How Well Rooted, a Philadelphia Nonprofit, Is Filling the Gaps in Social Safety Nets and Supporting Aging-Out Foster Youths
The face of US homelessness grows younger with each passing generation. We are failing our young people. The good news? It doesn’t have to be this way. New and novel organizations are springing up to address the situation right at its root.
Dominique Riley of Philadelphia’s Elwyn mobile crisis unit faces a unique obstacle whenever she climbs behind her desk to file paperwork. It is the need for parent signatures for underaged clients, a need that often goes unfilled, resulting in paperwork that must go unfiled.
Riley spends a large bulk of her time dealing with children who are in and out of the foster care system and other state-run institutions. Teenagers and adolescents hailing from homeless or parentless backgrounds often lack the proper paperwork and documentation to access mental healthcare and other forms of assistance they would otherwise be entitled to.
This makes them exceptionally vulnerable to homelessness. Because they are young and have less access to stability, it also puts them at risk of other forms of exploitation, such as sex and labor trafficking. Riley shakes her head at the way city leaders handle family homelessness, opting to place children in foster care over providing permanent homes.
“Statistics do show that they will separate the parents from the child and put the children in a foster facility over housing the biological parents in most cases,” she said to Invisible People reporters.
Being removed from impoverished homes is one of many ways that youngsters wind up in foster care facilities. Other ways include:
- Domestic violence
- Abuse
- Neglect
- Incarceration of a parent or guardian
- Death of a parent or caregiver and more
While there is a wide range of reasons children are institutionalized rather than raised, they exhibit a common theme – trauma. Sadly, once these traumatized youngsters step into the system, what usually follows is even more trauma, not to mention the high risk of aging out of foster care into homelessness.
Foster Kids Are Statistically More Likely to Become Homeless
The sad truth is that 25% of all foster youths, or one in four formerly fostered children, will be thrust into the desolate state of homelessness within 4 years of leaving the government system. These young people represent a considerable percentage of the millions of homeless unaccompanied youths. Reasons for this dilemma include:
- Lack of family and financial support
- Hailing from a less stable childhood environment
- Decreased access to employment and educational opportunities
- Unaddressed trauma due to insufficient healthcare and so much more
Enter Well Rooted Because It Takes a Village to Raise a Child out of These Systems
Recognizing an unfilled community need, Katie Casey and Sarah Todd of the Philadelphia suburb of Haverford created a nonprofit that exists solely to provide support to foster children and foster families in need. The goal is to prevent the prevalence of homelessness through aging out of the system by connecting foster kids with people who care and services in the area.
Via the Well Rooted website, concerned advocates have the option to:
- Mentor an aging-out teen
- Partner with a foster or reunifying family
- Donate to the cause to help provide meals, mental health services, and other necessary components to entering adulthood
The organization is still relatively young but already shows promise for a brighter horizon. According to The Delaware County Times, it has already helped 30 families to bridge the gap, paving pathways for an optimistic future. Katie Casie, one of the founders, says her efforts began in her own backyard.
“We started fostering about eight years ago, Mike and I did,” she explained, referring to herself and her husband. “We went into fostering because I feel like I have been very blessed with a very strong village myself.”
Both Casie and Todd have firsthand experience fostering children and boast a background of working with other local nonprofits, such as the PA-based organization Fostering Hope, which distributes bags of necessities to foster children entering new homes. Lovingly referred to as “Bags of Hope,” efforts like this should serve as blueprints for aspiring advocates to take notes.
Whether through a bag or a gift card, a mentorship, or a kindly donation, passing along the love is always the best way to embrace coming generations. After all, these teenagers are the face of our collective future. What does it say about us as a nation if we allow them to become the face of homelessness?
Talk to Your Legislators About Fostering Youth by Making Housing a Human Right for All
Millions of people under the age of 24 endure some form of homelessness each year. Talk to your legislators not only about the holes in the system but also about applying proven and actionable solutions to the raging homeless crisis.
One of the best ways to prevent homelessness is by making housing a permanent and irrevocable right for all. This future is possible. All it needs to become a reality is your voice.