From Foster Care to College: An Uphill Battle

The Philadelphia Youth Network youth success program provided Shyara with some of the guidance that had been absent in her experience thus far. It was not, however, provided through her school, making it inaccessible to some of Shyara’s peers: “[The program is] at the school because they help people, but some people don’t even know about it. It wasn’t a program that was big, like the school made it up, it was just a program that decided to come down there and walk you through the process on their own. If there was something at the school, at an office you could go to and sign up and get that help, it would be a lot easier.” According to Shyara, the solution is simple: “Schools definitely need a designated office [for these services] that’s actually advertised.” This recommendation mirrors those of other youth in foster care who have taken on the postsecondary journey: when the Youth Fostering Change project asked a group of these students what changes they would like to see, a foster youth liaison was at the top of the list.