“If you are in foster care and turn 18, you are not ‘emancipated.’ You are thrown to the wolves.” Cinci-Enquirer — http://s7y.us/r6p

70% of foster youth want to go to college; yet only 3% graduate. Talk about a gap that needs bridging….http://orphan.org/blog/?p=263

An OFA scholarship student in California passed along some stats on the trajectory for youth aging out of foster care when no one steps in to help them:

The aforementioned student, a former foster youth and child abuse survivor, just graduated from college this month — a milestone that she is proud of but chooses not to celebrate overtly. We cherish her hard work and accomplishments, and she has expressed profound gratitude for OFA’s assistance more times than we can count….but that, understandably, is not the focus of her latest message.

“If my family could pull through and support me whole-heartedly, I might not see a difference between myself and many other students,” she says. “That’s what the 3 percent statistic above means to me.”

Check out images of our visit with Rosie O’Donnell and Senator Landrieu on Capitol Hill earlier in May: http://a2a.me/3Mf via @AddToAny

SF Chronicle 3/11/09: 1 dollar spent on extended-years support to foster youth returns $2.40 as a result of their increased education alone.

So Susan Boyle got 20 million views? Thanks, YouTube, for creating OFA’s nonprofit video channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/OrphanDotOrg

New radio PSAs for the Orphan Foundation of America will be ready by May 15th, mid-point of National Foster Care Month. WAV files, anyone?

This was the scene on Capitol Hill yesterday, where the ever passionate and wry-humored Rosie O’Donnell spoke out in support of foster youth and new legislation unveiled by Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana.

The media event was organized by Senator Landrieu’s office in support of The Foster Care Mentoring Act of 2009, which she is co-sponsoring with Senator Evan Bayh (D-Indiana), Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-New York), and Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Arkansas). Lifetime Networks also had a big hand in the proceedings to promote “America,” a film on foster care that Rosie O’Donnell produced and stars in.

Below, OFA Deputy Director Tina Raheem and Senator Landrieu flanked Shalita O’Neale, a former foster youth and OFA alumnus who shared heartfelt comments at the press conference.

“We’re hoping to get a lot of support and draw attention to the fact that there’s 500,000 kids out there who need help,” Rosie said.

Asked if she was receiving a favorable reaction from senators, she added, “It’s my first time here – I guess it’s favorable. Do people throw fruit usually? Everybody’s been nice. It’s not like when you fight for gun control, where there’s an active lobby against it. There’s no lobby against foster care, I’m happy to say.”

Meet Sarah Lucas, youth in transition. Good coverage for OFA today in Rochester, NY: http://s7y.us/poc

Today at the U.S. Capitol, we met/spoke with Rosie O’Donnell, Senator Mary Landrieu and, best of all, a bright bunch of foster youth.

Foster youth CAN successfully transition out of the system into vibrant adulthood: An OFA success story: http://shrinkify.com/pgo

When Cicero spoke, people said “Good speech.” When Demosthenes spoke, people said, “Let’s march.”

Mentoring for foster youth — one of OFA’s core strengths — just got a nice boost on Capitol Hill and in the media. Check out what Tamar Abrams writes in her blog entry on The Huffington Post this week:

“As a foster parent, I know the concept of ‘forever’ can be a difficult one for children who are shuffled from one living situation to another. Impermanence can become the theme of their young lives and shadow them as they become adults. That’s why a mentor can be so critical — offering advice, providing friendship and modeling a stable, successful life. Kudos to Senator Landrieu, President Obama, the Orphan Foundation of America, our nation’s foster parents and mentors and all of those who hold our foster children close.”

Tamar’s post comes a day after President Obama signed the Serve America Act, which significantly expands volunteer opportunities and incentives in the U.S. and includes a key amendment by Senator Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana), ensuring that mentoring foster youth will be included among the national service programs eligible for federal assistance.

From Senator Landrieu’s website: “Mentoring programs that focus on children in foster care, such as those supported in the Landrieu amendment, are unique. They require specialized training and support to provide for consistent, long-term relationships for children in care.”

