Life after foster care: Mentors help teens prepare

GREEN BAY, Wis. — "Having someone to love you and all that stuff — I don't get that."

Felix Louis Rivera Medina spoke with a shrug, a matter-of-fact gesture about his life. He is 18 years old and about to age out of Brown County's foster care system. He has never had a stable home, has been in and out of jail, has no contact with his parents.

Statistics paint a bleak outlook for his future.

Nearly 40 percent of the young people who age out of foster care end up homeless, according to a 2012 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report.

Nearly 60 percent of young men are convicted of a crime, and only 48 percent are employed.

Half of all young people who age out struggle with drug and alcohol abuse.

"It's kind of scary. You think you're going to lose your job and be on the street. You have all those things going on," Rivera Medina said.

"Yeah, I'm nervous, man. Everybody's nervous the first time they're on their own."

At age 18, most young people can no longer remain in foster care. Social workers will help them find health care or government services if needed, but many lose the day-to-day support provided by foster parents.

Child protection workers recognize the hole in the system. Young people who have no permanent guardian are thrust into adulthood without anyone to ask for help. Most have suffered trauma, have special needs or they have behavioral problems.

"When my kids left home they needed me still. Yet (young people who leave foster care) don't have a permanent someone who is their parent or guardian, so who do they turn to?" said Connie Greenawald, executive director for Court Appointed Special Advocates of Brown County, also known as CASA.

About 450 people age out of foster care in Wisconsin every year, according to the state Department of Children and Families. That means, statistically, 180 new young people could end up homeless, and about 225 could be left on their own to cope with an addiction.

Brown County Human Services has contracted CASA to administer a mentorship program, called Fostering Youth Independence, for these young adults locally. The department hopes to recruit 45 volunteer mentors by the end of 2015. The mentors are not paid.

So far the new program has 10 committed mentors.

"We have a lofty goal. ... We have the kids who need this," Child Protection Supervisor John Bushmaker said.

Rivera Medina said he wanted a mentor because he recognizes he doesn't know what to do on his own, including how to lease an apartment and keep track of bills.

He has been in foster care for two years and will have to move out after graduating from high school in June. He was born in Puerto Rico and then lived in Rhode Island with his dad for several years before moving to Wisconsin with his mom.

"Me and my dad, we never had that thing. Since 13 years I never saw him," Rivera Medina said.

In Wisconsin he said he started getting into trouble, "doing a lot of bad stuff in the street. Was doing drugs and all that stuff," he said.

He got into a fight with his stepfather and went to jail. From there he moved into a group home and eventually foster care, he said.

"We all make mistakes, you know. I was young, ignorant. Now I'm thinking," he said. "From mistakes you learn new things. That's what I say now."

His mentor is Terry Roberts, a retired engineer and quality controller. The 63-year-old Green Bay man said he has never done anything like this before. He was looking for volunteer opportunities and decided to try this out.

"I've seen some really good people and hard workers who had hard lives. It's about the opportunity to be successful," he said.