Author: Floriane Jiotsop

School: Uplift Summit International Preparatory High School

YMCA: Arlington/Mansfield Area City: Arlington

STATE AFFAIRS FORUM PROPOSAL

1. Title or Purpose:
2. Reforming the Texas Foster Care System Through Education
3.
4. Major Area to be Affected:
5. Texas’ foster care system
6.
7. Justification:
8. As of 2020, there are 30,000 children in Texas foster care, 3,000 of which are awaiting
9. adoption, making Texas second in the nation. Due to abuse and negligent regulation,
10. child residents of group homes develop chronic mental disorders, such as Post
11. Traumatic Stress, Reactive Attachment, and Disinhibited Social Engagement disorders.
12. A former orphanage resident describes her experience as such: “Homes were places of
13. fear, threat, and excessive discipline. Emotional, physical, and sexual abuse took place.
14. There was no love, no compassion, no dignity, and no comfort.” The foster care
15. system’s impact has been evidently detrimental; according to the National Foster Youth
16. Institution, approximately 40% of fosters develop disabilities, a significant number
17. receive low grades, and only 50% graduate from high school. These children should not
18. be overlooked any longer. Every year, hundreds of kids age out of the system, cast onto
19. the streets by children’s homes and a system that has failed them. This occurs when a
20. child who has grown past the desirable adoption age is no longer appealing to adoptive
21. parents and turns 18. The now-adults lack the education and common life skills which
22. most teens acquire before becoming independent. Because of this, many of these
23. forsaken children turn to drugs, crime, and prostitution. The lives of tens of thousands
24. of children are at stake and it is with promptness that we are to address this.
25.
26. Proposal for Action:
27. The foster care system requires a structural change. There are 3 primary advances that
28. would serve as both effective and feasible in the system’s reform:
29. I. All foster children in Texas must be provided with a 24/7 resource to which they
30. may report abuse. Every valid report must ensue an immediate surprise
31. inspection.
32. II. Children 13 and older in group homes must take certified financial education
33. courses for at least 4 hours a month, budgeted with $100 per child annually.
34. III. Foster students with GPAs above 1.8 must be placed in as many advanced
35. courses, primarily, mathematics and science-related classes, as deemed
36. appropriate by a school counselor. Students who feel excessively stressed by
37. said classes may drop some or all of them.
38. IV. Texas must expand the GEAR UP program to group homes and foster children
39. statewide. *This grant program is designed to increase the number of and
40. provide college scholarships to low-income students who strive for
41. postsecondary education.
42.
43. Results to be Expected:
44. The U.S. Department of Education has stated the following: “A positive PK-12 education
45. experience has the potential to be a powerful counterweight to the abuse, neglect,
46. separation, and impermanence these vulnerable fosters experience. Additionally,
47. participation in and persistence to a postsecondary credential can enhance their
48. well-being, help them make more successful transitions to adulthood, and increase their
49. chances for personal fulfillment and economic self-sufficiency.” This reform will allow
50. foster children the same opportunities for success as others and save thousands from
51. years of trauma. The proposed solutions have previously produced substantial results in
52. minimal implementation and are completely feasible with relatively little cost. This
53. resolve will immensely redress the existing system, and most remarkably, give foster
54. children the equity they deserve in education and living.
55.