Jan Keyes
In The News
WA: No plan, no place to go: Nonprofit tries to change future for foster kids (Includes video)
KSAT - October 16, 2023
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Each year 20,000 foster young adults in the U.S. age out of the foster systems; most of them without a plan in place for the future. That leads to the unsettling fact that only 50% will graduate from high school. Thankfully, one nonprofit is working to change that trend. Maiya Rivas knows how important it is to give support to those around you. It was something she never had growing up in the foster care system. "My parents both passed away. From the time I was twelve, I was expected to be, think, and act as an adult. Being in the foster care system, it felt like an uphill battle my whole childhood. Having somebody at Treehouse who was constant has been one of the most impactful things for me," she said. The Washington-based nonprofit Treehouse provides a lifeline to thousands of foster youths. Treehouse helps more than 6,000 foster kids with academic mentorships, funding after school programs, and providing free supplies through its own retail store.
US: Mental Health After Foster Care (Opinion)
Imprint - October 16, 2023
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My memories are a mosaic, a blend of both the bitter and the sweet. The searing pain of a hot iron pressed against my arm was punishment for attempting to protect my foster mother from abuse. Then there are the brighter moments: the moon rocks in the Smithsonian, riding my first horse, my first climb. These fragments coexist, a testament to the depths of my past. Buried beneath the pain lies a stolen childhood, nearly erased by a repressed mind. It wasn't until I turned 27 that I decided to confront this past and seek therapy. Therapy isn't as easy to come across these days as mental health support is in short supply and direly needed for individuals who have experienced any kind of child welfare involvement. Congress has an opportunity to expand this support with the upcoming reauthorization of Title IV-B of the Social Security Act, and should act swiftly to ensure kids who have been in foster care have the opportunity to thrive after such trauma.
https://imprintnews.org/opinion/mental-health-after-foster-care/245361
US: The child placement crisis: It's time to lose the slogans and find real solutions (Opinion)
Child Welfare Monitor - October 15, 2023
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The closing of children's mental hospitals in the 1980s, the subsequent closure of detention centers leaving foster care to take up the slack, the movement to shutter all group homes and residential treatment programs and the prohibition of out-of-state placements have created a slow-motion train wreck whose results could have been predicted easily at every new chain in the sequence. Those results include children and youth staying in psychiatric hospitals long after being ready for discharge, "boarding" in emergency rooms and "placed" in hotels at a cost of $30,000 to $60,000 per child per month. From my 35-year vantage point as a caseworker, supervisor, and then running foster care and adoptions in a large Maryland county, I've had a front row seat to the evolution of this crisis and the failure to come up with real solutions.
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AZ: Opinion: Seeking connection, not just placement (Opinion)
West Valley View - October 07, 2023
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Life in foster care has been a long ride and a difficult journey. Many people have been there for us, but during our most challenging times we realized how much we wanted someone to stand unwaveringly by our side and to offer us a warm and loving home. While we have had amazing support from our case teams, it has still been hard to grasp the fact that we didn't have a family to go home to at the end of the day. And when we were going through the most troubling situations, we wished we had someone who was willing to stand by us and not give up on us when our past trauma made situations more challenging.
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WV: Substance abuse fuels foster care surge. Think tank searches for solutions. (Commentary)
West Virginia Metro News - October 19, 2023
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West Virginia's drug overdose mortality rate is the highest in the nation. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that nearly 1,500 West Virginians will have died from a drug overdose from May 2022 to May of this year. In addition, thousands more West Virginians have drug problems. A survey by WalletHub found that West Virginia ranked second in the country, behind only New Mexico, for the percentage of residents who abuse drugs. The impact of addiction is not confined to the individual. According to Psychology Today, "1 in 5 children grows up in a home where a parent abuses drugs or alcohol. Witnessing the trauma of a parent suffering from addiction at a young age has long-term effects on the child." In West Virginia, substance abuse contributes to a flood of children in the state's foster care system. There are currently 6,200 children in the system. The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy has released a study confirming the impact of addiction on families. "The majority of children who enter foster care placements do so, at least in part, because of parental substance abuse or neglect," the report found. The Center correlates substance abuse and child neglect with poverty. "Families that experience financial hardship are three times more likely to be reported for neglect and four times more likely to be reported for abuse."
https://wvmetronews.com/2023/10/19/substance-abuse-fuels-foster-care-surge/
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US: Congress pushes for accountability as abuse at youth residential facilities continues (Includes video) (May require subscription)
Des Moines Register - November 01, 2023
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Sixty-one members of the U.S. House and Senate from both parties are co-sponsoring legislation called the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act, which would require more accountability and transparency at youth residential care facilities. The legislation is championed by socialite and reality TV star Paris Hilton, who says she was abused at a Utah facility, and dozens of advocacy organizations. Abuse, excessive restraint, forced isolation, suicides and deaths have continued unabated at U.S. homes for troubled teens for decades, despite landmark research in 2008 by the Government Accountability Office, piles of exposes by newspapers and calls for action from dozens of child welfare and advocacy organizations.