500,000 Youth...

Have you ever noticed that when someone is trying to make a point, they will employ the use of exaggerated numbers? For example, 100 or 500 does not get the point across very well, but add a few zeros and, “It will take me 500,000 hours to do that list of chores!” This is the setting I look forward to hearing these large numbers. However, in our society, the number 500,000 represents many demographics—like the number of children in America’s foster care system. This is certainly no exaggeration.

Numbers tell stories that allow us to create better mental images. They help us to understand situations mathematically. Ashley Rhodes-Courter is only one of the many who endured years of physical and emotional abuse because of the foster care system. Over the course of nine years, Ashley lived in 14 foster care homes (many of which were overcrowded) until she found a loving adoptive family. It was within the Courter’s household where Ashley continued to persevere and become a voice for underrepresented youth. Today, not only is she a New York Times Best-Selling author, but she also travels the country reminding people of the 500,000 youth who are trying to tell the world their story.

Moreover, Ashley’s poignant story of how countless people disappointed her, did not believe in her, and simply did not love her has a unique connection to today’s youth service movement. Within recent years, adults have realized the captivating energy that foster care youth have to offer to communities. Foster youth in particular need empowering activities in which they are given opportunities to lead and accomplish positive objectives. Often times, these youth have been let down by so many people that community service can be synonymous with self-healing. Volunteering offers the ultimate method to increase the self-esteem of today’s underrepresented youth—all while making a measurable difference, discovering what each young person is passionate about, and enjoying new experiences.  In fact, many environmental organizations that work with youth such as Earth Force and Greening Forward are using environmental issues to engage foster care youth.

Inaccurate associations of foster care youth in “society” include violence, gangs, and criminal activity. Surprisingly, youth take these paths when “society” does not offer other productive ways to engage them. Modern foster care youth struggle with realizing that they can be involved in making a difference in their community simply due to the natural structure of the foster care system. These youth are continuously subjects of others helping them and have limited opportunities to get outside of their everyday settings.

Ashley Rhodes-Courter remembers dozens of social workers—many of whom did not care about Ashley’s best interests. Ashley admits that although they were not paid a nickel, the people who she will remember the most were volunteers like her Guardian ad Litem. “Volunteers offer themselves selflessly. They have no hidden agendas, no quotas to meet. They are simply there because they want to be there,” Ashley says. Programs across the country are in need of Guardian ad Litems volunteers. In some states these volunteers are known as Court Appointed Special Advocates or CASAs who provide comfort to youth through their foster care experience and represent their best interest in court.

Ashley confesses, “Guardian ad Litems are everyday people. It is not rocket science to develop a passion for protecting children.” Moreover, she describes the experience of being a foster parent as “incredible.” Ashley is certainly qualified to make this statement; after all, she is a certified Guardian-At-Litem herself in Florida in addition to being a young foster parent. She remembers going through Florida’s foster care training process with her partner. They found themselves in the comfort of many other 20-somethings. Ashley says today’s youth are even stepping up to become the new image of the typical American foster parent—as long as they pass the background check.

Ashley says there is definitely hope. There are changes taking place in the system. She expresses, “Change is what happens on the community level when people recognize a problem and determine a plan of action to do something.” As we mark the point between Mother's and Father's Day, 500,000 youth are left without their biological parents. This unique group faces numerous challenges, but there are answers. Are you listening?