Foster youth – who already face challenges when transitioning from unstable homes to school and then into the world – often carry what little they own in trash bags or backpacks.
Now, thanks to an effort by the Myndz Resource Foundation, these same youth could receive suitcases that have been donated by the public.
The Myndz Foundation is holding a “Foster Youth Luggage Drive” for the next month to try and gather 200 or more suitcases that people no longer use.
“We are lucky that (Myndz) reached out to Woodland Community College and our Foster Care programs,” explained Cherie Schroeder, who manages the Foster & Kinship Care Education, Independent Living and American Corps Programs at the college. “We will be supplied with beautiful new pieces of luggage we can give to children and young people as they come into care, and as they transition.”
Schroeder explained that Ruby (whose last name is being held to protect her identity), a non-minor dependent, “was very excited to get a couple of big bags as she is moving to a new apartment in the next few weeks.
“It is a big deal,” Schroeder added. “This organization donates to us and many other foster programs. Our effort to eliminate youth moving into care and between placements with trash bags… our goal is respect and achieving placement stability.”
Housing, indeed, many aspects of life are challenges for those in foster care. The Myndz Foundation can be reached at www.myndzresources.org for more information or to make a donation. Schroeder can be reached through Woodland College at [email protected]; or directly at 574-1964.
A study reported on by Elissa Miolene of the Bay Area News Group in late 2023, found that foster with unstable home environments are most likely to be sent home from school, resulting in 77 days of lost instruction due to out-of-school suspensions, compared to an average of just 10 days for all students.
According to the UCLA Civil Rights Project and the Oakland-based National Center for Youth Law, which published a report examining suspension data throughout the state, in 2021-22, California educators punished students who are in foster care with out-of-school suspensions at the highest rate: For every 100 foster students, 77 days of instruction were lost due to out-of-school suspensions, compared to an average of just 10 days for all students.
Homeless students were the second most likely to be suspended, with 26 days lost per 100 students. Despite the high figures, those numbers actually represent a slight drop from before the pandemic. In 2018-19, the year before COVID-19 drove students from the classroom, homeless students lost 28.5 days of school due to suspensions, while foster students lost 83.
The study mirrors concerns outlined in a newly passed state law, one that aims to keep disruptive youth in the classroom by banning suspensions that send children home from school. Doing so, critics say, disproportionally impacts students from marginalized groups.
Meanwhile, another report by Betty Marquez Rosales of EdSource in late February found the lack of stable housing is often cited by researchers as a “significant barrier for current and former foster youth to continue attending school, and studies have shown that those exiting the foster care system face disproportionately higher rates of homelessness in California.”
Two reductions totaling millions in funds targeted toward preventing homelessness and housing instability among youth exiting the foster care system are detailed in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2024-25 state budget.
The governor’s cuts to extended foster care housing programs would help close only a sliver of the state’s projected $68 billion budget gap, Rosales reported.
“It’s unclear to me why programs that help support the housing needs of some of our most vulnerable residents would be singled out for elimination,” said Debbie Raucher, director of education at John Burton Advocates for Youth, a nonprofit organization that advocates for homeless and foster youth.
Among the proposed cuts is $18.8 million from the general fund that’s intended to help youth (ages 18-21) in extended foster care with supplemental funding to cover their housing costs. Those millions were approved last year to be implemented in 2025-26; the governor’s latest budget proposal, however, eliminates them before they go into effect, Rosales reported.
There is also a proposed cut of $13.7 million from the Housing Navigation & Maintenance Program, formerly known as the Housing Navigators Program, effectively eliminating the program whose entire annual budget in the past two years was $13.7 million.
