Foster care benefits should be extended

Noy Worachit is 20 years old and thankful to her foster parents for continuing to allow her and her 2-year-old daughter to stay in their home even though their state support ran out when she turned 18.

Tiffany Tuilata, now 24, was not so fortunate and found herself homeless when she aged out; she was homeless with two children a year ago. Such distressful circumstances for foster children reaching age 18 should be mitigated under a bill advanc- ing in the state Legislature.

Hawaii should join more than 13 states that have extended foster care beyond age 17, even though federal funds may be drawn down as a result, according to EPIC ‘Ohana Inc., Hawaii’s lead agency for the initiative.

The state estimates that the expansion of eligibility until age 21 initially would cost taxpayers $1 million a year. Costs could rise in future years, but it would be well worth the move.

Nearly 2,800 of Hawaii’s children are in foster care, with foster parents eligible to receive $529 a month for housing, food or other basic necessities.

Between 100 to 120 foster care children in Hawaii age out of the system every year. Without extending eligibility, that could reach as high as 175 a year in 2018.

Nearly half of 349 "out of care" youth who were helped last year by the Hawaii Youth Opportunities Initiative, an EPIC ‘Ohana program, did not have safe, stable housing.

Worachit told the House Finance Committee that she received foster care beyond her 18th birthday, without government assistance, and is now near a college associate’s degree.

Others are not so blessed. A national study shows that without the added years of qualification, 77 percent of the young women become pregnant, 81 percent of young men are arrested and only 3 percent obtain a four-year college degree. Nearly one in four experience homelessness.

"Unfortunately, I was one of those statistics," Tuilata told the committee, "and I don’t wish any transitioning youth to experience the hardship of being without a home or a supporting adult.

"When you find yourself sleeping in public restrooms or beaches," she recalled, "you begin to wish you had someone who could lend a helping hand. Just thinking of where my next meal would come from or when it would be safe to sleep in the park, it isn’t a feeling that any youth should endure."

Fortunately, Tuilata landed on her feet, with help from the Youth Opportunities Initiative.

Senate Bill 1340 would allow a young person to remain in foster care until age 21 if they are seeking post-secondary education, working at least 80 hours a month, participating in a workforce development program or being unable to work or go to school because of a medical condition.

Those are certainly reasonable, humane terms in support of youths who have had precious few breaks in their young lives.

Even young people who have known the comforts of home and stability struggle as they enter college or the work force; those who are dropped from the roles of foster care in their teens face an extraordinary struggle.

Extending foster care, if only a few years, is needed for them to obtain a reasonable opportunity.