Alexis' Testimony

Hello, my name is Alexis. I am 23 years old, and I have been working with the Juvenile Law Center’s Youth Advocacy Program as part of their Youth Fostering Change program for 4 years. Hello, my name is Alexis Andino. I am 23 years old, and I have been working with the Juvenile Law Center’s Youth Advocacy Program as part of their Youth Fostering Change program for 4 years. 

I was 10 years old when I first went into foster care. They picked us up from lunch, and I never got to go back home. I was scared, I was frustrated, being with a whole bunch of people I didn’t know. We waited in one of the rooms in the DHS building for hours. I was in care for the whole time until I was about 17. I got discharged, because I got approved for Kinship care. I thought I could be with my great grandmother, but I had to move and I had to find a place to go because shortly after I got out of care she passed away, and then I was homeless again.

It was hard to get in contact with people. When I was 18 & 19, they told me it would be hard to reenter, and that I’d be in a shelter for over a year before I got housing. They basically told me I would have to go back to a shelter, and that basically was my only option. I was hopping around from home to home. I tried to go back into foster care at age 19 and I didn’t get help with anything until after I was 20.

It wasn’t until a few months after I was 20 that I got help through AIC (The Achieving Independence Center). I wound up still staying with a family friend. I kept trying to get connected to Valley Youth House though AIC. AIC finally got me connected to Valley Youth House after I was 20. I only got about 10 months of support. The system is messed up. It shouldn’t be like that. There’s no reason that they can say that we can come back and get help and that we’re able to get help until we’re 21 but when you try to get help they literally deny you and tell you no and that you’ll be in a shelter for over a year. They were basically telling me don’t get back in the system because you’re basically not going to get any help. They kept denying me services and resources until it was kind of too late. I ended up only getting services for less than a year when I should have been able to get it for that whole 3 or 4 years, when I really needed it. Someone just told me that they think that AIC was extended until 23, and there are all of these other things like this Ombudsman hearing, and all of these other services - nobody tried to contact me or help me with anything. And of course all of that stuff changed and extended because of covid but I already turned 23 so I couldn’t receive those extra services.

Every time I tried to get connected to services they acted like I should know who my family is, like I haven’t been in the system for 10 years. They separate you from your family, don’t let you communicate, don’t use to not let them come and see me or vice versa, sometimes for a punishment, that’s not right. Literally restricted phone calls and you’re supposed to magically know your family and have somewhere to live with when you age out. It doesn’t make any sense, it’s so dumb. They wonder why we age out of the system and don’t have a support system or family. It’s ridiculous.

Being in foster care growing up, I did go through a lot of things related to race. I was always in other people’s homes - foster homes and group homes, of people I didn’t relate to. They would look at me as if I was different. There was a lot of time I was the only white person in the home,or school, I got picked on alot. Staff would be talking at youth instead of talking with youth. They wouldn’t give you a chance to speak. This was the rule and that’s it. You can’t say how you feel, and you gotta follow it or you’re getting punished. I never had a sense of normalcy or a good childhood. They would take away stuff. I didn’t have a cell phone until I was like 15. I was coming in and out of the city at the age of 13 on the buses with no phone. I was making my own doctor’s appointments, I did almost everything on my own. Every time I asked for help they would look at me like “what do you need help for?”, You can do it yourself.

I felt like every time I asked for help they would give me the run around - “you gotta contact this person”, “I don’t know, you gotta go to this person”, “I can’t help you with this, go to this agency”. I didn’t get help until I was going to everyone’s supervisor and telling people in court that I was trying to get help and nobody wanted to help me. I didn’t get help with getting back into therapy until after I got discharged from DHS. I asked for help getting services and it was so much of a process that took forever. I didn’t know if it was the process or if they weren't trying to help me in the beginning.

Youth questions were not answered by attorneys. I followed up once, and when I didn’t get a clear answer, it just ended up the same. I would get frustrated and not follow up because they would give me general statements. I felt belittled, like I didn’t matter, my opinions didn’t matter. Nobody cared about me or my future. Youth do not have the knowledge about their case. They should have explained my case to me. They should have been honest and realistic about what was happening and what my options and next steps were. No one taught me anything, that's why I'm struggling now. I just feel like if they would have been honest with me, and communicated with me about my case and what I could do to better my life, to help myself, I would have been better. I wouldn’t have just been living day to day. 

Staff should engage youth in their case and let them know what is going on. All I needed was resources, a sense of guidance. All I needed was someone to tell me “this is life, you need X,Y,Z”,  “you’re not a child no more”. I was never able to be a child. I'm still learning and unlearning things. If I would have been more active in my case, I would have been engaged and actually have a say in my life.

Youth deserve a sense of normalcy, guidance, a good and reliable support system, someone to show them how to navigate through life. It’s really not easy when nobody tells you or teaches you important things. I literally struggle everyday because I don’t have any guidance, anybody to call when I have questions. If I had someone involved in my life, like the Ombudsman person, I would have felt like I would have finally had someone in my life who cared about me. I felt like it would have helped my case a little bit. This is why the ombudsperson position should be created for the city of Philadelphia. 

Thank you. 

Banner photo credit - Eskay Lim via Unsplash