These days, Marchelle Roberts is a confident 22-year-old who smiles easily and talks excitedly about her plans for the future.
But the rising senior at Philadelphia’s Temple University had to travel a long and difficult road to get to where she is today.
Roberts was taken away from her parents when she was 7 years old. She still remembers vividly the day that long journey began, when a woman she had never seen before and hasn’t seen since came in a car to get her and her brother Shawn, who was 3 or 4 years old.
“It was pretty scary for me,” Roberts said. “My brother and I were in the back with a bag full of both of our belongings. My biological mother got out of the car and the lady kept driving, and she drove to someone else’s house and she told us we’d be staying there, and she left. And so nobody really explained to me what foster care was, or what being taken away from your parents meant, or how long it would be for or why it happened.”
Read the full story on CNN here.
California is home to more than 55,000 foster kids – the largest population in the country. And, the one place in the state where most of those kids come together is in public school. Jetaine Hart, a former foster youth and current educational mentor in Alameda County, argues that’s where we should be putting resources to help foster kids – kids who often shuffle from school to school and have unstable home lives.
JETAINE HART: When you look at the outcomes for youth in foster care in terms of education, incarceration rates, and mental health issues, and dependency on public assistance all of those things, when it really comes down to it, we’re gonna pay more for that in the long run than if we invest in them now.
On November 5th The Eddie Nash Foundation held their second annual Evening Under The Stars event in support of Orange County’s Foster Youth and Camp To Belong sibling reunification program. This sold out event, held at the Newport Beach Vineyard and Winery helped to bring awareness to one of our communities growing population of youth in the foster care system.
In Orange County there are nearly 4000 youth in foster and other out of home placement. Some in kinship care while others live in a group home setting. Nearly half of these youth are separated from their biological siblings as a result of this placement and have little if any chance to enjoy a normal childhood sibling relationship. Camp To Belong Orange County reunification program provides the opportunity for brothers and sisters to meet and spend time in a nurturing and safe environment where they can begin rebuilding the relationship that was shattered as a result of their out of home placement. Giving the younger sibling an older brother or sister to look up to and returning to the older sibling the privilege of being a role model to their little brother or sister.
With the support of the greater Orange County community, OC Children Services, Orangewood Children Foundation, CASA and The Kinship Center, Camp To Belong OC has reunited 175 youth through the week long camp event. All of these youth have siblings that were either separated by placement in the foster care system or were adopted and had siblings still living in foster care.
The proceeds from the November 5th event support foster youth sibling relationships and educational programs. In Orange County 46% of foster youth will leave the system without a high school diploma compared to 16% of the general population.
65% will be homeless within 1 year of emancipation –
They make up 40% of our homeless population –
And they take up 60% or more of the beds in our state prison system –
In a statement to the guests Bryan “Eddie” Nash, Founder of the Eddie Nash foundation said:
“Although there may be groves of foster children in our community, many of who might be out of our touch. Still, there are hundreds to be gathered that are well within our reach. I call this the low hanging fruit – and there is no reasoning for us as a community to watch this population spoil on the vine. Healing for these kids begin with the sibling connection – The opportunity to excel academically – and the privilege of learning basic life skills like social responsibility and financial literacy. So that’s why we do this – This call to action – that is becoming a National Conversation to help our disadvantaged youth who are well deserving of our support.”
What we are doing today will help us reach our 2012 goal of 100 foster youth next July at Camp To Belong Orange County. If you would like to be a part of this unique and life changing program that literally changes the lives of these kids forever, please contact Bryan Nash at [email protected].
