Helping Foster Youth Transition To Independent Living

A selection of the home products available to transitioning youth.

How many adults remember the day that they moved out of their parents' home, and for the first time, they were on their own? If it happened like mine did, they might remember their parents giving them some old furniture, appliances, and the bed and linens they were using at the old homestead.

But there are some transitioning youth and adults who don't have that. Young people aging out of the foster care system not only don't have the support of the parents who could see them out that big door to the world, but may leave lacking skills, any type of belongings with which to start a household, not to mention only an amount of money that Social Services deems to be enough to make a start. Say, $100, $200, a last check from Social Security for $1000, if that "lucky"?



That departure is sudden; you're 18 years old, bye, you're on your own. If you're lucky, the day can be postponed until age 21. No college, maybe even trying to finish high school once you've been kicked out of the system.

Anyway, Erin Bedell noticed these youth departing from the foster care system in West Palm Beach County, FL, with so little that they would move into these apartments - and have no furnishings/appliances/bed/linens/towels, just the basics. So she started a program, MY OWN HOME PROJECT, INC., which helps to supply these basic household items to foster youth aging out of the system.

How did Ms. Bedell know so much about the needs of these youth to put together such a program? She stated, "I was homeless when I was 15 years old, so I understand how instability can impact a sense of worth and well being at a pivotal time in a young adult's life. We are giving foster youths a sense of safety and security in their new surroundings as well as a sense of pride and ownership. Many of these youths have never owned anything new in their entire lives. We are giving them incentive to work harder for what they have and helping to root them to their new surroundings so that we can see a decrease in transience in this population. They know through us that their community cares about them and wants to see them succeed."

Counselors who are working with aging out youth help to identify those who need help. That youth can then choose items for their household that fit their tastes and lifestyle. The items which they receive are enumerated on the homepage at the above link.

Taylor, a youth who participated in a distribution party, discussed how she was affected, "I just wanted to say thanks so much for putting together your project. It has helped a lot and I'm grateful for being a part of it and for what you have done for me and all the other foster kids....I really do believe it makes a difference and it also shows that there is still hope in this world. One kind act like yours can make a major difference in someone's life."

Erin Bedell (right) hugs a youth benefiting from the Project.

Consider this, if 100 young men and women are aging out of the foster care system in Palm Beach County every year, then how many more must be doing the same throughout the US. These young people don't have the benefit of parental support on this big journey to independence. They need that extra boost to help them make it in this world of ours.

Some of the available decorative items that make a home look like a home.

Thanks for information from this article on Pollination Project: https://thepollinationproject.org/grants-awarded/erin-udell-my-own-home-project-inc/; My Own Home Project, Inc. homepage, and the above link.

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