11/5/2023 0 Comments Illinois icash programThese youth are at higher risk of dropping out of school, according to the U.S. The program has launched one year after a new state law went into effect requiring each Illinois college to have a liaison that is charged with connecting students who are in foster care or are homeless with resources and assistance.ĭepartment officials want colleges to be more “foster-friendly,” Bailey said, noting that foster youth need extra support in a new environment like college. Some colleges have similar mentorship programs, but “there’s no consistency” across all Illinois campuses, Bailey said. The state’s Department of Children and Family Services, or DCFS, launched the $200,000 program this year after its youth advisory board signaled that college-bound foster youth needed more support on campus, said Chevelle Bailey, deputy director of DCFS’s office of education and transition services. “Young people with a background in foster care on college campuses are not getting the supports they need to be successful,” said Amy Dworsky, a senior research fellow at Chapin Hall at University of Chicago who co-authored the study and helped the state create the advocate program. Others said they wanted a support group, the study said. Students told researchers that they felt alone, largely weren’t aware of financial aid options, and that they needed more specialized attention.Īs for what would help them, some interviewees said they wanted someone to help monitor their academic progress. Of those, just 8% graduated, according to the study conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago. The goal is for the advocates to check-in regularly with their mentees, help them navigate college life, and ultimately create a support system they’re missing.Ī 2021 study found that of Illinois youth in foster care who turned 17 between 20, 86% enrolled in community college. Ward has joined the state’s new Youth in Care - College Advocate Program, or Y-CAP, which pairs peer advocates like Ward with other college students who have experienced foster care. The new gig, she hopes, will create the support system for others that she craved as a freshman. Now a junior studying animal sciences, Ward has taken up a new role: peer advocate for youth on campus who have experienced foster care. “You kind of have to figure out and navigate for yourself now,” Ward said. In her foster home, she was expected to prioritize chores over homework, babysit younger children, and call the police if a child was having a mental breakdown, she said.Ī few months before coming to the university, she had a violent disagreement that involved her foster parent, leading Ward to end that relationship and head to school without knowing anyone well on campus. On campus, 200 miles south of her hometown of Rockford, she felt alone.īefore Ward entered care, she had missed three years of school and had briefly lived in homeless shelters with her mother. Grace Ward spent four years in foster care before enrolling at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2021.
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