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Our Kids
Why focus on kids in foster care?
Nationwide, there are 500,000 children in the foster care system. In Los Angeles County, 15,000 foster care children comprise a severely vulnerable and overlooked segment of our city’s population. Similar to other youth concentrated in the inner city, foster care kids typically live in lower-income and crime-ridden areas. But kids in the system face additional challenges, as they can be separated from their biological siblings, abruptly uprooted from their residences and stigmatized by their peers.
A majority of kids who “age out” of the foster care system continue to suffer the effects of a traumatic childhood: 25% will be incarcerated, 20% will become homeless, and over 30% will suffer major depression due to psychological, emotional and behavioral challenges.
A 2009 study by the Partners for Our Children program at the University of Washington showed similarly troubling statistics. Only half of the youth who “age out” of the system end up employed. Six out of ten males will have been convicted of a crime by the age of 24. This partially explains why only two out of 100 foster care children will ever earn a college degree. Even worse, just one in six foster care children in LAUSD are proficient in English and only 20% will graduate from high school.
Children in the foster care system do benefit from the hard work of 7,000 city employees and many decidated foster parents. But, the saddening and humbling statistics show that we need to work harder to provide foster care children true opportunities for happy and successful lives, and that’s what Happy Trails for Kids is all about. It’s our mission, our belief, our purpose and our passion. We hope it will also be yours.
Learn More:
Children's Law Center of Los Angeles
Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services