Program to help foster children enter adulthood

It won't be long until high school senior Mandy Maxwell ventures out into the real world. But unlike most kids her age, she doesn't anticipate getting much help from her parents.

Teenage rebellion — bad attitude, cutting class, drugs — landed her in foster care two years ago, which the Hillcrest High student says was the best thing to ever happen to her. She has found a niche in the school choir and wants to become a special education teacher.

"Being in state custody has changed me a lot — for the positive," said Maxwell, who is currently living in a group home.

But when she "ages out" of foster care next summer like 250 Utah teenagers do each year, she will be on her own.

That's where a new state initiative Gov. Olene Walker announced this week comes in. The Transition to Adult Living Program is designed to assist foster children who may not want to return home or be adopted map out their futures.

"If we're not there to help them in some way, many of them are going to end up homeless or in our correctional system," Walker said.

The program, administered through the departments of Human Services and Workforce Services, will help young adults find housing, obtain employment, apply to colleges and provide life-skills training. It also will include mentors drawn from the state's growing population of retired residents.

Human Services intends to allocate $400,000 for one-time assistance for expenses such as rent deposits and clothing for job interviews, said Robin Arnold-Williams, executive director. It will also direct federal tuitions grants and waivers to students.

Maxwell says the plan is a good one.

"I didn't have any parental structure and this program can teach me the basics of being on my own without messing up too bad," she said. "Us foster kids don't have the parents that buy us things or that can be a mentor to us."

State officials saw the need for such an initiative because of the difficulty foster children have in making the transition to adulthood.

Most kids, Walker said, have a support system that may include family, friends and clergy.

"But many of these kids don't have that and all of a sudden we expect them to be adults," she said.