Portland State Magazine Fall 2015

FALL 2015 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE 17 SHAWN MAY moved out of his mother’s house at 14. There was just too much friction, so he went to live with his dad, who was bipolar. That didn’t go well either. “I lived with him for 20 months until I couldn’t take it anymore,” he says. His next step was moving in with his grandmother and uncle. That lasted five and a half months. She kicked him out on his 16th birthday. He tried living with his mother again, but he didn’t get along with her new husband. So, out of despera- tion, he found temporary quarters at a group foster home. This wasn’t supposed to be a long-term solution. But it became one after he found out that his mother and siblings had abruptly moved to the Czech Republic, her husband’s home country. They didn’t bother to tell Shawn; they just left. May’s story is all too common among children in foster care, who share a common backstory of instability, often through no fault of their own, during their most vulnerable years. Sometimes their families cannot provide them with the basic safety and protection they need. Many have also faced difficult experiences, including parental substance abuse, sexual or physical abuse, and abandonment. “All of them have experienced trauma. Most of them have some form of PTSD,” says Larry Dalton, community development coordinator for the Oregon Department of Human Services. “When you have that trauma history, you need support.” Currently there are 1,581 youths 15 and older in Oregon foster homes. In the last year, 413 Oregon young people between the ages of 18 and 21 transitioned out of foster care, Dalton says. That’s an average of more than 34 per month. Not surprisingly, they don’t fare as well as young adults with more stable, loving homes. They’re more likely to be incarcer- ated, drop out of school, be unemployed or homeless, abuse drugs and have teen pregnancies. May, however, is bucking the odds with the help of a Portland State University program called My Life, which helps youth successfully transition out of foster care. MY LIFE pairs foster youth with mentors who help them build life skills, including finding jobs and getting into college. The project is led by professors Laurie Powers and Sarah Geenen in the Regional Research Institute for Human Ser- vices, the research arm of PSU’s School of Social Work. Last year, My Life was named one of the best programs of its kind in the United States by the Center for Study of Social Policy in Washington, D.C. Teens in the program are coached over a one-year period. During that time, they also attend several workshops with other My Life youth and adult mentors who have been in foster care. One of those mentors is Emilie Morris, 23, who entered the foster care system at age 16, and who is now working toward a bachelor’s degree in political science at PSU. “My parents were abusive,” she says. Her mother had a history of mental health challenges, Morris says, and would do things such as sell Morris’ possessions—including a car Morris had purchased on her own—and keep the money. Her mother and stepfather kicked her out when she was 16 with the idea that she go live with her father, but he didn’t want her, Morris says, so she went to live with her grandmother, where more abuse awaited. At this point, Morris’s high school got involved and contacted the Oregon Department of Human Services, which assigned her a caseworker. Morris used that opportunity to ask to be put into foster care. All too often, foster care isn’t the safe haven it’s supposed to be. The turnover can be high and the quality of care is hit-or- miss. Morris started out in a homeless youth shelter, then was transferred to her first foster home, which she described as an WR I T T E N B Y J OHN K I RK LAND MY LIFE Opening new possibilities for foster youth