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When Andrea completed the LEASE program, she had more than $9,000 in savings to help her transition into an apartment of her own. She set a remarkable example for other young women in the program. She is pursuing a degree from City College of San Francisco, and she returns regularly to talk with current LEASE participants about the challenges and opportunities former foster youth face once they emancipate. |
LEASE
When kids don’t have families who are able to care for them, the foster care system is there to fill the gap. But even those who benefit from foster care face a dilemma that can lead to homelessness. As foster children approach their 18th birthday, they face the reality that the system is no longer there to help. Hundreds of youth emancipate from foster care in California each year without any means to support themselves. As a result, an alarming percentage of emancipated foster youth go from the system straight to the streets. For 18- to 24-year-old former foster kids who are cast adrift, Larkin Street created LEASE (Larkin Extended Aftercare for Supported Emancipation). LEASE is not a shelter. It is a program that places youth in their own apartments while providing support in the form of counseling, employment training, referrals, and case management to ensure that they develop the skills and resources to retain stable housing in the long-term. LEASE participants are screened and referred by the City’s Independent Living Skills Program (ILSP), which facilitates transitions for recently emancipated foster youth. After an intake process, LEASE clients settle into their new homes and begin working closely with case managers to plan for the stable futures they will achieve after they leave the program. The program emphasizes life skills: managing money, retaining employment, self-care, and maintaining housing. LEASE helps youth create individual plans to meet their diverse needs. For example, a single young mother may go through job training, learn budgeting skills, and develop educational goals while in the program. Another young person may gain the skills he needs to be promoted in his current job, take care of neglected chronic health problems, and enroll in community college. All participants in the LEASE program receive education counseling and most attend college on a part- or full-time basis. Whatever path LEASE participants take toward success, Larkin Street staff are there to support them along the way. Unlike their exit from foster care at 18, their graduation from LEASE is a true emancipation from dependency into the freedom of self-sufficient adulthood
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