100 Foster Youth Receive National Honor For Resilience, Achievement and Community Service

May 11, 2011 - PRLog -- WASHINGTON D.C.  --  One hundred young people who have been in foster care were named Outstanding Young Leaders of 2011 in celebration of National Foster Care Month. The recipients from all across the U.S. were honored by FosterClub, the national network for youth in foster care, for their demonstrated resilience, leadership, accomplishments, educational achievement, and community service.

Angela Campbell, age 19, spent six years in foster care in Pennsylvania and is on a mission to change the system. She is recognized as one of FosterClub’s 100 Outstanding Young Leaders.  Angela is pursuing a degree in Social Work at Bennett College and has been on the Honors and Dean’s list every semester.  She hopes to attend the University of Pittsburgh and obtain her PhD in Social Work, eventually becoming a family therapist working with at-risk youth. “I manage to press forward because I am highly motivated by the foster children who haven’t won their battles just yet,” says Angela.

Photographs and personal stories of each of the 100 Outstanding Young Leaders can be viewed on the FosterClub website at: www.fosterclub.org.  The Young Leaders include:

•   20 year old James McIntyre, a five-year veteran of foster care in Illinois. says, “Who better to fix the system than those that have been through it?”  At 3-years-old, James was placed into his first foster home. This would be one of eventually 15 homes, during which he would ask himself, “Is this going to be the placement or are you going to pack your bags tomorrow?” Through the moves, he was separated from two of his sisters. Today, his mission is to prevent sibling separation from happening to his peers coming up through the foster care system.

•   Kady Titus, age 22, who spent four years in Alaska’s foster care system.  Today, Kady is pursuing her Bachelor’s degree with a double major in Political Science and Social Work.  She has dedicated the past eight years of her life to mentoring at-risk youth and has worked in advocacy through the Northwest Network for Youth, and also as a youth counselor for youth at a residential facility. “As a foster care alumnus I believe it is my responsibility to pass down what I have learned to others who are still in care, just like a traditional family passes down their knowledge,”  says Kady.

•   17 year old Darya Mikhailova, who has spent 2 years in Virginia’s foster care system. Since arriving in the United States from the Ukraine at the age of 10, she has endured several years of instability with her mother that led to three years of foster care. Dasha and a friend formed “Club More” to help students with intellectual and developmental disabilities be successful and meet their goals. From helping a student with an intellectual disability attend a dance to helping a peer with no family support to apply for college, Club More wants to make sure every student has “more.”

“Despite the hardships and setbacks these Outstanding Young Leaders faced, they have already achieved great success. As importantly, these inspiring young people are committed to making a difference for the children and youth still in foster care,” said Celeste Bodner, Executive Director of FosterClub. “They serve as tremendously effective mentors and role models for youth still in foster care and are working hard to improve the foster care system and the lives and futures of the children in its care.”

Because of her own involvement with foster care, 23 year old Ashley Gllardo often finds she is the only person that most of the youth will talk to. After spending 7 years in the Texas foster care system, Ashley understands that the youth she is meeting with are often acting out because they feel scared and unprepared to live independently. “Being a teenager is hard enough, but being a teenager in the foster care system is overwhelming,” says Ashley. “It’s nice to be able to know there is one place where they believe in you, where they come along side and create a path to your potential, where unconditional love, support, encouragement, and yes, even structure are the foundation for hope.”

Foster care was designed as a temporary solution to remove children from abuse and neglect, but children often languish in foster care before returning to their families, joining new adoptive families or living permanently with relative caregivers. More than 29,000 young people “aged out” of foster care last year without a permanent family to rely upon. Research reveals that many youth who “age out” of foster experience homelessness, unemployment, incarceration or illness – fewer than 3% of youth who age out of foster care graduate from college and nearly 1 in 5 become homeless.

For more information about FosterClub’s Outstanding Young Leaders and to read the bios of the 2011 recipients, visit www.fosterclub.org.

THREE IDEAS FOR SUPPORTING FOSTER YOUTH DURING MAY:
•   Visit the National Foster Care Month website at www.fostercaremonth.org
•   Learn more about foster care by reading the stories of young people who have experienced it first hand, at www.fosterclub.org
•   Make a $10 donation to support foster youth by texting the word “foster” to 85944.  $10 will be billed to your next cell phone bill.

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FosterClub is the national network for young people in foster care. FosterClub's mission is to lead the efforts of young people in and from foster care to become connected, educated, inspired + represented so they can realize their personal potential and contribute to a better life for their peers. At the FosterClub Web site, www.fosterclub.org, youth ask questions and get answers. They discover other successful former foster youth, share opinions about their foster care experience, get recognition for overcoming obstacles, and connect with supportive adults.