We are Kathleen and Robert Raskin of Las Vegas, and we invite you to join us in our fight to hold corrupt court and child protective services officials responsible for their misdeeds and to overhaul this broken system. One way we do this is by looking closely at the ways the system fails children and the adults they will become. When foster children become adults and leave the state’s care, they face a unique set of challenges that mean they are overwhelmingly likely to begin their independent lives at a serious disadvantage.
Statistics show that before they leave the system, one-fifth of these teens are homeless and over two-fifths will drop out of high school. Over two-thirds also become pregnant. Many are also facing chronic unemployment. When you consider that nearly a quarter of foster children who age out of the system will be in jail within two years, it becomes obvious that this is a crisis because these young adult’s needs aren’t being met.
A Steep Drop-Off in Services
Despite the fact that forty states offer support for former foster children through their 21st birthday, far too many of these at-risk young adults are choosing to leave the system without taking advantage of the support that is available. Tens of thousands of foster children have aged out of the system in the last decade alone, and these young adults are at increased risk for many adverse situations such as unintentional pregnancy and homelessness. Most will also not attend college. We, Kathleen and Robert Raskin, think it is time to take a critical look at why these former foster youth are turning their backs on the services that are meant to help them and what can be done to change this troubling statistic.