You can read the complete HuffPost entry HERE. Please pass it on to your friends and contacts far and wide, and add your voice to the comments.

May=National Foster Care Month; a good launchpad to ramp up the dialog on “From Foster Care to Success” in June, July & every month forward.

Child abuse/neglect increase risk of juvenile arrest by 55%; committing violent crime by 96%: http://shrinkify.com/pbm

From Heather Talbot, Indiana ETV student at Northwestern College:

“I am doing great! This semester is going to be awesome as far as grades go, but there is still a lot to finish up. My roommate graduates this year, which is both a blessing and a struggle—I will miss her! In the past few months I got a grant to start a Hunger Relief program in my community and it is going really well. I also got to co-lead a composting initiative in our city that is part of a city-wide garden. These projects occupy a lot of my time.

“Just before Spring Break, I was accepted in to the Romania semester program, which is an experiential education/ mission work study abroad semester. I am SO excited. I am one person on a team of seven that will live, serve, and study in Romania next Fall. We had our first pre-departure meeting tonight. My team is wonderful and I think we will be great family to each other during our four-month trip.

“This summer I get to work with 6-11 year olds in an inner city setting doing a free mobile day camp. I am one of four interns for the program. I have gotten to help with the planning and curriculum and cannot wait to start camps.

“Basically, I have worked REALLY hard. . .to study hard, work as much as possible, serve where ever I can, love God, and love people. It is amazing what a good attitude, a lot of hard work, support and some good friends can create out of a broken past and messed up childhood. Thanks for everything!”

A great letter came in from Ashley Farrish, an OFA scholar from the University of Akron, who is studying in Europe this year:

“Right now, I am in England. I just got back from a trip to Amsterdam, Holland. Never in my life would I have thought that I would have the opportunity to study abroad. My freshman year, I thought about it and picked up information from my study abroad office, but knew because of my financial and family situation I wouldn’t be able to. I remember feeling sad because I felt like being a former foster child would hold me back from things that I wanted to do.

“Fast forward three years: I am in a totally different place in life. I was able to find a great support system and I now receive the OFA scholarship. I did my research to make sure that I would be able to use my scholarship abroad and was ecstatic when I found out I could! The process was not easy as pie. I had to move out of my leased apartment in December and live with a lot of friends until January 20th. I thank God that I had friends to do that. I took out some extra loans. I made sure that all of my academic credits would work out. I knew I would have to take summer courses.

“Throughout all of my worries and concerns and freaking out moments, I had a great mentor, Cori, who really helped me. She is always here for me. Before I left, I was sure I just sent her messages that were rambling madness, but she kept reassuring me that everything would be okay.

“And here I am, in Wolverhampton, England until the end of May. I had a hard time adjusting the first couple of weeks but now I am in the swing of things and I love it here! I have travelled to Edinburgh, Scotland and Amsterdam, Holland along with a slew of places in England itself. I will be going to London soon and in May, I will be in France and Rome. I never would have dreamed!

“The best experience is the people. I live with people from Germany, Czech Republic, Belgium, Austria, Hungary, Holland, France, Sweden, Italy, and the list can go on. It is so great to speak to people from other countries that have different perspectives on the U.S. I love learning about other countries. And I have become a more confident person, meeting people and being able to start friendships even though I know they will be long distant friendships soon.

“It feels good to represent us. I feel like accomplishing this has shown that no matter what happened to me in the past, I can do whatever I want in the present and in the future! I just feel like anything is possible now.

From an op-ed in The San Francisco Chronicle, 3/11/09:

“Myriad studies have shown that the period immediately after ‘emancipation’ at age 18 is the most precarious for a foster youth. These young people — our children, our collective responsibility — are many times more likely than teenagers with family-support structures to become homeless, incarcerated or pregnant. Their chances of getting a college degree are somewhere in the single digits, according to various studies. . .

