During the next month, Los Angeles County is rolling out a new system that many say will make it simpler for youth who are in the foster care system to enroll into programs that belong to the county’s workforce. This is considered the first step in what is an ongoing effort to create additional opportunities for foster youth to gain access to programs related to jobs, training, and other employment resources.
The system is automated and considered a referral program. It is meant to improve the ability to prequalify for resources related to employment for foster youth, utilizing workforce boards and job centers. It acts as the technological core of LA’s commitment to make sure all foster youth have work experience by the time that they turn 18.
The plan requires a partnership between the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), which provides care for more than 4,500 foster youth between the ages of 16 and 21 and the Department of Workforce Development, Aging, and Community Services (WDACS) and community partners.
Says Lauri Collier, the director of the Opportunity Youth Collaborative, “We want to make sure there are no wrong doors for foster youth.”
It is important to connect youth to work as soon as they age out of the foster care system, though it remains a challenge. A survey showed that foster youth at 21 were much less likely to have ever held down a job and were less likely to have worked at a job for more than ten hours a week. At 21, the average household income received from employment for foster youth was just $8,709.
Plenty of aged out foster youth face difficulties staying connected to programs because of unstable housing situations. The lack of adults that can model proper workplace behaviors have been a huge factor for those aging out of the system, as well as the trauma in and out of the foster care system.