We are very excited to begin fulfilling our mission to provide supportive housing for youth aging out of foster care. When young adults age out, usually around 18 years old, they leave the system without having been placed in a permanent family or home. They weren’t re-united or adopted, they basically just “timed out.”
Unfortunately, there aren’t enough foster care transition programs out there to help all the youth aging out. Most of what exists is somewhat antiseptic and institutional.
Our Solution to Foster Youth Homelessness
At Finally Family Homes believe that a family-oriented, relational home is the BEST possible solution for changing the lives of these kids. They are at great risk of becoming homeless, sex trafficked, or sought after by gangs. They need relationships.
In May 2019, we launched our GoFundMe campaign for this. Our goal was to get at least $35,000 and we currently have about $32,000 in funding!
With the help of many wonderful and gifted people, we quickly put together a short video. Here, we share our heart for helping aging out foster youth.
As I shared in our very first blog post, this all really got sparked when I was in Kyrgyzstan. I worked alongside some amazing teens who aged out (at 16) from orphanages. The church there holistically supports and provides supportive housing for youth aging out orphanages there.
God used other means – like our church’s initiatives to educate and inspire the congregation to reach our hearts and minds. But seeing it in action and seeing the results in Kyrgyzstan, sparked us into action.
In Kyrgyzstan, the ministry got started there after the pastor visited an orphanage. There a little girl asked, “Is it true that when we grow up, the girls become prostitutes and the boys go to jail?”
Devastated to hear that, so he opened up the Oak House.
Challenges Facing Youth Transitioning Out Of Foster Care
The statistics for aging out foster youth in the United States point to those same outcomes for our kids here! The foster care homeless youth statistics are devastating. Upon aging out, 20% become instantly homeless. . It’s estimated that approximately 1,000 of the homeless youth that sleep on the streets of Los Angeles came from foster care.
Gangs love to recruit foster kids – they are vulnerable and desperate for “family.”
70% of trafficked children in Los Angeles are from foster care.
We believe that opening the doors of the transitional home is the first step towards helping provide a better future for former foster youth. By providing the housing, connection, and support they need, we can prevent homelessness and human trafficking.
We are so excited about this program and look forward to what the future holds for these kids and all who are with us in this journey! We can’t open supportive housing for youth aging out of foster care without YOU!
Please consider how you can get involved today!
We are so excited about this program and look forward to what the future holds for these kids and all who are with us in this journey! We can't open supportive housing for youth aging out of foster care without YOU! #getinvolved… Click To Tweet
Thanks for providing the statistics for Homelessness and foster care. Those numbers are so incredible. Thanks for giving kids hope for a future!
I absolutely love what you all are doing to provide hope and a future for people aging out of foster care!
Thank you so much that you do every day to give hope Christina. The foster care system is blessed to have your ministry. May God bless your efforts going forward.