the benefits will “ensure our foster youth have access to important resources as they transition into adulthood."

While the bill is certainly a step in the right direction, it will take some time to implement.

“The way I understand it, 2012 is when the age-out age will increase to 19,” Camplin said. “When it happens, I think for a lot of kids it will be great, especially for kids who are in foster homes and have been there a while. But the kids I get are the ones who have gone from home to home or live in remote areas where care and resources are not available.”

Camplin’s Inspire program has not only provided necessary resources and life skills training, but has been successful with many participants graduating from college, but the mission continues.

Inspire Life Skills Training Inc. is a NAWBO-IE affiliate organization. Inspire is completely privately funded, which means it receives no government contracts. On Dec. 7, 2010 NAWBO-IE is hosting a mixer at Casa de Salsa Mexican Restaurant in Claremont and proceeds from the event will be donated to Inspire.

Joan Burke Stanford is the owner of Jazzy Pen Communications. With a journalism background, she has more than 15 years of experience writing and editing for a variety of companies and organizations. Visit http://www.jazzypen.com/ for more information.