By Kenyon Lee Whitman, Photo: Unsplash, The Imprint, January 27, 2022
Our existing responses to children and families impacted by the child welfare system falls short in supporting them while children are in foster care, and more certainly after they leave. The Transitional Housing Program (THP), the Chafee Grant, and extended foster care programs, to name a few, are great and help to reduce houselessnes and increase college access. What is lacking are policies that address equitable access to housing and education over a young person’s entire life.
Redressing systemic failures of the child welfare system begins with strong public policy that removes financial barriers. Here I posit two important policy reforms that are drastically needed in the area of housing and education for youth who have aged into adulthood from foster care. First, housing policy for people who experienced foster care that does not require them to put a down payment on a house. Second, education policy that guarantees them postsecondary education, tuition-free. I would also advocate for retroactive compensation and debt forgiveness for people who were in foster care and had to put themselves through college and/or purchase a home prior to the introduction of these policies.
When it comes to building a safe, stable life in America, there are two things one can acquire that go a long way toward securing that reality: a house, and a college degree. Research shows that students from low- to middle-income backgrounds are more likely to enroll and graduate from college when their family has an increase in “housing wealth.” Those same students gained access to higher quality colleges, as well, because of the equity their families had in their homes.
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