"Less than 50 percent of students in foster care earn a high school diploma, leaving them few opportunities for jobs that pay a living wage.
"However, a program in Elk Grove Unified School District in the Sacramento area is improving the odds for foster youth.
"One student who benefited from the program, an 18-year-old we’re calling Sarah to protect her identity, just graduated from Elk Grove’s Monterey Trail High School.
"Sarah has been in foster care on and off since she was 4, and figures she’s attended at least one school a year during that time. She never expected to make it out of high school....
"Her grief started to lift when she arrived at Monterey Trail. There, Sarah found a community of other students just like her in a life skills class for foster youth taught by Mike Jones....
"Once a week, about 20 foster youth in grades 9 through 12 meet with him to learn study skills, start developing a plan for success after high school and talk about whatever is on their mind in a safe, nonjudgmental place...."
http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201306170850/b#sthash.9mNXGaLk.dpuf.com
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