More than 437,000 children are in the US foster care system on any given day and only 50 percent of them will finish high school by age 18.

To ameliorate this achievement gap, The Foster Connection is tailoring instruction to meet the individual needs of every foster student and creating a positive culture of expectations with regard to educational success.

With The Foster Connection’s steady guidance and support, foster youth will develop increased vocational self-efficacy and a stronger incentive to attain higher education.

The issue

For far too long, youth in foster care have faced barriers to academic achievement. School mobility, trauma due to abuse and neglect, and lack of stable relationships are only a few of the factors that have contributed to their persistent underperformance and have made them distinctly vulnerable to criminal incarceration, homelessness, and human trafficking.

Turnover in the child welfare system has now reached an all-time high. No longer can we stand by and rely on the institutions in charge to take appropriate remedial action. Especially, when we already possess the most powerful personal development tools—education, technology, and social networks—to help propel the foster care system out of the 19th century, and into the 21st.

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Here’s the scale of the problem:

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Mentorship can change these dismal outcomes.

Data from Civic Enterprises & Hart Research Associates (2014)

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What will this look like?

OUR COVID-19 RESPONSE:

There’s no doubt that the pandemic has rendered the foster care crisis even more precarious. Since January, early school closures have stagnated educational opportunities, disconnected youth from support systems, and strained the social fabric in their communities. In an effort to alleviate fragmentation and meet the unique education needs of these youth, we at The Foster Connection, will now be leveraging Zoom to persevere in equalizing learning opportunities.

We recognize that communication and connection cannot truly be replicated digitally. But we pledge to create safe and inclusive environments online that are conducive to learning. To do this, we are engaging with educators who are knowledgeable about state and national standards, as well as parents, policy groups, and subject matter associations to ensure that we present and sequence information that caters to students’ diversified learning needs.

Guided by their functional expertise, we believe we can unlock the potential of foster youth, redefine their futures, and revolutionize the child welfare system as we know it.

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