  
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Raised in foster care, Sherri Talbert survived ovarian cancer at 14. Despite warnings that the cancer could return, Talbert, 21, hasn't had a checkup in more than a year. That's because she has no insurance. When Talbert grew out of foster care at 19, she lost the Medicaid coverage that had paid her medical expenses. Her part-time job at a fast food restaurant offers no benefits. "After you turn a certain age, they don't really care anymore," Talbert says of the foster care system. Lack of medical coverage is just one obstacle young adults leaving foster care face. Some go without basic necessities, such as food and shelter. They're also missing the unconditional love and support that others take for granted. Bureaucratic roadblocks spring up at every turn. There has been some progress since Congress passed the Foster Care Independence Act of 1999. One key component of the legislation was money to support college scholarships for former foster children. Elizabeth Zemlicka, 19, won $5,000 through the program after graduating from Cudahy High School. Zemlicka, whose mother died when she was 4, hopes to become an elementary school teacher. She is optimistic that scholarships, grants, loans and pay from two summer jobs will cover the cost of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where she is a freshman. In recent years, a change in the University of Wisconsin's application form has made things easier for Zemlicka and others like her. In the past, a parent had to sign a student's application, an obvious problem for many foster children whose parents' whereabouts were unknown, said Mary Kennedy, program coordinator for the Milwaukee Bureau of Child Welfare. As of 2002, wards of the state can check a box on the application, rendering the parent's signature unnecessary. For Bregetta Wilson, 21, those small changes aren't enough. Removed from her mother's care at 13 and out of the system at 18, Wilson has dedicated her adult life to advocating for youth who are leaving the system. She serves as the head of the Youth Advisory Council, a group of former foster children that is working for change. Earlier this year, Wilson was named one of 10 Foster Club All-Stars in the U.S. Through a 12-week internship sponsored by the non-profit organization, the 10 convened conferences around the country designed to help youths make a successful transition out of foster care. Whether working with youth, addressing legislators or speaking at self-empowerment seminars, Wilson starts with her own life story. One of her most vivid memories is of the day her mother sent the children on a 12-block walk to the store for cereal and milk. Wilson recalls struggling to drag the gallon container home. One thought kept her and her sisters going: Once they got home, they would finally have something to eat. But when the girls arrived, their drug-addicted mother was angry. "She said we took too long. She threw the cereal in the garbage and poured the milk down the sink." Eventually, Wilson ran away after one of their fights, and her mother called the police. After release from a group home for delinquent girls, Wilson was placed in the custody of her older sister, Juanita, who was ill-prepared to parent a troubled teen. Wilson smoked marijuana almost daily and rarely went to school - at one point missing 72 days in a row. She was put on probation for stealing her sister's car. "I didn't really care about myself," Wilson said. "I just wanted to die. I had nothing to live for." Then, at 16, she got pregnant. But Wilson couldn't view that as another in her long line of mistakes. "I knew that I had a purpose when I got pregnant," she explained. "I was going to be the best mom I could be. I was going to outdo my mom." After she had her daughter, Asyria, she and her sister got in a fistfight and Juanita kicked them out. Wilson was still smoking marijuana, dropped out of MATC and got fired from several jobs. Lad Lake's Connections Program eventually helped Wilson find and pay for her own apartment, but that first summer, her electricity got turned off, just as her mother's always had. "I was really irresponsible. I did a lot of things I shouldn't have done." Today, Wilson lives in Washington Park with her daughter, now 4, and her fiancé, Eric Butler. Wilson's advocacy work, which is part time for now, pays $9.50 an hour. She also is pursuing an associate's degree in administrative assisting at Bryant & Stratton College. Wilson credits her Lad Lake caseworker for offering encouragement - not criticism - when she messed up. It was unlike any contact she'd had with the system in the past. She hopes that someday her work to change the system will result in every foster child receiving that kind of support. She hopes, too, that others like her can find the strength to persevere. "If I can just make that one change, that's enough for me," she said. "Life is hard, but people can change and things will be OK." Read this article at: www.jsonline.com |
 
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2005 Wisconsin Communications Merit Award Winning Article,