詹妮弗·k·森田著

2024年1月19日

萨克拉门托 State alumna Sienna Horita learned early on that family isn’t always blood.

堀田曾是一名寄养青年，在她18岁的时候，她被安置在超过25个寄养家庭和16个集体之家。

She found her “chosen family” with 萨克拉门托 State’s 卫报》学者, a program designed to support students who have experienced foster care.

“卫报》学者 helped me build that confidence to be loud and proud of being a former foster youth, for surviving that,” Horita said. “卫报》学者 created a safe place for me and showed me my chosen family.”

• 卢克·伍德总统与全国观众分享了他对寄养的看法

萨克拉门托 State is committed to improving the lives of students who have experienced foster care or homelessness by increasing their college graduation rates through programs such as 卫报》学者 and 第一明星学院, which helps prepare high school students for college.

“Our goal is to have the largest enrollment of former foster youth in the country and to be known for serving them,” President Luke Wood said. “And by that, I mean increasing their graduation rates and labor market outcomes in terms of employment and median earnings after graduation.

“We need to provide these students with dignity as human beings and dignity as students.”

More than 23,000 teenagers age out of the U.S. foster care system each year, according to the 全国青少年寄养院. 只有3%到4%的人拥有大学学位。

Of the students who enroll in college nationwide, 49% drop out during their first semester, said Linda Howe-Ram, 卫报》学者’ director of Foster and Community Youth Initiatives at 囊状态.

“The outcomes are dismal. We all know it’s hard to navigate college as it is, but if you don’t have folks you can rely on and go home to, it’s pretty difficult,” Howe-Ram said.

“It’s so important for them to have a support system, and a place where they don’t have to tell their whole story because we already get it.”

他们获得大学学位的最大障碍之一是钱。

“Our hope is through this collaboration we will recruit students who have experienced foster care or have been unhoused to attend 囊状态 and be a part of the 卫报》学者 Program family to support them through the journey of college completion." -- Linda Howe-Ram, 卫报》学者’ director of Foster and Community Youth Initiatives

据美国国家寄养青年研究所（National foster youth Institute）报道，大约20%的寄养青少年在18岁时就会立即无家可归，脱离寄养体系。

吉娜·布莱恩就是其中之一。

“I was homeless my senior year of high school, so my drive for college was more about survival,” said Bryan, a 囊状态 alumna who now works with Horita as a program coordinator for 卫报》学者.

“I remember my first year was a really, really rough adjustment. I had no time-management skills, no family support, no one to turn to for feedback or just to say, ‘You can do it.’ ”

尽管她想寻求帮助，但作为一名前寄养青年，布莱恩说很难承认她在挣扎。

当时就读于博彩平台东湾分校的布莱恩说，她退学了，搬到了萨克拉门托，最终进入萨克州立大学学习社会工作。

California legislators recently expanded the state’s Middle Class Scholarship program to make college free for foster youth enrolled at a CSU, UC or community college. 参议院307号法案在申请其他援助后，100%满足他们未满足的需求，包括书籍，食物和住宿的费用。

自2006年开始，卫报学者提供的不仅仅是资金支持。

In addition to academic counseling, emergency financial assistance, help with on-campus housing, mentoring and advocacy, 卫报》学者 has given former foster students a safe place to grab a healthy snack, hang out and meet people who know what it’s like to be in the system.

“Your typical student may be able to call home and borrow money from their parents or get the emotional support they need, but for 卫报》学者, that’s not always the case,” Wood said.

“For many of them, their network is the campus. Their family is the 卫报》学者 community, and their home is 萨克拉门托 State.”

伍德说，他把参加“卫报学者”项目的学生视为家人。

他和他的双胞胎兄弟由养父母抚养长大，他们最终收养了他们。 他从小就敏锐地意识到寄养儿童所面临的耻辱。

Wood’s scholarly research has focused on student suspensions among foster youth, and in 2022 he worked with Assemblyman Kevin McCarty to pass state legislation better protecting foster youth from school suspensions and expulsions by giving a child’s legal counsel more opportunities to speak up.

“Even in the earliest levels of schooling, when you’re a foster youth, you’re treated differently,” Wood said. “You’re viewed through a lens of distrust, viewed as being dangerous, deviant, or up to no good, which is why foster youth have such a high exposure to suspensions.”

豪拉姆说，大约有200名前寄养青年在Sac州立大学就读，而卫报》学者为126人提供服务。

“Even in the earliest levels of schooling, when you’re a foster youth, you’re treated differently. You’re viewed through a lens of distrust, viewed as being dangerous, deviant, or up to no good, which is why foster youth have such a high exposure to suspensions.” ——博彩平台校长卢克·伍德

她希望在2月份的入学指导会上注册更多的学生，并计划与全州的社区大学开展新的合作。

“Our hope is through this collaboration we will recruit students who have experienced foster care or have been unhoused to attend 囊状态 and be a part of the 卫报》学者 Program family to support them through the journey of college completion,” Howe-Ram said.

博彩平台也在帮助还在上高中的青少年。

First Star 萨克拉门托 State Academy is a free college readiness program for high school students that started at 囊状态 in 2020 as a partnership among the University, 萨克拉门托 County Child, Family, and Adult Services Department, and the nonprofit organization 第一明星学院.

通过First Star，学生每个月花一个星期六在Sac州立参加各种有趣和积极的学习机会，包括学术，社会和文化活动，实地考察，演讲嘉宾，娱乐和服务学习活动。

他们还通过导师、家庭作业辅导和教育宣传获得个人支持。

每年夏天，他们都要在宿舍里住上两周，学习大学生活，培养技能，帮助他们在高中取得成功，为大学做准备。

“The whole idea is to recruit them in the ninth grade and have them stay with us for four years,” Howe-Ram said. “Then we make sure they have all their college requirements so they’re able to go to a four-year university, preferably 囊状态.”

豪拉姆说，全国只有大约12个第一明星学院项目。

去年，第一批学生从高中毕业。 她说，在完成课程的八名学生中，有五人就读于萨克州立大学，三人将进入社区大学。

Holly and Taeya, both high school seniors (who last names are withheld because they are minors) who have been in and out of foster care, say they never would’ve met if it hadn’t been for 第一明星学院.

“We’ve been in the program together the whole time, and we have such a great bond,” Holly said. “When I first got placed into foster care with my aunts, I had no idea what was happening because there was no one to talk to about the foster care system, custody battles, or the courts.

“It’s a relief to know that other people have gone through similar situations.”

泰雅已经被萨克州立大学录取，她计划在那里攻读文科学位。

“Being in this program has definitely made me feel like I have potential, and I can do something with my life,” Taeya said. “I have the chance to get a better education.

“It taught me that even though you come from low circumstances, you can grow into something else.”

Wood and Howe-Ram say they want to make sure students who experienced foster care know there’s a place for them at 萨克拉门托 State.

“These are students who have been impacted by systems that were never designed to properly serve them,” Wood said. “We are an education system.

“So, where others, such as social services and the criminal justice system, have failed our communities, education has to be the system that doesn’t.”