Housing a 'lost population': New effort aims to help foster kids who age out of the system

photo William Ward speaks about the need for housing for people who age out of foster care in this 2013 file photo.

BY THE NUMBERS25,000: Number of youth who age out of foster care each year in the country984: Number of youth who aged out of foster care in Tennessee in the past year77: Number of youth who aged out in the region, including Hamilton and surrounding countiesSource: Tennessee Department of Children's Services

A new partnership has emerged in Chattanooga to help house a "lost population."

The state pays the living expenses for children in foster care until they reach age 18, or 21 if they're still in school. Once they age out of the system, they are on their own.

A third of them end up homeless. Up to 50 percent of them couch surf, double up, have trouble paying rent and face eviction, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The need for housing for youth aging out of foster care is "enormous," said William Ward, founder of Pathways for Young Adults in Chattanooga, a not-for-profit agency that provides transitional services for youth and young adults who are at risk.

Some local agencies are coordinating resources to help.

The latest effort came this fall with the Chattanooga Housing Authority awarding vouchers to Centerstone, a not-for-profit provider of community-based behavioral health care, to house 10 young adults aging out of foster care.

Centerstone expects to start housing the young adults this month.

Upon aging out of the system, youth who may have spent years in foster care are suddenly adrift in a world without guidance from the state or parents.

"It's really, almost a lost population," said Betsy McCright, the housing authority's executive director. "The young people have benefits and then the moment they turn 18 [or 21], they no longer have benefits."

And since the state has provided for them, they probably don't have a sense of what happens when they become an adult and how to provide housing for themselves, she said.

More than 70 young adults in Hamilton and surrounding counties aged out of the foster care system within the past year. Some 984 aged out of the system in Tennessee during the same period, according to the Department of Children's Services.

The state lacks enough housing for all special-needs populations, including veterans, the disabled, the mentally ill and young adults aging out of foster care, said Michael H. Leach, Tennessee Department of Children's Services director of independent living.

Agencies are trying to figure out how to build or otherwise get more housing.

This collaboration between Centerstone and the housing authority helps, said Leach.

Local foster parent Deborah Maddox said foster parents should house children even after the money stops. She has been a foster parent to a 14-year-old girl since January and fostered four children before that.

Money helps provide care, but it should not be the bottom line in deciding to become a foster parent, she said.

"Children should not be treated as a commodity," said Maddox.

Ward said Maddox's idea is commendable but realistically not all parents feel that way. And sometimes youth who turn 18 want to leave to avoid rules or to find their birth parents.

It's not until they're independent for a time that they realize how difficult it can be, said Ward.

His program houses eight young adults who aged out of foster care.

Ward said he houses one man who slept in a park and another who was attacked at a homeless shelter. He kept two men in his home for about three months while they waited for housing to become available.

All of that, he said, underscores the need for more housing.

Contact staff writer Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.

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