  
Crystal Green was 16 and pregnant when her mother vanished. The family had been evicted and was staying with a heroin-addicted friend. At bedtime, Crystal and four of her five siblings stuffed their ears and noses with toilet paper so cockroaches wouldn't crawl in. When Crystal's mother left, she promised to return soon with her W-2 check and food stamps. When she didn't, the woman they were staying with stopped feeding them and locked them out. Crystal worried constantly about her baby and about her brother and sisters - two of whom called her Mommy. She finally confided in a school social worker. "She said she would have to report it. I said we want to stay together, and she said she couldn't promise that." Crystal, though, did promise her siblings they would be reunited one day. Then they were put into foster care. Two years later, Crystal, a homeless teen mom without a high school education, appeared in Children's Court so a judge could close her case. At 18, she had "aged out" of the child welfare system. Crystal is one of about 150 Milwaukee County teens who leave the system every year, ill-equipped to handle life on their own. Most of the time, they're declared independent at 18, but it can happen at 17 or 19 under certain circumstances. Where their families have failed, society is left trying to provide for all their needs, from food and shelter to emotional support. Lad Lake, a social service agency that works with former foster children and other at-risk youths, has seen some success - including Crystal, who is independent four years after her mother's departure. The program faces continuing challenges, however, with limited financial resources and just three caseworkers, two of whom are part-time. Learning life skills For 14 years starting in the mid-1980s, the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare used a classroom setting to try to help prepare foster children 16 and older to live on their own, said Mary Kennedy, program coordinator. During 16 weeks of classes through the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, teen-agers learned about landlord/tenant relations, job interviews and personal finance. Then, in 1999, two things happened to change the system: Congress passed the Foster Care Independence Act, which provided increased funding for young people aging out of foster care; and the state formed an Independent Living Advisory Committee. The new federal funding and new state knowledge resulted in the classes being replaced with Lad Lake's more hands-on approach to helping Milwaukee County youths make the transition from foster care to independent living. The goal is for 15-year-olds in the system to start learning independent living skills with the help of their foster parents and social workers, Kennedy said. Some can participate in a supervised independent living program while remaining wards of the state. Then, when they age out of care, youths can sign up for Lad Lake's Connections Program. But not every teen in foster care knows about the program. Even those who do must ask for help, a difficult concept for teens who feel they're finally free of "the system." "A lot of 18-year-olds don't believe they need us, then they come back when they're 19," said Karie L. Brophy, independent living coordinator for Lad Lake. Once the teens reach out, a caseworker helps them find an apartment and a job. They receive money for a security deposit and $100 per month in rent assistance for up to 11 months. They can remain in the program, getting help when they need it, until age 21 - age 23 if they're in college. Caseworkers are always available in an emergency, Brophy said. "It's kind of like we're their parents," she said. "We teach and support them without carrying them." The Connections Program's contract with the state was $218,000 for 2004, according to the Milwaukee Bureau of Child Welfare. Also, Wisconsin receives federal funding of $1.9 million annually for independent living services and $600,000 for education and job training for former foster children. Some of the youths also are eligible for W-2, food stamps and other assistance. Anyone who has spent at least six months in foster care after age 15 is eligible for Connections. In 2004, 454 Milwaukee County youths met the criteria, but only about 260 signed up, Brophy said. Sometimes, the youths have run away from foster homes and the system can't find them, Brophy said. Sometimes they move back with their parents. Sometimes, they simply can't wait to be free of bureaucracy and venture out on their own. Up against it A landmark 1998 study showed that Wisconsin teens who move out of foster care often end up homeless, get sent to prison or become the victims of violent crime. A follow-up study of youth in Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa published earlier this year showed similar trends. Irving Piliavin, a retired University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who co-authored the 1998 study, said teens leaving the system remain vulnerable. "They're suddenly let loose in the world in a way that a family would never do it," he said. "They don't have jobs when they get out; they don't have places to live; they don't have money for food. They're really up against it." Programs such as Connections are a good start but don't go far enough, he said. He would like to see a system in which teens who age out of foster care receive a bank of "emergency" days. When rough times hit, they should have a place to go where they would be housed, fed and protected, he said. The idea has not received much support because many consider it too expensive, he said. In the current climate, youths who have finished high school and who have had fewer past behavioral problems tend to be more successful after leaving foster care, Piliavin said. Sometimes, returning to the households from which they were once removed also benefits young adults, he said. An element of luck A lot of the time, though, the only thing that separates the productive from the desperate is luck. Crystal Green turned out to be one of the lucky ones. By the time she found Lad Lake, she was homeless. After being separated from her siblings, Crystal was sent to a group home. But once she had her baby boy, she couldn't stay there anymore. Although many teens in foster care become parents, the facilities that take in teen girls can't accommodate their children, Kennedy said. There are not specialized group homes for them because there is no funding available, she said. Crystal and her son, Jeremy, were sent to a foster home in the suburbs, which Crystal described as beautiful and clean. The refrigerator was always full. But every time Crystal ate, she got sick. Her infant son had near-constant diarrhea. She suspected her food and drinks were being laced with laxatives. Crystal was hospitalized for eight days with gallstones. She says her foster mother never brought the baby to visit. "He was only one week old. I missed him so much, I cried every day." When she got out of the hospital, she shared her suspicions with her caseworker and was transferred to another foster home. She ran away from that one in short order, going to her physically abusive father in Indiana. Jeremy's father, 15 years older than Crystal, also was abusive and ended up in jail. Her mother had resurfaced by then, but was still on drugs and absent from her children's lives. After the court date when Crystal was declared a legal adult, her younger sister, Carmen, told her about Lad Lake. Through Connections, Carmen had already moved into her own apartment and was attending classes to become a certified nursing assistant. On their own Last month, four years after they were separated, a Children's Court judge granted Crystal, 20, custody of her sister Candise, 14. Candise joined Iesha, 13, and Kayla, 16, who already were living in Crystal's two-bedroom apartment on Milwaukee's north side. Younger brother Breon, 9, spent a short time in foster care, then moved in with his paternal grandmother. The children's mother and Breon's father have regained custody of him, Crystal said. Crystal and her sisters live at the top of three flights of stairs, in a rambling house that has been converted into apartments. The dining table is too small for them all to sit down together and shares space with the living room furniture. The three teen girls stay in one bedroom, with mattresses and clothes on the floor. Crystal and her son share the second bedroom. Decoration is sparse, except for family snapshots tacked to the closet doors. Most evenings, R&B, hip-hop, rap and even country music blare from the stereo. Iesha is the dancer of the group. Candise often has a child or two in tow - she loves baby-sitting and does it for free. Kayla, a high school freshman who calls herself "Sexy K," reminds Crystal of herself as a teen. Crystal has no car. Most days, she walks with Jeremy to day care, then goes on to her part-time job at Lad Lake, where she helps other kids find out about Connections. Twice a week, a friend drives her to Milwaukee Area Technical College, where she hopes to finish adult high school classes in December. Crystal admits that all teenagers have their moments but says her sisters rarely give her any trouble. "I've been really blessed," she says. Read this article at: www.jsonline.com |
 
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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel