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State program supports foster children who grow up
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Published: February 14, 2010
Megan Dixon, 19, has been in her current foster home for more than two months. She is an example of someone who aged out, left the system, then found it too difficult without any support and returned seeking help.
The NC LINKS program provides services and resources to children in foster care age 13 to 18.
Dixon still attended the LINKS meetings while on her own.
Children who have spent time in foster care have an increased risk of dropping out of school and unplanned parenthood, as well as high rates of untreated illness, homelessness, criminal activity, depression and suicide, according to the North Carolina Division of Social Services. The program provides a survey to find out about their interests and goals.
"An assessment looks at what skills they already have that will help them transition into adulthood and what skills do they need to attain," said Connie Polk, administrator for the child welfare program at the Cabarrus County Department of Social Services. "So between 13 and however long they stay in in our custody, they continue to work on them."
The program works with clients between 18 and 21 years old who are participating in a Contractual Agreement for Continuing Residential Support, or CARS, and those who aged out of foster care at age 18 and are not participating in a CARS agreement.
Currently, there are eight teens under the CARS agreement in Cabarrus County.
For this age group, the LINKS program assists with setting up housing and transportation needs, car insurance and other needs for starting on the road to independent living.
The LINKS program hosts training and education events for participants in skills that will help them become self-sufficient. The program also hosts people who discuss financial issues and motivational speakers to inspire the youth.
Polk described one such event.
"There was someone from employee security here talking about interviewing skills and getting a job," Polk said. "Then the kids who attended took a trip to Harrisburg and purchased an outfit to interview in and did some mock interviews."
Older foster children often fall short of the normal support an 18-year-old receives from his or her family, making the transition into adult life difficult. LINKS aims to help bridge that gap, according to Polk.
"The big safety net of the program is when someone turns 18, they may sign an agreement to continue their placement, but six months down the road decide they want to go out and try it on their own," Polk said. "If there are difficulties, it can help when getting set up."
Once an 18-year-old leaves the system, until they are 21, they can come back to a foster home.
Foster children who sign a CARS agreement are often the ones who have had a more stable foster situation, according to Polk.
"We also do outreach once kids leave the agency. At the age of 15, until they are 21, we can help them. Either they age out and no longer want to stay in care or return home, or they just return to another family member," LINKS coordinator Jennifer Drisker said.
A year ago, Polk placed Drisker, a social worker, as the full-time LINKS coordinator.
"This has made a difference in the program, because prior, we had several different social workers working with teenagers in their caseload. That was (more) difficult than having one person who is focused," Polk said.
Rhondesia Small, 19, and Chrishera Wood, 18, are also participants in the LINKS program.
Small is the mother of a 2-year-old toddler. She is attending Rowan County Community College and is studying to become a social worker.
Teens with children have the option to live with their children in the same foster home if they show the skills and proper consistency it takes to care for a small child.
Small has not shown that she is able to care for her daughter full time, so her daughter lives in the same foster home she was placed in at 4 months old.
Drisker said the program referred her to NC Reach, and they helped her with tuition.
NC Reach is a state-funded scholarship that is offered for up to four years and includes fall, spring, and summer school terms.
Teens who were adopted from North Carolina DSS foster care after age 12, or aged out of foster care at age 18 (must have been in North Carolina DSS foster care on the 18th birthday) are eligible, according to the NC Reach Web site.
The program funds up to the school's full cost of attendance after other public funds and scholarships have been applied.
What NC Reach or an education and training voucher doesn't cover, the LINKS program will pay.
Small lives on her own in an apartment that the program helped her secure.
LINKS will help with housing, transportation and incidental costs.
Two of the girls work, and all three are required to volunteer, explained Drisker.
Small sees herself alone in the world.
"I don't have family," she said. "I consider myself an orphan."
Small was placed in the foster system several years ago after her mother brought her to North Carolina from Washington, D.C.
Placed in foster care through the Department of Juvenile Justice, she was an undisciplined youth, and the courts removed her from her home.
The three teenagers said there are things that are difficult for foster children their age.
The Department of Social Services has a set of rules that all children must live by.
"When you are in foster homes, you have so many rules, and being in a group home in foster care, all my teenage years I never got to go out and have fun. I didn't get to go to the movies or out with friends," Dixon said. "Jennifer talked to me. I wanted to come back into custody."
Safety is the biggest issue and reason for the rules, Drisker said. The foster children who are between 18 and 21 and are still in the system have more freedom than those who are younger.
"I didn't," Small said. "I was in a group home when I was first 18, and then I switched to a foster home and it was worse than a group home, overall."
She is the only one of the three not living in a foster home.
Wood graduated from the Cabarrus College of Health Sciences Certified Nursing Assistant Program.
"I have to pass the state board exam," Wood said. "I want to go back for nursing."
She still lives in a foster home, moving in with a family about a year ago. Wood has been in foster care since she was 14 years old. She was in a group home for most of those years.
Now in a foster home, her foster mother is supportive in her educational pursuits.
"I think it helps," Wood said. "If you don't have any support, you can't go to anyone. We need support."
In the beginning, she didn't like the program. As she has gotten older, she has taken more advantage of what it has to offer.
"If you get someone who wants to help you, it makes it easier," Wood said.
"After 21, they can still call and get advice, but we can't assist them financially," Drisker said.
There is only sporadic data in Cabarrus County on what happens when the young adults leave LINKS.
The child welfare department has just started to really focus attention on the program.
"We have three kids about to turn 21, and they are on the right path," Drisker said. "It's hard to see kids struggle."
"I think the frequency of how many different foster homes they've been in, what their family situation is — what their family support is — all plays into the success they will have," Polk said.
"Unless you have support you shouldn't go out of the system," Dixon said.
"I'm a little worried, but I still have time," Wood said. "I still got two years to get myself together, and by then, hopefully, job opportunities will be more open. I'll be further along in school, and I will have a job in the major I'm studying. I think I can do it."
• Contact reporter Robin L. Gardner: 704-789-9140
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