A Washington State University Vancouver professor’s work on former foster youth is getting attention in Washington, D.C.
Amy Salazar, an assistant professor in the Department of Human Development, testified to Congressional and Senate Caucuses on Foster Youth this week about the challenges young adults face as they transition out of the foster care system. Salazar is a registered social worker in Oregon who researches the challenges foster youth face as they grow up, especially if they try to pursue higher education.
“I think it’s really important as a society we’ve taken foster youth into our collective care,” she said.
Salazar, joined by two foster care professionals and three college students who aged out of the foster care system, testified Wednesday on her recent research project, Fostering Higher Education.
Research shows that only about 2 to 9 percent of former foster youth pursue post-secondary education, compared with about 29 percent of the general population, Salazar said.
“If you look at the group overall, they tend to lag behind their peers in education and employment,” she said.
Former foster care youth going to college tend to have less emotional support, may be more likely to have used drugs or alcohol or may have other barriers that hold them back, she said. They often struggle to navigate college systems, down to knowing where to go during the holidays when dormitories are closed.
But colleges that provide champions for former foster youth, such as Washington’s Passport to College Promise Scholarship Program, which provides financial assistance and campus based support for students, tend to see former foster students succeed.
“We know from the research that the better their employment rates and income, really, we all benefit,” she said.
Robbie Orr, director of Independent Living Skills for YWCA Clark County, expanded on the challenges Salazar described, saying former foster youth in Vancouver often struggle to navigate housing and paying bills once they turn 18, especially given the high cost of rent locally. Young adults who moved as often as every two weeks often struggle with the sense of permanency and responsibility that comes with signing a lease or staying in a home for an extended period of time, he said.
“A lot of times youth have moved numerous time,” Orr said. “They aren’t used to having a set routine.”
David Inglish, a 22-year-old University of Washington graduate who worked with Salazar on her research, is a former foster student who spent 10 years living in Edmonds. He said he barely knew how to take care of himself as a young adult, let alone navigate the challenges of pursuing a college degree.
“The thing about transitioning into higher education was that up until I was close to graduating, I didn’t really know about college,” Inglish said by email from Washington, D.C., where he was testifying with Salazar. “I knew that it was something for ‘normal’ families. And it was expected that if I were to get into college, I would be on my own.”
Inglish hopes testifying to Congress leads to legislation and support for programs that encourage teens to finish high school and go on to college in order to break cycles of “abuse, neglect and poverty.”
“There is a lot of potential in us if we could get the support or the opportunity to prove it,” he said.
