An education is part of the fabled ticket to a self sufficient life. But, very few foster children ever have a real shot at going to college.
Lauretta Schaefer is a dance education major at Illinois State University who spent her early childhood in the foster care system before being adopted.Schaefer is working with Social Work Professor Doris Houston, the Director of the ISU Center for Child Welfare and Adoption Studies, on a study of factors that could increase the chance of succes for former foster kids.
Only four to seven percent of kids of in foster care end up graduating from college. Houston said once former foster children get to college, they tend to do ok, but getting there is a huge obstacle.
Seventy one percent of the foster kids who get to college with government aid are female. Schaefer and Houston told GLT's Charlie Schlenker there is still work to do to support and mentor male foster kids at an earlier age so they can feel education is a pathway for them
Schaefer was in foster care for more than a decade from aged two to more than twelve.
"It was strangely comforting, but also completely rattling to know that the things you are feeling and the experience you are having, everybody else is too. And you know what? It's so predictable. And that's kind of frustrating too," said Schaefer.
The study being done by the ISU Center for Child Welfare and Adoption Studies indicates former foster kids have trouble with more than getting financing for college.
"Most of the barriers have to do with skills that are developed before you get to college or the lack thereof. So, study skills, time management. And aside from not having money, knowing how to utilize the money you have, set a budget, use the loans," said Schaefer.
Social adaptation to college was also a challenge for Schaefer.
"The biggest challenge for me getting here was that nobody I knew and nobody close to me had ever gone to college or tried to go to college," said Schaefer.
Schaefer said this manifested in everything from deciding what clubs to join to how to relate to family from a distance and how to keep close to siblings and parents.
The center wants to run a pilot mentoring program to bolster those deficiencies for foster children who aspire to a college education. This would take place at the Junior High School level and involve summer classes on a campus to familiarize the adolescents with the environment and expectations.
You can read more about Houston and Schaefer's work in Redbird Scholar magazine.
Listen to the interview with Houston and Schaefer.