“A new study of three states (Illinois, which extends foster care benefits to age 21; and Iowa and Wisconsin, which do not) underscores the cost-benefit ratio of helping young adults get on the right track. The study found that each dollar spent on extended-years support to foster youths returns $2.40 as a result of their increased education alone. If anything, that cost-benefit analysis is extremely conservative, considering the state costs of incarceration, teen pregnancy, homelessness and mental-health programs.”

A message from Toni Little, OFA scholarship student at Johnson State College in Vermont:

“I am attaching pictures from the award ceremony at the Vermont State House — where I received the Enduring Democracy Award for putting on the only student-initiated voter registration drive in Vermont! I was honored to receive it, and met Vermont’s former Governor, Howard Dean who payed me great compliments for rising above the odds.

“Next week, I’m speaking at a conference in New Hampshire called Destination College; and the week after I’m going to be the keynoter at the Vermont Teen Leadership conference. Now, in no way am I trying to save the world, but as Gandhi said, you must be the change in the world you want to see.

“I came from nothing, was neglected; weighed 40 lbs when I was eight; lived in an abandoned apartment where I slept on couch cushions and had no food. My parents were addicts and didn’t know I was there until the next morning when their high was done and they needed me to shake their arms which had gone numb.

“I barely went to school and was a high school drop out. Looking at me now, you wouldn’t believe my story. We make our own destiny, I believe.”

Above: Toni Little with former Vermont Governor Howard Dean and officials at her award presentation.

Hola — I finally had a chance to post lots of photos from last month’s Congressional Care Package Day in Washington DC. Click HERE to take a look. The ever perky Rabiyah Abdus-Salam of Howard University will show you around.

This was the scene on Saturday, March 14 in Boca Raton, Florida, where more than 100 volunteers took over an entire YMCA facility and got busier than a bees in a beehive:

OFA joined forces with the Office Depot Foundation for a massive care package event launching the ODF’s new “Caring Connection” campaign. While work teams put together care packages full of school supplies in the main room, others prepared the hand-written notes of encouragement that are so appreciated by OFA students.

OFA alumnus Loveta Wynn has been living in Florida and working for Americorps this past year. She was kind enough to come over to Boca and work with us at the event all day long.

The base of volunteers was fantastic, and ranged in age from eight years old. . .

. . .to 18 years old. . .

. . .to 80 years old (meet the blogger-in-chief’s mother, Eleanore J. Sprei, resident of Boca Raton).

2400 care packages and 60 massive pallets later, OFA and ODF staff took time out to pose for a photo. Left to right: Sabrina Conte and Jessica Strazulla of Office Depot Foundation, Doug Sprei of OFA, Office Depot Foundation President Mary Wong, and OFA alumnus Loveta Wynn.

This poem comes from Coreena Davidson, a Biology Major at Winona State University:

NIGHTSCAPES

Stumbling on the sleeping world
evening breathes cold.
Above, statues loom.
Icicled branches bare,
scarring the albino face
of the moon’s nearness.

I met you first
with hackles raised
and lips eternally snarling.
The monster of old,
eyes glazed on a cold mantle.

I have met you lean and shaggy,
the heart of the wild.
Moss clings to the darkness of the wood,
calloused like barnacles on a whale.
Your paws softly pad the damp earth,
heady scents rising silently.
Wheat gold eyes unblinking,
a short howling was heard.
You howled in return,
body shuddering as it overcame
the wound of loneliness.
Head cocked with wonder,
A deep unending,
echoing silence tumbles in the wind.

Alone in this enchanted playground
You melt slowly into the oasis of trees.
You wander never lost
like hot breath into the cool night air.

Never will you become
the fuzz shell of a hazel nut
in a secret place for dreams
of deep unending.

Check out this five-minute segment that aired on News Channel 8 in Washington DC on February 10. It features OFA executive director Eileen McCaffrey and scholarship student Jaleesa Suell.

There’s a lot of buzz going on about Rosie O’Donnell’s new movie “America” which airs tomorrow night at 9:00 Eastern Time on the Lifetime Channel. Here she sits down with the young writers at Represent to describe how she became a foster parent.