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Former
foster youths obtain higher education
By
Zamna Avila
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
Twenty-one-year-old
Nicole Demedenko had her share of struggles
growing up, but these days, the Cal State
Fullerton senior has found the helping hand
of a program that is facilitating her journey
to reach her career goals.
Demedenko
is part of a youth minority that has found
solace in the Guardian Scholars Program,
a program designed to provide financial
and moral support to former foster youth
working toward a college degree.
"Education
is a luxury and for our youth it's a prize
to have," said Jenny Vinopal, the director
of the Guardian Scholars Program at CSUF.
"We are giving them the opportunity
to succeed."
The
program provides an intensive learning environment
where former foster youth are assisted with
year-round housing, priority registration,
financial support, mentoring and personal
and professional enrichment activities.
The program also provides specialized services
for students with special needs, learning
differences and works closely with the Educational
Opportunity Program.
The
funding for this program is mainly attained
through the private dollars of individual
donations and is supported by the university,
the Orangewood Children's Foundation and
public agencies. Incoming freshmen at the
university receive a five-year full scholarship
and transfer students receive up to three
years of financial support to finish their
program.
CSUF
is not the only university in the state
that offers the Guardian Scholars program.
Other schools have jumped on the bandwagon,
but only two other schools, Cal Poly Pomona
and Cal State San Bernardino, have equal
or similar programs in the California State
University System.
One
reason, Vinopal speculates, may be the fact
that schools are pulled in different directions
and may not see how easy it would be to
integrate such a specialized program.
Financial
aid is available for former foster youths,
which is another reason why institutions
may not see the need to incorporate a similar
program.
"The
assistance is already created by other agencies,
so it would be [a] duplication," says
Clara Potes-Fellow, the CSU manager of media
relations.
Dean
Kulju, director of financial aid, says he
is unaware of programs that may exist in
the university that directly assist former
foster youth that are similar to the Guardian
Scholars Program. The Financial Aid Department,
however, provides a financial aid workshop
to all students and staff.
The
youths are eligible for state and federal
financial aid in combination with other
grants such as the California Chafee Grant
Program.
The
Chafee Grant is a federal program that the
state helps administer, which provides former
foster youth with up to $5,000 annually.
"There
is money out there, but most of the time
it's a matter of applying and getting the
paperwork done," Demedenko says. "But
it's not only about the financial support.
It's about the emotional support and encouragement
that many foster youth lack in the system
from their case workers."
Eileen
Mayers Pasztor, a social work professor
at Cal State Long Beach, says that this
is important because these youths face other
emotional and social challenges, because
the circumstances that caused them to be
separated from their parents and placed
in foster care are traumatic and often involve
abuse and neglect.
Demedenko
was placed in the foster system when she
was 17 years old along with her four younger
siblings. She said friends that attend other
colleges like CSULB do not have the financial
and moral advantages that the program at
her school offers."
In
order to be closer to home and help her
family, the CSUF transfer student did not
apply to the program until her last year
at Orange Coast Collage, which at the time
did not have a Guardian Scholars program.
"I
knew that if I didn't get in, I would not
have the money to pay for school,"
she says.
While
financial aid is available for former foster
youth, it only covers part of the cost of
an education. Demedenko would have had to
get a full-time job and commute to school
from her grandmother's house.
But
Demedenko considers herself lucky. When
she and her siblings were placed in foster
care due to their parents' drug addition,
family members stepped up to the plate and
opened their doors to them. Her great aunt
took them in first and later her grandmother
applied for custody.
But
not all foster youth are as lucky as Demedenko.
Federal
legislation requires child welfare agencies
to provide young people in foster care with
programs that help them transition to independent
living, including support for college.
However,
many students may not be aware of such programs
because they are not publicized well, their
social worker is not well trained or is
overloaded with caseloads.
"Children
who grow up in the foster care system are
at high risk to become homeless," Mayers
Pasztor says.
Sean
Guthrie, a first year psychology major at
CSUF, says he would have been homeless if
he had not known about the program, which
completely pays for dorm residence.
Once
a foster child becomes emancipated, housing
is not guaranteed to these young adults,
especially if there are minors in the foster
home and additional rooms are unavailable
because adults may not share a room with
foster children.
Guthrie
and his twin brother became part of the
foster system at age six. They were ceded
to foster services because his mother was
unable to care for them. He was placed in
three different foster homes four times
before he became an adult. The last foster
home, however, had other foster children
and no additional rooms.
"On
weekends, most people at the dorms go home,"
Guthrie said. "But we [Guardian Scholar
recipients] usually have nowhere to go."
Yet,
both students have a positive outlook. They
acknowledge that many foster youths struggle
with stereotypes and the lack of financial
and moral support of families.
"You
are the only person that can make your background
issue," Guthrie said.
He
also acknowledges the non-financial aspects
and appreciates the contributions of the
donors. These donors also provide a sense
of caring, he says, because many of them
host gatherings where they interact with
the youth as a family.
He
believes that getting donors to help foster
children at other universities may be one
of the challenges those institutions face.
Neither
Demedenko nor Guthrie view themselves as
helpless victims. Instead, these former
foster youths look at the challenges they
have undertaken with as strength building
pillars.
"As
former foster youth you have more resilience,
more experience and have grown up quicker
than a lot of your peers," Demedenko
says.
Both
students work as mentors with the California
Youth Connection, an organization that advocates
for current and former foster youth rights,
to help others with similar circumstances.
Demedenko
is applying to the social work master's
program at CSULB help improve the foster
care system.
"I
plan on remembering, not only what I have
experienced, but also the experience of
the people I work with and take back the
field of social work," Demedenko says.
Guthrie
would like to work in the forensic psychology
field once he graduates. Both students would
like to adopt a foster child in the future.
For
more information on the Chafee aid visit:
http://www.chafee.csac.ca.gov.
For information on the Guardian Scholars
Program visit www.fullerton.edu/guardianscholars
or www.orangewoodfoundation.org.
General links to foster youth programs can
be found at www.cos.edu.
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