Lawmakers should find more money for the Road to Independenceprogram instead of manipulating it to fit current funding.
Published April 26, 2004
Standing before state senators last December, Carrie Mahler, one of many young Floridians who have grown up in foster care, had a simple request. "Foster children come from a hard enough background. Don't make it any harder," said the 18-year-old, now on her own after years of being bounced among foster homes and living on the streets.
Lawmakers may be doing little harm, but they aren't doing enough good, either. In too many areas, their "Road to Independence" bill takes with one hand what it gives with the other. Though the package offers several constructive changes - expanding tuition waivers, for one - it is unlikely to make life after foster care that much easier for the hundreds of young adults who still need guidance and financial help from the state.
Foster teens used to have the option of remaining with their foster families, under certain conditions, until age 23. That changed in 2002. Teens are now pushed out of foster care, ready or not, at age 18 - even if they are still struggling to complete high school. Those who stay in school with passing grades are eligible for a monthly stipend to offset rent and living expenses. The rest get minimal, if any, financial assistance.
High-schoolers and GED candidates are among the groups the Senate bill treats with sleight of hand. The bill (SB 512), as it emerged from committee, would rightly lift the rule that only high-schoolers with a 2.0 grade point average may receive a stipend, but it would cut those stipends off two years earlier, at age 21, not 23.
The bill is equally shifty when it comes to setting the amount of the stipends. Senators wisely relented on early designs to slash the stipends by up to 30 percent, but the resulting compromise looks better on paper than it would in practice. By authorizing the maximum amount only where a teen satisfies a heavier burden of documenting need, the changes would disqualify many from receiving a full stipend.
Of course, that appears to be precisely what lawmakers have in mind: to spread the program's limited resources by giving less to more. The bill takes pains to spell out where to cut if and when program funds run dry, instead of shoring up the program so that more needy individuals won't be left behind.
The sad part is, it wouldn't take all that much to put the program - and older foster children - on surer footing. Florida's Road to Independence program is currently funded at $15-million, with all but $3-million of that coming from the federal government. The program now serves 900 teens and young adults. Hundreds more would qualify if monies were available. Yet, lawmakers are not proposing to add even a dime this year.
Studies show that former foster youth face tremendous challenges in achieving independence, with a disproportionate number ending up on welfare or in institutions. Lawmakers could save money and heartache by devoting modest resources toward expanding the pie, instead of focusing so much effort on divvying up the crumbs.
