Plan Would Offer Tuition Break for Foster Kids

John Finnerty, The Herald •

“We need more policies that send a message that we value these kids,” said Jennifer Pokempner, an attorney with the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia.

“We have an obligation to them,” she said. “We need to give them a fighting chance.”

The legislation requires the colleges to provide a point of contact for the students to help them connect to services as they try to adjust to life on campus.

Just more than 8,700 youth ages 13 to 20 were placed in the child welfare system in Pennsylvania between October 2015 and September 2016, according to testimony from the Juvenile Law Center. About 3,200 were 16 or older.